I will be staying outside Avignon for 3 weeks with work and was hoping to take a couple days to visit Nice. I booked a hotel room and started looking at trains. Being so far out the TGV website (which I hate) isn't allowing me to see fares. But on a third party site I could book a ticket for $144US . Is this standard? It seems expensive, compared to AVE from Madrid to Sevilla and train from Chuisi to Florence. Is train travel just more in France? I wanted to go see Chagall and Matisse museums but it's not worth that much to me. Maybe there would be somewhere better to spend a few days off?
Thanks!

Thru RailEurope you'd pay $58 for a second-class ticket each way plus an $11 seat reservation fee plus a one-time $15 order fee. For two round-trip $232 plus $22 plus $15 = $269. You may get PREM fares from www.sncf.com/voyages if you hop on them when they come online - 60 days max but they sell out quick on this route.

Train fares in France per kilometre are roughly twice the Italian fare. If you look at current fares on the SNCF web site, that will give a fairly good idea of fares later this year - standard fares normally go up once a year.

Well, I guess I am going to skip Nice. I'd rather be more easy going with my pocketbook then pinch and go to Nice.
Thanks for the info!

Why not get a rental car and drive there? Beautiful countryside to and from!

A car would get you to Nice in just about the same time a train would take, as the train isn't a super-fast one all the way. Driving time from Aix, for example, is just over 2 hours on the autoroute, and with a car you could see much more than just Nice itself.

Really, it's just as fast to drive as the train? hmm I guess I'll look into renting a car.
Thanks starrsville and underhill!