The 4 of us are scheduled to arrive at CDG at 9:40am. We want to hop aboard a TGV from the airport to Avignon. There is a train departing at 11:49. Does this allow enough time to collect luggage (if we check, that is), proceed through passport control, navigate the route locating the correct train, etc.?

In looking at the www.voyages-sncf.com website to purchase tickets, it asked which country they are to be collected. Do I leave France as the designated country for collection? or...put in USA and print off the tickets from home? how does this feature work?

Many thanks...once again!

depends which terminal you arrive in - if terminal 1 as many trans-Atlantic flights do then you have to get to the free navette shuttle bus and take it to the TGV station in terminal 2, a few miles away.

Even then you are not building in enough time IMO for planes to be late - i've been on planes that didn't even go to the gate at Roissy but stopped on the tarmac with buses to the terminal - delaying arrival time and causing me to miss a Thalys train i planned to take from Paris to Amsterdam.

I'd wait for the next train about three hours later if you have non-refundable, non-changeable tickets - if changeable then that's another matter. If you have to wait in line at the TGV ticket window to do anything then that could add another 45 minutes IMExperience - often long lines there.

Print out your tickets at home so you don't have to wait in any SNCF lines at CDG

Here is the best train advice that's appeared in the last several years.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34752919

Stu Dudley

Officially, SNCF does not mail tickets to the US (although some people have reported success in having them mailed). If you can book a PREM'S (discount) fare, leave France as the default country and do NOT choose cancellation insurance. Then print the tickets yourself. If you book full fare tickets, leave France as the default country and choose the option of picking them up at the station by presenting your confirmation number and the credit card used when booking.

If you wait and take the 13:11 TGV from CDG, you'll have to change to another TGV in Lyon in order to get to Avignon. To get PREM'S tickets, you'll probably need to book and print tickets for each leg separately.

Or you can take the RER from CDG to Gare de Lyon for E8.10 and take a direct TGV from there to Avignon. PREM'S tickets on that route can be as low as E25.

Hi Mom,

There are PREMS tickets, 48E 2cl and 50E 1cl, for this route.

Leave the country as France.

**** Do not buy the insurance. ****

Print your tickets on your computer.

Note that the TGV stops outside Avignon.

I think that 2 hr is enough time to make your train, but be prepared to rush.

Enjoy your visit.

Printing the tickets from home, if you buy one that allows that, is not considered a country for retrieval purposes on SNCF. That would be only for retrieval in person. The feature works fine, after you pay for them and if you have correctly chosen that option, they send you an email with the order confirmation, and I think it either gives you a link to their website where you can print your tickets from the internet, or it encloses a PDF file for you to print. I don't remember which, but it works fine. If you do print your tickets, they are specific to you and have your name and birth date on them.

One addition ot my previous post. Tickets of any kind can be booked up to 90 days in advance at sncf.com. To have the best chance of getting PREM'S, book as soon as the 90-day window opens.

Very helpful info...surely this will help me through the process!