Philip

Thanks for your help.<BR><BR>We are traveling from Avignon to Paris on Thursday, October 10th. We will be staying in St. Remy the night before and will have to turn in an Auto Europe auto before boarding. We would like to get to Paris around noon.<BR><BR>Should we take the Avignon TGV train? Are they nicer than alternative? How about food service?<BR><BR>Does it leave from Gare Courtine railstation in Avignon?<BR><BR>Looks like the 9:13am gets into Paris Gare De Lyon about 11:51. How far is it from that station to major tourist areas (e.g. Louvre)?<BR><BR>

Oscar

There is not a nicer alternative than the TGV. The cars are just comfortable.The food is great and before you finish eating something from the snack bar you are in Paris .<BR> It is so fast.<BR>Take a taxi from tha station to your hotel, pick-up a few brochures and start exploring. Do not pretend to walk from the station to the museum.<BR> Have a good trip!!!<BR>

elaine

I don't know the name of it, but the Avignon TGV station is about 10 minutes south of the city, near the Durance River.

Joanne

TGV is the way to go. Last year we dropped our car in Avignon and trained to Paris, but within the next few weeks the new train station opened. I don't know the name either, but understand all the car agencies are nearby so dropping your car should be easy. All TGV trains from Avignon go to Gare Lyon. <BR><BR>As the previous poster suggested, go to the taxi lineup (someone was directing taxi traffic and lining up the next passengers in line to drivers when we arrived) for transport to your hotel. After you're checked in and rested a bit the hotel can give you direction to the Louvre (if you haven't already figured out where sites are from your hotel).<BR><BR>j

PB

Philip,<BR><BR>&lt;&lt;Should we take the Avignon TGV train? Are they nicer than alternative? How about food service?<BR><BR>Does it leave from Gare Courtine railstation in Avignon?&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>Definitely take the TGV from Avignon - the trip takes 2.5 hours. The food service is expensive and so-so - pick up something from one of the bakeries in St Remy and take it with you. The drive from St Remy to the TGV station takes about 40 -45 minutes. The TGV station is in the area called La Courtine, south of the Avignon proper.<BR><BR>PB<BR>

Maren

We returned a car at the new Avignon TGV station in April and took the train to Paris. The rental car return location is not well marked yet and we thought it a bit confusing. <BR><BR>Head straight for the station and drive around to the rear--there are several parking lots to avoid--keep going until you see a very small temporary-looking building that houses all of the car companies. Once you have dropped off the car, it is an easy walk to the station. We bought sandwiches at the station to eat on the train, and they were really quite good (and then we found out that our first class reservations using Eurail passes included a free meal).

Sue

Maren, I have never had included meal service with first-class travel on TGVs! Did you perhaps inadvertently pay for that when you got your reservations? How much were they?

Maren

Sue,<BR><BR>We booked reservations on 2 trains, the TGV Avignon to Paris, and the Thalys Paris to Brussels. We paid $11pp for each seat reservation.<BR><BR>It occurs to me that I could be mixing up the two trips, but I thought it was on the TGV that a young woman pushed what looked like an airplane cart down the aisle and offered everyone food. She seemed quite disappointed when we declined, but others took advantage of it and didn't have to pay.