yankeetraveller

I'm going to be in Paris in early June and would love to go to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. I was in Provence last yr and missed the market, can anyone tell me what day the market is and how to get there from Paris without a car. I was hoping to go for the day.

Thanks for your help.

Cimbrone

Sunday is the day for the antiques market. That's a long trip, but doable.

Take the tgv to Avignon. From there, it's 23 km to l'isle. There are buses that run regularly. Or, if you don't mind splurging, you can take a taxi.

bobthenavigator

The market is Sunday but ends early in the PM as I recall. It is a long train ride. I do not see it as feasible.

StuDudley

There is a TGV that leaves the Paris Lyon station at 6:16 am & gets to Avignon at 9am. By the time you get to the market by taxi it will probably be 10 (a little earlier if you get a taxi right away - I don't even know if they "hover" at the TGV station).

There is a traian an hour later, but that gets you there at 11 and like bob said, the food/crafts/soap/fabric section of the market closes by about 1pm. The permanent antique galleries stay open all day, and the Flea market antiques may stay open all day also.

I sure wouldn't do this as a day trip. Most of the shops in l'Isle sur la Sorgue will be closed on Monday, so do this as a Friday overnight.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

Oops - make it a Saturday overnight.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

Given that there are markets all over Paris and all over France, I'm not sure why you want to go to one that's about as far away as you can go to get to a market - 6 hours or more on a train to spend a couple of hours at a particular market seems madness to me. Not to mention a really expensive trip to market.

kevin_widrow

Day trip from Paris for the market in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue ?

It's nice... but not that nice...

-Kevin

Cimbrone

Good point about all the good antiques markets in Paris. Port de Vanves is wonderful on a Sunday.

Also, I've been to L'Isle in March (wonderful) and in June (hot, and I could barely move due to the crowds...a whole different experience.)

Christina

I've been there as I was staying in a nearby town for several days once, and would never recommend anyone do this for a day trip. It's too far away -- maybe if it were in Avignon and right on the TGV, I could see it (but I still wouldn't recommend it, as there is nothing that special about this market, as far as I'm concerned). I was there in early afternoon on a Sunday, and it wasn't particularly interesting at that point -- same stuff you'd see at a flea market in Paris, such as Vanves. If you just want to go to some French markets, go to the ones in Paris, there are plenty of them.

StuDudley

My wife has purchased more stuff at the Vanves Sunday marche aux puces than the l'Isle sur la Sorgue flea market. However, if you add in non-antiques - we've purchased a tons of stuff at the l'Isle sur la Sorgue maket.

Christina - next time you're in the area, get to the market at 8am, have a coffee & croissant at a cafe next to the church, watch the vendors set up, then hit the market at 8:45. The non-antique vendors are mostly gone by early afternoon.

Stu Dudley

Christina

thanks for the tips, Stu, but the vendors I saw there were mainly non-antiques in the early afternoon. In fact, I thought it was the opposite of what you say -- that the antique vendors are only early in the day, and what is left for later on is just sort of the typical brocante thing. Actually, I am not that interested in markets to begin with, though, nor antiques, so this won't be on my list of things to get up at 8 am for (nothing that involves buying things is, actually). I was just there as I was in the area, it wasn't any special interest of mine.