We are staying for a few days in St. Remy and then in Gordes.....


We will be dropping our car in Avignon at the TGV station, before we take the train to Paris . (have to find out exactly which station) and my husband feels we should stay there both to rest and see the city..at least for two nights.. He wants to drop the car and then stay in a hotel for a few days to sightsee...I wonder how we will get to a hotel with all our luggage..??? or if the hotels near the train station are good locations for eating. I think it's better to keep the car till we are ready to leave.

Does this sound logical?..If so any suggestions for us as to a hotel centrally located or where we can eat and see things. Should we be near the train station???. Is there transportation around???..need some ideas.

I do thank you..

I was in Avignon last September and absolutely loved it. I also visited St. Raephael and loved it too. I'd probably keep the car until I left for Paris especially if you travel the new train station which is out of town. You can then also stay in a breathtaking little medieval village just outside of Avignon called "Villeneuve lez Avignon." We styed at this most charming hotel "Hotel de L'atelier. www.hoteldelatelier.com. You will see what I mean when you check out their web site. Ask for a room with the private patio. You won't regret it.

This is sooo beautiful .... thanks.

The Avignon TGV station is kind of on its own outside of town. I didn't see any hotels or restaurants in the vicinity of the station.

When we were there two years ago, we picked up our rental car at the TVG station and drove to Villeneuve for our first night because there was a charming little hotel with a highly regarded restaurant that we found on the internet that we wanted to try. We then drove into Avignon the next day to sightsee before we went on to St.Remy where we were based for a month.

While the drive between Villeneuve and Avignon only takes 15 or 20 minutes as I recall, in retrospect, we would have preferred to stay right in Avignon. It is a wonderful town with lots to see and you don't want to miss it. It would have been much more convenient for us to have stayed in a hotel in the middle of things so we could have come and gone from our room as we pleased to explore the town ... and I could have spent more time shopping without a disgruntled husband in tow!

If you decide to stay in Villeneuve, you will need to keep your car to get back and forth from Avignon.

If you decide to stay in Avignon, you won't need a car.

Regarding your luggage, if you stay in Avignon, you could drop it off at your hotel ... return the car to the TGV station ... and then grab a cab back to the hotel. However, if it was me, I would

Oops ... my cat jumped up on my keyboard and posted the message before I was finished ...
as I was saying, if it were me, I would drive straight to the station, drop off the car and take a cab to your hotel. The cab driver will know where he is going and your husband won't ... driving through some of the narrow streets could be tricky. Then you're free to enjoy Avignon at your leisure for a few days.

You are going to love Provence ... it's magical! Have a great trip.

Hi loisco. If you are travelling from Avignon to Paris on the TGV, your train will most likely leave from "Avignon TGV," which is in an industrial park-like setting in the southern suburbs of Avignon. (The French have started calling these suburban and semi-rural TGV stations "betteraves" or beetroots, to symbolize their distance from city cores.)

I'd recommend you return the car at the TGV station (it's very easy to do) and then take either the shuttle bus or a taxi into the centre of Avignon for your two day visit. The bus costs just over a euro; a taxi would be closer to 10 euros, if I recollect correctly, perhaps a shade more. Both are available on the north side of the TGV station (the other side of the station from where you return rentals).

The taxi will take you through the labyrinth of Avignon to whatever hotel you choose. The shuttle bus drops passengers just inside la Porte de la République; you can walk to almost any hotel in the city centre from there, but it would be awkward if you had a lot of luggage.

I think a couple of days would be about right for Avignon, but I will confess that it isn't one of my favourite places. (I have never seen anything quite so gloomy as the Palais des Papes, but that just might be me.) When you leave, you can taxi or shuttle back out to the TGV station. I'd recommend you arrive there at least 30 minutes before your train, perhaps a bit more if you want to pick up drinks and sandwiches for the journey.

Alternatively, you can taxi from the TGV station into Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. We did that a couple of years ago when we stayed at l'Atelier. I can't remember how much the taxi cost, but it was certainly more than a taxi into Avignon.

Should you need a taxi to return from Villeneuve-les-Avignon to the station, ask your front desk staff to book it the evening before. When we left our hotel, there was a bit of a dust-up going on over a shortage of taxis.

Just to reinforce what other posters have said, I wouldn't drive within the old city walls of Avignon--it's a maze of narrow one-way streets. Having walked through Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, I'd say you could drive there more easily if you really needed to keep your car.

Hope this helps,

Anselm

There are actually TGV trains that run to Paris from the central station in Avignon (and I'm not explaining hw I actually found that out. So you could drive into Avignon, leave your car at the central station, find a nearby hotel and be able to walk to the station the day of your departure.

Another vote for Hotel de l'Atelier in Villeneuve-should take only about 10 minutes for the drive, as I remember it.

Thank you all...I will reserve our hotel...once I find one. (any ideas?)I wasn't even sure there were taxis around. Unfortunately, we have to drop the lease car off at the TGV station. Lease cars are not dropped off in all the places sthe rental cars are for some reason.

I would drop the car off at the TGV station and take a cab (with luggage) into Avignon. I would not drive through the tiny, narrow, windy streets in the old walled city. We were so glad the cab driver had to navigate those streets and not us! I definitely would not drop off the luggage first in Avignon!

We found a delightful small hotel via TripAdvisor. It was small, inexpensive and just perfect for us.

One thought about the luggage. If you have a small bag with the things you need for the 2 nights, perhaps the hotel would store the extra luggage for you during your visit...especially if stairs are involved.

Given how much time you are on your trip, I certainly wouldn't avoid Avignon as it's a very nice city and has a lot of historical significance and things to see. I really like Avignon and would also stay in the city itself and dump the car early. Why pay for extra car days when you don't even want one in Avignon. I'd stay there rather than across the river, as you've already done the small town thing. It's a lot of fun to walk around Avignon for sightseeing, and dining -- the square at night is a lot of fun with the people and the open-air bistros setting up there.

Just take a cab or shuttle into the city, I'd take a cab since you have luggage. There are always taxis at TGV stations, and most all rail stations in towns of any size.

I recommend the Hotel Bristol for location, it's perfect, although one of the ones right near the Palais des Papes would be fine, also, for a night or two.

If you are going to give up your car when you get to Avignon, I suggest staying in Avignon proper. I am sure, as St Cirq says that you can both turn in your car and take the TGV to Paris from the central Avignon station as we did that in May of 2003. I have always loved the city center and think there is plenty to do for a couple of days. Last time in Avignon we stayed at the Hotel Palais des Papes (not our initial choice) and enjoyed the hotel and the location very much. There are some very nice restaurants in Avignon, which you can find by searching this board. One that we have visited and enjoyed 3 times over 20 years is La Fourchette II.

I am writing down all your suggestions. Interesting that you like Avignon. In reading some of the Fodors posts I don't hear that...or am I thinking of somewhere else where I read reports on Avignon. Maybe it was on Rick Steves grafitti board.

I know we will love it...

Loisco, you and I must be cosmic twins. Every question you've asked fits our situation. We are returning our car to the TGV station in Avignon and returning to Paris the same evening. We are keeping the car an extra day just to accommodate our train return time. What can we do around Avignon area with car after leaving hotel in the morning? Our hotel is near Carpentras. We have already seen Avignon and don't want to spend time in the city itself. Is there enough to see in Villneuve les Avignon for the better part of a day? Our train doesn't leave until 20h for Paris. I welcome any suggestions

just an FYI: if you drive from Avignon to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, watch for road signs pointing to Nimes to get you across the river in the right direction. it's a bit tricky.

jazzyred...itsn't that amazing that we are doing the same thing?...someone will help you with your question. I can't.

Too bad won't see you...we are leaving for Paris Oct. 10. We will spend our last 10 days there. Heaven.

jazzyred, I think you could spend a day in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The Chartreuse du Val de Bénédiction is an old Carthusian monastery. It's a huge place, with three cloisters and an interesting church with a collapsed apse wall that reveals a stunning view of Fort St-André. It's well worth a couple of hours. You can also tour Fort St-André ...

There are a couple of places where you can get interesting photgraphs of Avignon across the Rhône.

Alternatively, if you haven't been to Pont du Gard and Uzès, they are an easy day-trip from Avignon.

Anselm

I wouldn't keep the car while in Avignon just to get to the TGV station. Taxis are plentiful, and actually, the shuttle back and forth to TGV station is very easy, even with luggage. I wouldn't like negotiating the streets of Avignon with a car. I stayed in Villeneuve for a couple of days, even before I picked up my rental car for the rest of my Provence trip. There is a bus that gets you over the bridge to Avignon quite simply and quickly, and it runs right on schedule. Villeneuve is a really charming place to stay. Cigalechanta stayed there for 2 weeks (I believe) without a car, and took bus trips all over the place. I found the Avignon/Villeneuve part of my trip very relaxing, and wouldn't have missed that part. By the way, the Avignon TGV is very easy for car return - that whole station is great.

This brought back a semi-happy memory of cars, luggage, TVGs and Avignon.

We dropped our car at the central station (before the out-of-town one was open) and put our bags into a storage locker. Returning half an hour before our TGV to Paris, I noted that I had lost the slip from the locker machine with the lock code number on it. Oops. And it was lunchtime in Avignon, which, I believe, runs roughly from 11am - 3pm. Finally a highly grumpy station agent got his electronic thingy and got our locker open, just in time for us to scamper (slowly, lugging our not-pack-light-luggage) to the platform so that we could sit in our seats as France went by in a major blur. Lockers. Trains. Ugh.