el13207

Trying to plan the easiest, quickest way to get from Barcelona to Avignon in late March.

Options seem to be to fly on Spanair to Marseille and then training to Avignon - which involves a noon flight out of Barcelona, a 3 hour layover in Marseille, and won't get us into Avignon until 5:30 pm-

or a train from Barcelona which leaves at 8:45 a.m., changes in Montpellier, and gets us into Avignon around 3:45 pm. Price is comparable and not a huge issue.

Does anyone have any experience with this routing?

mpprh

Barcelona - Avignon is slightly too close to have air links. Avignon airport does take 737's, but all flights are to UK. Pity because you there is no possibility link to internal flights at other airports in France.

The train is painfully slow because the TGV route is not finished near Baarcelona and from Perpignan to Nimes..

One possibility could be to take Easyjet BCN to Paris CDG and then the TGV is 2.5hrs to Avignon.

Will you be returning to Barcelona ? If so it is an easy 4hr drive in a hire car.


Peter

kerouac

Is there any reason that you want to do this trip quickly? There are lots of lovely things to see between those two cities.

el13207

Thanks for your replies. We will be spending two weeks in Spain (Madrid, Seville, hill towns, Granada and Barcelona) before heading to France for two weeks in the south. Our flight home is out of Nice, so we thought we'd go from Barcelona to Avignon, pick up a rental car there and wander through that area (Pont du Gard,Arles, St. Remy etc.)for about a week, then a night or so in Aix and finally a week in the surrounds of Nice.
At this point we're thinking the train from Barcelona to Avignon is the way to go - we'll basically shoot a day in transit either way (plane or train) and at least on the train we can see the surroundings.
Comments?

PalenQ

Train or plane about same time and cost then take the train and see something in between and not just airports.

Plus train will take you right to Avignon - but if renting a car why not fly to Marseille and rent a car at the airport and drive to Aix-en-Provence - a gem and then to Avignon area and drive to Nice.

DalaiLlama

It's not nearly as bad as it used to be.

The TALGO leaving Barcelona Estacio de Franca at a comfortable time of 08:45 gets into Montpellier St. Roch at 13:22.

If you take the next connecting train to Avignon Centre (not the Avignon TGV station outside of town), it leaves at 14:41 and arrives at 15:42.

That change-over time in Montpellier just spells lunch and a stroll, doesn't it? And I don't mean the McDonalds across the station square, either... Pick the Brasserie de la Gare, then take a stroll in the little garden park across.

But since the south of France is now your oyster, you could decide to make Montpellier your home for a night or three - then proceed further west. There is no shortage of good targets right there, and Montpellier is a lively university town with plenty of history worth exploring.

Check out www.ot-montpellier.fr/en/home

PalenQ

Yup good suggestion from Llama - rent your car in Montpellier after spending a night in that fair town and head towards Provence - hitting perhaps Aigues-Mortes, one of the neatest old ports i've seen in France - place where many Crusaders set sail.

kerouac

I would say rent your car in Perpignan, close to the Spanish border. Drive everywhere from there and leave the car in Nice. Rent through AutoEurope because they will find the company that won't hit you with a drop-off charge.