TGV Help Needed
 

I need to get from Paris to Arles and have researched options.

Several of the schedules connect in Avignon and are a bus from there to Arles; others are a connection to a regional train in Lyon.

I am traveling with a group that has a few seniors along. Can anyone advise which might be easier with luggage? Even though we are traveling light I would like it to be easy as possible,

Is bus more vulnerable to delays/cancellations?

Thanks!

Much easier is to take the direct train to Avignon-TGV station, a few miles outside of town, and a small station where the transfer with bags to the waiting bus is a snap.

Transfer in Lyon and you may have to walk a long way in the station and on regional trains they can always be crowded if around rush hours.

No doubt - and the TGV route should be much quicker as well.

I am trying to book TGV från CDG airport Roissy to Avignon in September. SNCF insists that the only connection includes 2 changes and lasts 6 hours. I don't believe this can be true, but how do you advice me? I have seen a timetable listing a TGV departing at 13.58 but the booking system fails to find that train. Please help!

I don't know where you've been looking at train/bus schedules, but the shuttle bus between Avignon TGV and Avignon Centre has been discontinued and replaced by a new rail service called the Virgule (Comma). It takes 5 minutes between the stations, and I imagine the Virgule is timed to meet up with trains arriving from Paris. That is most likely what you will end up taking. Changing in Lyon could be easy, but might not be.

I have seen a timetable listing a TGV departing at 13.58 but the booking system fails to find that train.>

Yes www.bahn.de/en lists that 13.58 train with just one change to a bus direct from Avignon-TGV station to Arles, leaving 23 minutes after the TGV arrives - plenty of time for a leisurely transfer with bags and the bus IME will be held up if the train is late.

But why can't book on www.voyges-sncf.com - did you try www.capitainetrain.com - same trains same fares?

<Much easier is to take the direct train to Avignon-TGV station>

Thanks - is the bus from there to Arles convenient and reliable?

Yes this is a bus dedicated to serving the arriving TGV trains - all coordinated - as reliable as trains in France except when strikes pop up!

I don't know where you've been looking at train/bus schedules, but the shuttle bus between Avignon TGV and Avignon Centre has been discontinued and replaced by a new rail service>

That may be so but OP is wanting to go to Arles, not Avignon so the bus is the way to go - the bus coordinated with the TGV train as indicated is still running on current schedules.

Ack! Just realized that, so yes, the bus is the way to go.