We are planning to spend part of vacation in Provence and then another part in Barcelona.
Which are the best options for train from Provence to Barcelona. Our likely area to stay in Provence is a smaller town near Avignon.

There is an 8:40am direct from the Avignon TGV station, and more direct trains from Nimes

Stu Dudley

We like to travel this route on the "slow" train between Avignon and Spain that goes along the coast. The scenery in many parts is quite lovely. - lots of marshes and flamingos. There are quite a number of stops along the way, but we're not usually in a hurry. You have to change at Port-Bou because the French and Spanish train tracks are different widths, but the train schedules are usually fairly well coordinated. We usually stop in Narbonne and Collioure for a night or two, but that's because we are more interested in the French towns than the Costa Brava.

"We like to travel this route on the "slow" train between Avignon and Spain that goes along the coast."

That's a great suggestion, here are the details if you wish to travel this way:

https://rail.cc/en/blog/barcelona-marseille-nice-train

My overall plan is to arrive somewhere in Provence by train (likely) or plane (possibly), rent a car and explore from a home base for about 7 days. Then return the car and take the train (likely) or plane (possibly) to Barcelona and stay there for another 7 days. So, I'm looking for a train station in Provence that has good connection to both Paris and Barcelona and has a rental car facility. I guess the other option is an airport with good connections to both London Heathrow and Barcelona (although my first search suggests Marseille does not qualify for that).

Or failing all that, perhaps some different place for a second week that has good connections from Provence.

"So, I'm looking for a train station in Provence that has good connection to both Paris and Barcelona and has a rental car facility."

That's Avignon as already pointed out in the 1st reply to your OP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_d%27Avignon_TGV

Avignon sounds like it then - thanks

As said above, there is one daily train from Avignon TGV to Barcelona - Madrid whereas there are four daily trains from Nimes and Montpellier (both railway stations in the city center) to Barcelona.
Journey time Montpoellier - Barcelona: 3 hrs.

But Nimes and Montpellier are in Languedoc, not in Provence.

Nimes could be the other option. It's only 60 minutes by car from Saint-Remy or 75 minutes from L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, two of the many options for a home base. But certainly Avignon is much closer to those spots.

I can't see why you'd spend that kind of time driving to Nîmes or Montpellier just to hop a train. It's not as though you're going to gain any time getting there, especially when you figure in the time to actually get into Nîmes or Montpellier, find the car rental drop-off place, fill out the paperwork, etc.

Why not keep it simple?

Why? I might if I thought 8:40am was too early and I could get a noon departure by driving an extra 45 minutes. But 8:40am is not that early. I will have a car regardless, so drop off is drop off wherever I do that.

" But Nimes and Montpellier are in Languedoc, not in Provence"

I know, of course; but most posters in this forum don't and count Pont du Gard, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Uzes or Nimes to "Provence"
And if OP's "smaller town near Avignon" is more than 2 miles West of Avignon, he will be in Languedoc anyway.

The Avignon TGV station is very easy to find & navigate through. Not so the Montpellier station because of the one-way streets in Montpellier. We got hopelessly lost about 4 years ago.. The Nimes station is easy too.

Stu Dudley

I agree; I've only travelled this route once, but I was enchanted by the marshes. At times the train appeared to be passing through the sea. I don't remember seeing flamingos, though.

I think seeing flamingos depends on the time of year. Last time we took this train was in February or March - maybe they are hanging out there in late winter/early spring. At any rate, it's a beautiful ride and, yes, you think you're riding through the sea at some points.

We took a combo of local trains from Barcelona to Banyuls Sur Mer, spent a night there, and took a night train from Banyuls to Nice.

Wow, the Nice - Portbou night train!

That must have been quite a few years ago! You're very lucky to travel in those times.

This trip was in late April. We were travelling towards dusk and the light on the water added to the marvel.

We're beginning to see occasional flamingos in Senigallia, on the Adriatic coast. They're just passing through, apparently, or maybe blown off course.