My DH and I are taking our granddaughter on a graduation trip to Rome and Paris, with a visit to Provence (specifically Avignon, Arles, St. Remy, Pont du Gard, etc) in between. As I have been researching, it has been difficult to get us economically (well, at least a little) between Rome and Provence. I have checked airfares into Marseille, as well as train schedules, etc. The flights are ridiculously expensive, and the train takes forever with lots of changes.

Does anyone have any ides of how to manage this part of the trip? We will rent a car while in Provence, returning it before we take the TGV to Paris. We thought about driving from Rome (or somewhere a short train ride out of Rome) but returning the car in France is soooo expensive.

We have traveled quite a bit in Europe before, but always had budget flights, or fairly uncomplicated train itineraries. This one has been more difficult.

We certainly plan on spending some $$$ on transportation, but do want to economize when we can.

Thanks for any help. I am posting this on the Europe board and tagging it on Italy in France in hopes of some great assistance.

Polly P

Sorry for the duplicate post....it didn't seem to go through the first time, so I redid it. I guess it DID go through!!!

Have you checked flights into Nice? You didn't specify, so I checked Friday, 19 August, and found £120.50GBP/person. As you probably already know, one-way flights are often as expensive as round-trip, and sometimes even more expensive, depending upon the airline.

I checked the rail schedule Roma Termini to Nice Ville. There is one with one change, Genoa, that leaves about 0800 and arrives Nice about 5:45pm, IC all the way. It's a long ride, I know, I've done it before, but the scenery is spectacular in places and the trains are comfortable.

There is also an IC at 0715, with connections in Milan and Ventimiglia, arriving Nice at about 4:30pm.

You could pick up a car in Nice, or continue on to Avignon by rail of course.

I have spent many pleasant days on trains on routes like that with great scenery. Picnic provisions are a must.

Are you willing to fly into Nice? Skyscanner.net shows Easy Jet & Blu Express both have inexpensive flights from Rome.

If you have not already boxed-in yourself with flights, another possibility is to do Rome-Paris-Provence-return from NCE or vice versa. Vueling, for example, has cheap one-way fares for FCO-ORY.

Like Kerouac, I too have spent many pleasant days on routes like that. It offers a relaxing break from the whirlwind of travel, time to catch up on reading up on places I'm heading for, or writing in my travel journal, and often interesting conversation with other travelers, as well as a chance to see places I might never otherwise.

Thanks, Julia1 for the checking you did, and the great suggestions I had not thought of.
And Kerouac and others.........yes, the train ride might be an event in and of itself!! The only negative being that our granddaughter only has 10 days for all of our travel...and we almost hate to spend a day on the train. We will look into the flights to Nice. aimeekm and Greg, the flight info will be helpful. I will check out the websites.

I imagine we could train to Avignon and rent a car there for the 3 days we will be in the area, then return it at the TGV station.

By the way, is the TGV station the same as, or far from the regular main station in Avignon?

Again, thanks so much for all the great replies. I knew I could count on Fodorites!!!

There are two train stations in Avignon...one is for the TGV the other for other trains.

Or rent a car in Nice, either at the airport or train station, and drive north. You will have a car anyway. Why train beyond (north of) St. Remy, Nimes and Pont du Gard to get the car?

Mimar,

The only reason was that the cost of a rental is usually much less expensive when returning to the same location, rather than as a one way rental, ie picking up in Nice and returning in Avignon where we would be for the last day before going to Paris. I haven't actually checked this out yet, that is just what I remember from other rentals. Maybe the additional cost will be less than I think, and much more convenient that taking the train x three people!

Again, thanks for the help (and for the info about the two train stations!)

Polly P, there should never be an extra charge for picking up a rental car in one place in France and dropping off in another in France. Trust me - I've done this 100+ times.

St Cirq - we were just charged €75 for a one-way drop in France in May/June. We rented through Europcar. First time we have ever been charged for a one way drop...Lille to Limoges

Again, thanks to everyone for the advice. I will just go online to see what the drop charge is (or IF there is one). Certainly it would be easier to get the car in Nice and drop in Avignon.

One more question. Would it be more convenient/cheaper to look for a flight from Rome to Marseille rather than Nice. If anyone has any experience with this, I would really appreciate the input. And we have been to Fumicino airport several times. Where is the other one that the low cost carriers fly out of??

jamikins, I'm surprised...but have never rented directly from Europcar.

Polly, the other airport is Ciampino, about 7 miles southeast of Rome.

If you use ROM as the airport code it will capture both Fumicino & Ciampino

PollyP, yes,It would be more convenient flying Rome to Marseilles, but in your original post you wrote that you had already checked that and the flights were, in your words, ridiculously expensive. That is why I suggested flying into Nice. In my experience flights into Nice are usually less expensive than into Marseilles.

Thanks, Julia1,

Now that I know about "skyscanner" I will keep checking for both places; it did look as though Marseille was closer to where we wanted to end up.....it will just be a matter of the difference in fares between Rome and Marseille, and Rome and Nice.

Thanks to all who responded...it was very helpful in my planning.

Polly