Getting from Avignon to Paris

Fly to Bordeaux from Marseille or fly Marseille to Rennes and take the bus to Mt St Michel and train to Bayeux and so on.

Or go visit Arles Nimes and Pont du Gard (easily accessible by bus) nearby.

The Tourist Information Center in Avignon also has tours 4-8 hours to the nearby most beautiful villages in Provence France like Gordes, Les Baux, Rousillon

You can easily fill those days in Provence, Avignon, Arles,St-Remy, Les Baux, the Luberon, etc. So much to see and explore.You are skipping one of the most beautiful and important regions of France.
If you end up going to Normandy, Stay in Bayeux NOT in Caen.
Save Bordeux for another trip. I would also save Normandy.

Regarding the comment above, Marseille isn't particularly dangerous as long as you avoid some outlying, untouristy neighborhoods and exert usual "solo female" caution. Same as Paris or any other large city really. And the OP already has it on her itinerary anyway.

Why Bordeaux? I'm with the stay in Provence folks. Don't miss the Pont du Gard.

Hi everyone - thank you for the responses!

My initial plan for the trip was to backpack around the country for 3 weeks, starting and ending in Paris and hitting Normandy, Bordeaux, Toulouse, the Riviera, Lyon, and Chamonix. I've been to Paris twice before so hadn't anticipated spending much time in the city. However, my friend (who has never been to Europe) decided to join so we threw in 3 days in Paris and 3 days in Amsterdam followed by 5 days on the Riviera before she flies home, leaving me with about 6 days on my own. I was hoping to squeeze in the rest of the country that I had initially planned on visiting on my own but it is looking like I'll have to save that for another trip!

It is sounding like most of you would recommend that I make Avignon my home base for those days and travel around the area. 2 questions about this - would it be better to save that for an earlier summer trip so that I can see the lavender/sunflower fields? Also, would you recommend that I rent a car instead of relying on public transit?

Say I decide not to go to Avignon - is it worth it for me to go to Toulouse and Bordeaux? Or to Lyon? TOO MANY OPTIONS, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Or the Dordogne/Lot with a car, dropping the car in Bordeaux in the end? Bordeaux is a large, handsome city, but I think few people would suggest a foreign visitor choose it over the Dordogne, the Lot, St. Emilion, etc. The amount of time you have sounds about right for that area. A car will be massively helpful, though you can get to some places by public transportation.

If you're interested in the caves with prehistoric paintings, you'll need to do research on how to get access. You usually cannot just show up and waltz in.

I liked both Lyon and Toulouse as well. I think as a stand-alone destination Lyon clearly has more to offer than Bordeaux. Probably more than Toulouse also, but there's cool stuff in Albi, relatively near Toulouse.

The Toulouse/Albi area was punishingly hot during my summer visit in 2017. I wouldn't risk a non-air-conditioned room in that area in September.