Avignon to Lyon Airport Advice (and how early to get to Lyon airport)

I don't find any connections from Avignon Centre or TGV stations that arrive to Lyon-St Exupery TGV station much before 11:30 on Saturday, July 1. There's also a direct, regional train scheduled to depart Avignon Centre at 7:03 and arrive to Part Dieu at 9:40, which seems a safer bet.

Part Dieu station is easy to navigate; see map. Up the escalator to the short breezeway that crosses the station at street level, out the Porte Alpes, and across the busy street. I assume you'll buy the shuttle ticket online but it's also sold onboard.

Lyon is a great city to spend a night (or two or three) and avoid some of this stress at the last minute. You could drive on the AutoRoute A7 almost all the way to Lyon Perrache train station/rental offices. I have driven into Lyon before with no memorable issues other than one-way streets, but most recently I decided to drop the rental car further south and take a TGV to Lyon (which I booked well ahead at a discount). On the departure morning, I avoided stress by taking a taxi to Part Dieu to catch the airport train. Don't recall any issues in the airport.

Odds are good that your plan to spend your last night in Avignon will work out OK (though I would never, ever, plan a mission-critical 10-minute or less connection). But what if it doesn't?

Just today I took the TGV from Lyon to Dijon. The train reached Lyon (from Avignon, I think) at least 10 minutes late and departed Lyon 20 minutes late. It poked along at a shockingly slow pace for much of the last half of what was supposed to be a 96-minute trip and arrived at least 35 minutes late. On the Departures board at Lyon Part Dieu as I was waiting for platform information there was another TGV listed as over 50 minutes late.

In sum, I would not stay in Avignon the night before your flight.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the platform posted on the monitors for my Lyon-Dijon train was incorrect. To their credit, there were SNCF employees at the base of the escalator, telling folks (only in French, of course) that the platform was wrong. I had to pause to be sure I understood the correct platform ("G" vs. "J"--need to work on the French alphabet). Part Dieu is very busy, noisy and crowded. Eventually we were able to communicate. Their final advice to me was "Run!" I didn't, because I knew the train was coming in late, which they either hadn't noticed or had forgoten in the scramble to deal with the platform error.

Now, how would you feel about having that experience as you're trying to get to the airport for a flight?

Another voice for spending the night in fabulous Lyon.

Interesting comment about Lyon's airport.

"Nothing but bad?"

Seriously??

Huh.

It's an innocuous, mid-sized airport. Better than most, worse, I'm sure, than some. It has some places to get food, is served by light rail and by high-speed train. Hey! It even has restrooms.

It's fine.

Thanks for the inputs so far. We have plans in Avignon that night and as such won't be able to spend it in Lyon (which I agree is the best approach).

Regarding my comments on the Lyon airport,
here is one example of numerous, recent comments by travelers that has colored my thinking:
http://www.airlinequality.com/airport-reviews/lyon-saint-exupery-airport/

-Bob

Got it. I think you have to leave by 7:00 whether you drive or take the regional train. If driving, decide whether you're going to refuel the car or pre-pay for them to do it.

I hope that this EasyJet flight is to another city you're visiting, not trying to connect to an unaffiliated flight home on the same day. Buying a new plane ticket would be much cheaper in the first case than the second.

I was at Lyon Airport one time a year ago. Nothing. Small airport not busy. But France is under state of emergency, I can't figure what you read so bad about it. makes no sense to read reviews about airports; it would seem airlines are something to complain.
But no doubt UK London Heathrow is the worst airport in the world that I've been to. Go there and then you will see a bad airport

I flew in and out of Lyon airport recently, and have done so before. I didn't see or experience anything that would cause me to warn someone about the airport. We had to go through passport control both ways, despite each flight being a Schengen flight (presumably due to the continuing state of emergency), yet that didn't cause an excessive delay. I don't remember exactly how long before our flight we got to the airport, but it was definitely less than 2 hours, and we got to the gate area well ahead of boarding time. One note: if you do drive, leave a little extra time because the rental return location requires taking a shuttle to the terminal.