Avignon, what am I missing?

I was there for 5 nights last week. I had a very nice meal at La Fourchette (make a reservation). I also enjoyed some takeaway meals from the Les Halles food market.

https://guide.michelin.com/en/provence-alpes-cote-dazur/avignon/restaurant/la-fourchette

I can’t say that Avignon is my favorite place in France, but I didn’t find Avignon to be dark or dirty nor did I see a lot of homeless people loitering. I did not use the bus station. I did take the train for day trips to Marseille and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Aix is known as being a wealthier town.

Nothing to love as far as I'm concerned. Locals complained to me about the local government and warned us not to move there. On the other hand, I know a couple of Americans who love living there but they are theater people and Avignon has a theater festival yearly.

However, right now there is an interesting sculpture exhibit inside the Palais des Papes. And at the Petit Palais with a collection of Italian art. I was in Aix has been redeveloped better than ever. It has always been a wealthy town with a vibrant university population. Avignon is...well, you said it, and I happen to agree.
It's recommended here as a transportation hub,

Enjoy your book and the kitty. Edit: yes, there are lots of homeless with dogs, but there are lots where I live too. The south is warmer.

We only spent a half day in Avignon in 2019 but it was nothing like you described when we walked from the train station to Palais des Papes. We loved the Palais. They give you a tablet to carry around with you as an audio/video guide so you can see what it would have looked like during the time it was the headquarters of the catholic church. Afterwards we wandered up and down some streets for an hour or so on our way back to the train station. It was an afternoon well spent.

Adding to my prior post …

As far as sights, I visited the
- Palais des Papes - As Allan stated, they have a tablet that shows images of what the palace would have looked like. Religious history isn’t really my thing, so while I thought this was worthwhile it wasn’t my favorite
- the Avignon bridge
- the Angladon Museum - small collection of art with some pieces by Van Gogh, Degas, etc.
- Two RS walks that are in the RS Provence guide.

My AirBnB host left a list of restaurant suggestions and La Fourchette was on the list as an ”institution for the Avignonais.”. She specifically said to avoid the restaurants on Place d’ Horloge. A couple places that she listed that I did not try were L’Agape, Le Barrio, Le Moutadier, Numero 75, L’Offset.

Sometimes it is just your mood on the day of a visit, but we thought it was a dud when we visited. The Palace of the Popes has all the charm of a parking garage. Virtually all artifacts of interest are gone. The half bridge is cute. Then meh. but again -- ones mood and a brief visit and you can easily find anyplace disappointing.

I agree the bus station is not a place to enjoy there! We liked the relaxed feeling of the city, the street between the train station and center, a small market, etc.

One day we also took a train over to Nimes one day to see the Le Maison Carree, the amplitheater, and the Temple of Diana.

Another day we took the bus out to the Pont du Gard.

I would ask the front desk clerk what they recommend, especially any day tours.

Avignon is a great base for the region and I do find the old town quite pleasant, but it is indeed quite rough around the edges and does not have that many sights in itself. You are not alone! I still recommend Avignon as a hub for car-less travellers, though.

The funny thing is, when I visited the area in 2017, I spent my nights in Arles and had not really planned to visit Avignon at all, since it seemed of little interest, but I passed through on the way to a day trip to Pont du Gard. I wound up spending a few hours in Avignon that day and liked it much better than expected. Not that it was my favorite town in France - it was definitely more touristy than Arles, but it was very pleasant and a certain charm. It felt alive, at least. By contrast, Arles - which is a much more interesting town than Avignon, I'd say - felt like it closed after 5pm after the workers went home. it felt deadly dull at night, a place where some restaurants were open but it wasn't clear until you walked up to the door. I guess all of the other tourists were staying in Avignon LOL.

I've found that my expectations mean a lot in how much I wind up liking a place. I had low expectations for Avignon but was pleasantly (if modestly) surprised; I had high expectations for Arles but was a little disappointed.

It is too bad that Avignon has become a little gritty. Bus Stations can be iffy because of public access anywhere in the world. I was in Avignon long ago as a college student on a chartered bus and another time by train on my way to Nice. Since then everywhere has changed because of population growth and refrugees. Vancouver BC has pay gates or security watching all the transportation centers to limit access of non-passengers. Avignon, because of the Pope's Palace Square has historically attracted both Pilgrims and the "Needy". We were told to be wary of crowds because of "crimes of opportunity." My sister-in-law was a pickpocket target in Paris, because someone was watching tourists coming out of a Bank making money exchanges. Another RS poster has mentioned that Barcelona has similar things happening in the large crowds of tourists. Enjoy your visits but be aware.

I’ll take any opportunity to run Avignon down. I can’t think of a town I enjoyed less, and I was there for days. I found it pretty skeezy to boot.

Honestly, if you’re not headed to Arles after this then take the train to Arles for the day. There’s actual sights to see there: the amphitheater, the Roman Museum, and generally more pleasant to walk around. The Papal Palace in Avignon is one of Europe’s great non-sights. There is quite literally nothing inside. And the bridge? You’ll quickly be bored enough to pay way too much for the opportunity to walk out there and hate yourself for doing it.

That said, I stopped on the very pleasant Place de Corps-Saints at least one a day. L’Epicure de Ginette was the one place I could count on. The good news is you’re not there long. Rest your feet and clear your mind.

We had the added insult of being there during the big annual Film Festival. There were advert posters on every surface, people walking around in costume shoving cards at you to promote their thing, trash everywhere. Thankfully we were only there two nights.
(We did not choose the place and time, we were on a Rick Steves My Way tour, and the tour manager seemed surprised to find the chaos on our arrival. Mind you, this event has been happening for decades.)

@Celeste
Was this the famous theater festival that fills every possible space, hotel, and restaurant in Avignon and has been in existence in summer for about 60 years. The dates are known well in advance. That was a pretty big fail on the tour manager not to know about le Festival d'Avignon, and amazing that RSE was able to secure hotel rooms for that period.

Thanks, everyone for responses both pro & con. This is the end of my trip and the only expectation was to walk around, explore & maybe buy some Provence gifts. I have been in France for almost a month & have been sick this past week. In spite of that I managed to get out & walk around each day for a couple hours & sit at an outdoor Cafe & watch the world go by. Only here have I been disappointed & I'm feeling better. Been to Arles, Pont du Gard, Nice ,etc & I've seen many lovely places. I'm not a foodie, but my hotel also recommended L'epicerie. If I'm up to it today I'll give it a try. I really appreciate your responses.

Avignon improved today. The secret is to walk to Palace of the Pope's & sit in the courtyard in front of, enjoy a petite dejeuner, then take the little tourist train so u can see the sights while bumping along. After I knew where cute little shopping areas were & I successfully found a gift for my condo sitter. And, I'm feeling better & it is cooler today.

Way to power through. Being under the weather doesn’t help, and you’re solo? Maintaining a positive attitude can be really tough when you’re on your own and things don’t go your way. It’s a travel skill all its own. You should feel good about turning it around. :)

@bets -
That's the one. We were unpleasantly surprised. The hotel was the absolute worst of any of those we stayed in over two RS MyWay tours, and I seem to recall I looked it up a year or so later and it had been remodeled (this was in 2016). The bus had to park outside the wall near the train station for us to unload because the parade was about to start, which passed in front of our hotel. It was chaos! We learned on that trip that we do independent travel just fine and we'll probably never take another tour, in Europe at least.

@ Celeste, what hotel did you stay at in Avignon? I was at Hotel Boquier which was VERY basic, but owner was kind. My only complaint was the towels were dingy looking. They appeared to be clean. Bed linen was shiny white though.