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Booking travel for side trips in Provence and also French Riviera

Hello,

My husband and I will be traveling in France throughout mid-July. For part of our trip we are staying a few nights in Arles, but would like to take a day trip to Avignon. Should we book our (bus) travel to/from Avignon before we leave the U.S. for our trip in France or can we just get bus tickets once we are there?

We are also staying in Antibes for part of our trip, and are planning a day trip to Nice. Same question as above, should we book our travel to Nice prior to leaving for France or can we book tickets once we're there?

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11294 posts

From Arles to Avignon you would take a train; no advance booking is necessary as these trains are unreserved. I don't even know if there's a bus.

From Nice to Antibes, you can take the bus, but it takes about twice as long as the train, so train is the way to go. These trains run twice an hour, and the last train back to Nice is about 11 PM. Again, these trains are unreserved.

If you want to buy train tickets from machines, note that they don't take bills or swipe credit cards. And while the ticket windows are open during the day, they close later in the evening. So, buy a round trip ticket at the start of the daytrip, and either bring enough coins, or allow time to wait in ticket lines.

Don't forget to validate your train tickets in the machines (ka-THUNK) before boarding.