Burgundy & Provence train trip

Air France shuttle Line 4 from CDG to Montparnasse stops at Gare de Lyon.
http://en.lescarsairfrance.com/lignes-horaires/ligne-cdg-aeroport-paris-gare-montparnasse.html

Rather than staying in 4 locations, I would do everything from one central location - Avignon, or even Arles.
Include Nimes and the Pont du Gard at the expense of Marseille.

Tuesday am - Lyon to Avignon (6)
Tuesday pm - Avignon sights
Wednesday – Les Baux & St Remy
Thursday – Orange & Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
Friday – Nimes & Pont du Gard
Saturday – Arles
Sunday – Aix-en-Provence
Monday am – Avignon sights
Monday pm – Train from Avignon to Paris (1)
Tuesday – Fly home from Paris

Thank you David for your prompt reply! From your itinerary, are you suggesting a 2 days' stay in Lyon prior to arriving to Provence?

I don't have experience in either Burgundy or Lyon, so I'll let you be guided by others.

Lyon is 1hr44min by TER local train from Beaune, with hourly departures. An early train from Beaune on the Monday for a one night stay in Lyon could give you about 24 hours on the ground there.
Something to consider at least.

A further option (after 5 nights in Avignon), including Marseille, and flying from there to Paris ...
Sunday – Train from Avignon to Aix-en-Provence (1 night)
Monday am – Train to Marseille, store luggage at station and see sights
Monday pm – Evening flight from Marseille to Paris (1)
Tuesday – Fly home from Paris

Provence Train Map ... http://www.beyond.fr/map/ter_paca.html

We like your idea on giving Lyon a day of visit. Your further option sounds to work for us better. Thanks!
Would you recommend us to buy all the train tickets (long- and short-distant) before our trip?

I think you would really only benefit by booking on TGV for ...
Paris > Beaune
Lyon > Avignon
and perhaps Avignon > Aix-en-Provence if using TGV (others may know more on this one)

ps. Only too happy to help a Commonwealth 'cousin'.
You'll have to get on board the new Air Canada service to Brisbane and come visit us down here.

Both of those areas are dotted with beautiful villages served by car. Any chance you'd be up for driving?

David: We appreciate very much for the prompt help from a commonwealth "cousin"!
Susan & Monte: Somehow we have not thought about driving for this trip, but thanks for the tips!
Besides the convenient high-end hotels at CDG, any suggestion on where to stay upon arriving into CDG at 9pm before taking a train from Gare de Lyon the next day?

Last Air France shuttle from CDG to Gare de Lyon at 2230.
http://en.lescarsairfrance.com/lignes-horaires/ligne-cdg-aeroport-paris-gare-montparnasse.html

3 star option located close to the station...
http://www.hotelelyseegaredelyon.com/en/index.php

If you don't process thru the airport in time for transport then a taxi may be required - others might advise here.

Thank you David for those helpful information!
Further reading guides us to reconsider Susan & Monte’s suggestion on driving in Burgundy & Provence. With a car, we definitely can see more of the region and making use of the time there than returning back to Avignon (home-base) every night. However it comes with the uncertainty that we might not be able to get into a hotel without making a booking in advance. Any advice?
Is it possible to make a loop tour of the Provencal hill towns (Arles –> Les Baux –> St.-Remy –> Nimes –> Avignon –> Isle-sur-la-Sorgue –> Orange -> Vaison-la-Romaine -> Avignon) in 4-5 days by car?

To book hotels or not? That really depends on your travel style. I prefer to book. The places you mention aren't really far apart, so you can make day trips and not move your luggage every day. I'm a planner, so I usually know about how long I want to spend in a particular place so I don't mind the loss of flexibility.

Keep in mind that early May has a lot of holidays so if your travel includes May, it will be busier then.

When we visited Provence 2 years ago, we spent 2 nights in Avignon (full day in Avignon), next day went to Orange on way to Vaison (stayed 2 nights), then 4 nights in Arles (day to Pont du Gard and Uzes, day to Nimes and Carmargue, day to Les Baux and in Arles). We did not travel at a fast pace. This worked well for us.

Thank you Eef for your helpful input and tips. I suppose you toured those Provencal villages and sights by car, correct? I see that you had Arles as your home base for day trips to its nearby sights.

Yes, we did have a car. We did not have any troubles with parking in Arles or anywhere else. Arles is a good base if you want to use the train. I think the RS guidebook describes the town well. For just sitting around an outdoor cafe, I would choose Avignon, but for a convenient town to get to surrounding areas, Arles works very well. You can easily get to Nimes, Avignon, Orange from Arles by train. I picked Avignon to start because I could reach it directly from CDG.

If you really want to see villages, you need a car. A car is convenient to get to Vaison. Vaison is a nice town, with an interesting market and interesting Roman ruins, esp. if you haven't see excavated Roman towns in other places. It has an awesome Roman bridge. But, if you want to see more spectacular Roman ruins, you could stick to Orange for its theater, Nimes and Arles. Don't miss Pont du Gard. Get there early for the museum (we spent a long time there). The Pont du Gard itself is huge and there are many vantage points, so it can absorb crowds.

I stayed in Arles as a base 30 years ago and did every thing by train. :) So, I've done Arles both ways.

On this last trip, we were traveling with kids, so didn't want to visit vineyards. We drove through some villages on our way from Vaison to Arles. I'm saving villages and wine for another trip.

Thank you Eef for sharing your travel experience. Because of non-availability of some hotels that we pick and time constraint, our schedule to the countryside by car has turned topsy turvy. We cannot do a home base in neither Arles nor Avignon but have to do a roundabout tour of the region.
Start from Arles, take a train to Avignon to pick up the car, then drive directly to Vaison la Romaine and stay there 2 nights.

From Vaison la Romaine, drive to Orange and stay there 2 nights. Once arrived in Orange, tour the town; 2nd day drive to Pont du Gard and Les Baux.
From Orange, drive to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, may be Roussillon, then drive to Avignon to return the car.
From Avignon, take a train to Marseille, store luggage at station & see sights, stay overnight.
From Marseille, take a pre-booked flight to Paris, stay 2 nights.
From Paris, fly home.
Hope it works!

Makes no sense to drop the car in Avignon, train south to Marseille, hang around the airport, land in Paris, transfer into the city. You could be in the middle of Paris by high speed train from Avignon earlier than when you'd check in for the flight. As much as I like Marseille, you should drop it and just take the TGV fron Avignon to Paris Gare de Lyon if your plan now is two nights in Paris.

I'm not sure I understand the beginning of your itinerary. How are you getting to Arles? You're coming from Burgundy, right? You could get to Vaison from either Arles or Avignon, so you could pick up a car in Arles and drive directly, or you could take the train to Avignon, pick up a car there and go directly to Avignon. Avignon has the advantage of having a TGV station, and that station is out of town, so it's an easy place to pick up a car and go someplace else. (The Arles train station is on the north side of town, outside the walls, so it's not bad either. although I have no experience renting from there.) Do you intend to look at either Arles or Avignon, or just use as a car pick-up-place?

Hi Bets, wish I asked for advice before planning the trip! Anyways, our air tickets from MRS to CDG are linked to our air tickets home from CDG. If we cancel the first leg, chances are the airline might cancel our second leg going home from CDG (according to our travel agent). So we just have to work out something from there. With just 2/3 day in Marseille, any suggestion on what to see?

Hi Eef, here's our edited (could be final) itinerary:
Arrival into CDG, take train to Lyon (2)
From Lyon, take train to Beaune (3) - rent a car to do the vineyard routes
From Beaune, take train to Arles (2)
From Arles, take train to Avignon (2)
From Avignon, rent a car to Vaison la Romaine (2)
From Vaison la Romaine, drive to Orange (2)
From Orange, drive to Pont du Gard, Les Baux
From Orange, drive to Isle sur la Sorgue then Avignon where we return the car
From Avignon, take train to Marseille (1)
From Marseille, fly to Paris (2)
From Paris, fly home

We choose to rent a car from Avignon because it seems to have more cars available (including automatic transmission which we are more comfortable in driving) and we do not want to drop it off to another location, if possible.

I'm still not sure why you take the train to Arles and then another train to Avignon. Maybe that's because you are coming from Beaune. In any event, there are 2 stations for Avignon. You want the TGV station for car rental. There are a lot of rental offices just outside the station. It's an easy place to get started. Hope you have a good trip!