I will be arriving in Marseille in March and want to take the train to Avignon from the airport. Does the train run from the airport or do you have to take a bus to St. Charles? Also, can you buy your tickets at the station? Because of arrival time and customs, not sure when I will be leaving Marseille. Thanks for any information.
Posted by
Green Bay
21153 posts
Looks like direct from the airport more or less every hour. 17.70 euro.
http://www.marseille-airport.com/access-car-parks/access/by-train-or-by-bus
Posted by
Eugene, Oregon...Formerly Ventura, CA
2262 posts
Sam, do you mean direct? Two years ago there was a (free) shuttle that went the short hop from MRS to Vitrolles Station (a km or two). This station was not staffed, bought tickets at machine using chip & pin credit card.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
According to the map Sam linked to the recommended route is still by the shuttle bus to Vitrolles station followed by the train.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Drilling down a bit on Sam's page link, you'll see that they say "Présentez-vous quai Airport Train 20 mn avant le départ du train." So a 5-minute shuttle bus (maybe free?) does take you to Gare Vitrolles Aéroport, but you might still be looking for signage that says trains or SNCF and you show up for the bus at least 20 minutes before the scheduled train departure. Remember that most departures also require a short connection from Avignon's TGV station to the Centre Ville station. Vitrolles is served by TER trains, so you can buy tickets there and not worry about missing a reservation.
Alternatively, you can also take a 10-minute, paid bus service to Aix-en-Provence TGV station to catch a faster, reserved TGV train.