Traveling to France in September and decided to split our time in Paris and Avignon.
Want to buy train tickets well in advance and am interested in the best route from Cluny-La Sorbonne/Maubert-Mutualité to Avignon and how to best purchase. Currently have both SNCF-Connect and RATP apps.
I use Trainline. You need to get to Gare de Lyon, and you can take the train from there.
The TGV is fast, and if you buy far enough in advance can be very reasonable.
Any local transit website or app will tell you how to get to the train station you need. Or just use Google Maps. For the train, just input Paris as your departure point. The SNCF Connect will tell you which station you need, based on your destination. It should be Gare de Lyon. Personally, if I was taking an early morning train and had luggage, I'd take a taxi to the station.
All fast trains to Avignon will leave from Gare de Lyon in Paris so you need to plan to get there - as you would expect many buses and metro line 1 and 14 stop there.
What you need to know about Avignon is that Avignon TGV is outside of town and Avignon Centre is the train station in the town itself. When you take the TGV from Paris to Avignon you will need to switch the local train for 10 minutes or so to get into Avignon Centre to get to the city.
If you book a ticket to Avignon Centre in the SCNF website you will get both tickets Gare de Lyon > Avignon TGV > Avignon Centre and this is the easiest thing to do. The trains to the city leave from the same level as the fast trains so you just cross the platform, get in the next one to the city and ride a couple of minutes. The station is right across from the city gates into the town and makes a nice entrance to the city itself.
Many people getting off at the TGV station will be transferring to the city train so you can probably just follow along - it's easy.
SCNF is the official train website and App for the French train company.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
There are also 2 daily direct TGV from Paris-Gare de Lyon to Avignon Centre: one in the early morning, and one around 6 PM.
The journey time is about ~30 minutes longer than with the trains to Avignon TGV followed by the local train to Avignon Centre, but if the timings suit you, you might find it more convenient.
And remember that you also have Trenitalia as an option now between Paris Gare de Lyon and Avignon TGV station.
