We will be traveling from Barcelona via train, and heading to a VRBO in St-Remy-de-Provence. While Avignon is 20-25 minutes closer to St Remy, we would likely arrive in Nimes at least an hour earlier when you factor in the transfer and train from Nimes to Avignon. If prices are about the same, does it make sense to rent a car in Nimes? I'm unclear if it is as good a place to rent as the Avignon TGV station, or if one drive is easier than another.
Thanks in advance.
Driving out of Avignon or Nimes can be unexpectedly (to the uninitiated) stressful. I've used the workaround of renting from the car rental places next to the TGV stations located, not in the city core train stations, but at the TGV stations which often bypass the city cores and are located outside the main cities--driving away from, and returning, are much easier. Why rent from the city center when you don't have to.
A few years ago we dropped off a rental car in Nimes; the location was in the parking lot of the train station, near the center of town. While driving around that part of town might be a little tricky, all you need is a good idea of where you are going before starting out.
I was definitely planning to pick up at the Nimes or Avignon TGV stations, not the centers of town. So the question is--which makes the most sense, Nimes or Avignon, when taking the train from Barcelona and heading to St. Remy?
If it were me, I would want to pick the car up at Nimes so I could stop at the Pont du Gard on my way to St Remy.
We have picked up and returned to Avignon TGV twice for stays in St Rèmy -- fairly easy drives and well-laid-out rental area.
Thank you, Laura B. It sounds to me like it's best to head straight to St Remy and not see sights with luggage in the car. I will have 5 days in Provence so that will be time to return to Pont du Gard, Nimes, Avignon, etc.
Bob,
Thank you for the Pont du Gard recommendation. We won't miss it. Have you picked up at Nimes TGV? Was it easy to pick up and drive from there?
I've navigated Nimes but avoided Avignon because of the traffic. I'd suggest Nimes and agree with Bob suggestion to visit Pont du Gard.
Regarding luggage in car, we were apprehensive about being given a station wagon-type car, but ours came with an opaque flap you could draw down to cover the rear compartment, so luggage was not visible to outsiders. The rental company was Hertz. I think it was a Volvo; it definitely had an automatic transmission as that was our top priority.
We too are coming from Barcelona on train and picking up our rental car in Nîmes. Seems fairly straightforward. From there traveling to Vaison La Romaine. We will be there in mid June for nine nights.
Very excited. Hertz is who we are using. Had a good experience with them when picking up at CDG last year and dropping off at the train station in Bordeaux. Hopefully we’ll have a good experience again with Hertz. Happy travels!
In 2014, we traveled from Barcelona to Provence by train and picked up our car in Nimes. It was quite easy. We rented from whichever company it is (Sixt, I think but am not sure) that had a location in the station and the car was in the parking structure that is part of the station. If you have a GPS, it is quite easy to get to the road to Saint Remy and even if you do not, if you know how to read a map and understand the concept of one-way streets, you will be fine. The streets are all one way coming out of the station but it is quite easy to navigate. We rented from Nimes because the train that worked for our schedule stopped only in Nimes. It would have been a shorter drive from Avignon but only one direct train from Barcelona was stopping there on the day that we were traveling and it left late in the afternoon and we did not want to travel to Valence to make a transfer to get to Avignon. So, the shorter easier drive from Avignon was offset by the longer train trip to Avignon and we decided to pick up the car from Nimes. By the way, I think that Nimes has only one train station.
Nimes train station (where TGV arrives) is in the center of the city, with lots of traffic and one way streets, but navigating outbound should be a little easier than inbound. Avignon TGV station is newer, legitimately outside the city, and a pretty direct, shorter drive to St. Remy, which would be my preference, as long as the rental office is open at the time that you need.
Train ticket prices won't be much different if booking well ahead but, depending on date and time, you might need an additional connection to reach Avignon by train.
