can anyone tell me how troublesome (if at all) it is to return my rental car at tgv station marseille?
how much time do i need before train departure?
If normal business hours, 8 to 5, it should take about 30 minutes. I might allow an hour since you cannot always plan for unexpected delays.
The troublesome part for us was finding the entrance to the rental car return area. I agree with Frank that you should definitely allow an hour, maybe even an hour and 15 minutes, before your departure if you like to have ample time. That should be a huge cushion, and the return process once we found the rental car return entrance was very quick and easy for us. But we circled 2 or 3 times, which involved going back out on the main freeway to take a large loop to circle back again, before we found the rental car entrance. (Don't be tempted to take the taxi entrance.) It's been a few years since we returned a car there so unfortunately I don't remember specifics about how we ultimately found the entrance (I think we called the local rental car office from the road for advice, so you might do that in advance), and maybe they've more clearly marked it now, but this was definitely a then stressful (and now amusing) travel moment for us. Also, you should check to see if your rental car company closes for lunch at that location; you may not be able to return the car between 12 and 2.
Allow xtra time for the tricky to find entrance.
U may be driving in circles for awhile.