Stopping to sightsee with a point-to-point train ticket

The one thing I know about this topic is that if you take a train that requires seat reservations (that's all the TGVs plus some others), you cannot break the journey because you'll only have a reservation for the first leg of the trip. The normal itinerary for traveling between Annecy and Avignon would have you starting on a regional train to Lyon, then taking a TGV to Arles (or perhaps to Marseille, followed by another regional to Arles). So it appears that you could make a stop or two on the way to, or in, Lyon, up to the time limits of ticket rules for regional trains. You could probably put together an all-regional routing, but it would be incredibly slow, and you will still run up against the ticket-rule limit.

Use Google Maps to check the locations of the train stations in the towns you want to visit. Getting back and forth between the train station and the site you want to see may chew up a lot of time.

Oh that's a big help. The one I'm looking at is TGV from Valence Ville to Arles so it is a reserved ticket, not unreserved like the quote says, right? So if I hopped off in Orange I would just give up the rest of the ticket and need to buy another to get to Arles anyway.

As always, double-check all train advice against the Number One passenger, www.seat61.com

If your train ticket includes a seat reservation then your ticket is for a specific train on a specific date at a specific time. Your ticket is not valid on any other train.

When I look at the schedule, I see a direct TER train every 2 hours at 27 past the even hours from Valence Ville to Arles taking 1 hour and 32 minutes, and they all stop at Orange. There are only 2 direct TGV's that do the same, taking 1 hour a 22 minutes. So why pay a premium for a TGV when a TER is only 10 minutes slower, and with the TER, you may be able to make a stop over. The ticket costs 27.20 EUR. And if you can't get a free stopover, the ticket from Valence Ville to Orange is 17.40 EUR, and a ticket from Orange to Arels is 12.60 EUR, so the stopover only costs 2.60 EUR.

This is all really helpful. We've only been to Europe once and it was 18 years ago with rail passes, so this is all new. Sam what site are you using to get that kind of detail?

Amy, try https://en.oui.sncf/en/. Yes, the TGV is a reserved train that doesn't meet the criteria for flexibility. The regional TER tickets state that they are "valid solely on TER trains for the selected date of travel," so you should have all day to complete that route. If you buy in the station, be sure to also validate/compost/date-stamp these tickets before boarding the first train.

I'm advance purchasing a few of our longest and most important point-to-point train tickets.

I hate to make this sound more complicated, but if you go with the advice above about buying TER tickets then be sure you buy the pick-up-in-station tickets, or else just buy them at the machine once you are in France (you can buy all the tix at one time, you don't need to buy one leg each time you travel). There is an important difference between print-at-home tickets, which a lot of online vendors now offer (it is more convenient, though), and pick up at station.

There is no price discount for buying TER tickets in advance. Some hours may be discounted travel, but tickets for those hours will cost the same no matter when purchased.

TGV and Intercités tickets with a seat reservation + TER and Intercités E-Tickets
You can only take the train that you have reserved i.e. the one which you have been issued a ticket for. If you wish to depart earlier or later, you can exchange your ticket or cancel it and re-book it, depending on the fare conditions. Once you have done this, you can then choose a new departure time for your ticket.

Intercités and TER print-at-station tickets without seat reservations
You can take the same type of train, travelling the same route, at any time departing within 7 days of your reserved date. Please be mindful that certain fare conditions do restrict you from taking peak hour trains. For example, if you have a Découverte Senior or Découverte 12-25 fare, then on certain days and times you cannot take any train you wish. Instead you need to consult the following travel calendar to see when you are able to travel i.e. you cannot travel in the periods marked with white, all other times are fine: http://medias.sncf.com/sncfcom/pdf/calendrier/calendriervoyageur.pdf

If you have a Normal fare, then you can use your ticket at any time.

This is from https://faq.trainline.eu/article/146-change-train-departure

So if you buy a pair of TER tickets online that end up being print-at-home, one from Annecy to Orange, the 2nd from Orange to Arles, then you will only be able to take the trains at the time you indicated when you made the reservation. If you buy or pick up in the station, any train is fine (with the exception of the certain hours unless you have the full-fare "normal" ticket). This gives you some flexibility; look up the departing train times, if you're having fun you can stay longer, if you're bored or its pouring rain you can take the next train out.

Bill's post reminded me that there are blue periods and white periods for travel on the TERs. I don't remember which is cheaper. There is usually a little (hard to read) sticker showing the time periods stuck on the front of each ticket-vending machine. The times vary by day of the week. In addition, there are some individual days that have different blue/white periods, and that information isn't on the stickers. If you keep your eyes peeled in the train stations, you'll probably eventually spot a little leaflet with the current year's calendar. It will also be online, but it may take some time to find the one for the year you'll be traveling. The calendars for prior years live on in cyberspace. Including the year in your Google query may help.

Yes, a senior ticket is 60 and up and is a 25% discount. Normally trains that are outside of commuter hours.
I got the details at https://en.oui.sncf/en/tgv
If 60 or older, put that in the passenger information and it will show the discounted price for the eligible trains.

Ok, if I'm understanding all of this...
If we opt to take all TER trains we should wait to buy them in France. We will be there 2 days before this trip - Is there not much risk that the times we need will be full?
Also, I guess because of advanced purchase discounts on the TGV it looks like the least expensive option is to advance purchase the whole trip from Annecy to Alres. That would be TER to Valence then TGV to Arles. The TGV stops in Orange but the price is about the same whether we get the ticket to Orange or on the Arles. So it seems like it might be best to buy the Annecy to Arles ticket. If the weather is bad or we decide we don't want to stop in Orange we're all set to go on through. If we decide to hop out at Orange we will need to get another ticket to Arles but we haven't really lost anything because the advance purchase makes the TVG cheaper than TER anyway. Does that make sense?

If we opt to take all TER trains we should wait to buy them in France. We will be there 2 days before this trip - Is there not much risk that the times we need will be full?

Because TER doesn't require reservations, it also cannot sell out. If crowded, you're allowed to stand until a seat becomes available.

If we decide to hop out at Orange we will need to get another ticket to Arles but we haven't really lost anything because the advance purchase makes the TVG cheaper than TER anyway. Does that make sense?

Yes, trusting that you get the discounted TGV rate you've seen. What happens to the total rate if you do buy both?
The theater at Orange is really worth seeing.

For 2 adult tickets (we are not eligible for any discounts)
Annecy to Arles TER & TGV is $99.64
Annecy to Arles all TER is $135.45
Annecy to Orange TER & TGV is $94.23
Orange to Arles is $29.68
So if we bought the TGV to Arles but stopped in Orange and had to buy another ticket to Arles the total would be $129.32. If we bought them separate to begin with it's $123.91.
We will be arriving in Arles Thursday afternoon or evening, spend Friday in Nimes and Pont du Gard, see the Arles market Saturday morning and leave by noon for Nice. It doesn't leave much time to see Arles. Am I squeezing too much in to stop in Orange or is the theater worth it even though we'll see less of Arles?

I'm of the philosophy that often less is more.

I've been to the theatre in Orange, it is impressive! And the town is nice, larger than we expected. That said, if it was me I'd skip Orange in favor of spending more time in Arles. Arles has ancient Roman ruins too, including a theatre, amphitheatre, and museum that has a restored boat that sank 2000 years ago. Even with a long afternoon you may not have time to visit all of these, let alone the town itself. If you stop an Orange you have your luggage to cart around, in Arles you can drop it at your hotel and head out.