Provence to Amsterdam in July

Fares for direct flights on either Air France or KLM are quite high. You can get cheap tickets on easyJet, but you'll have to connect at London Gatwick, making the trip nearly as long as taking the train. If you book well in advance (up to 90 days allowed), you can get a Prem's fare of €22 for an Avignon-Paris TGV and a €35 Smoove fare for a Paris-Amsterdam Thalys train.

Tim: If I sound confused, it's because I am. We fly from the US into and out of Paris CDG. Spending the bulk of the time in the south of France. Trying to get to the Van Gogh Museum on one end of the trip or the other ... to save the travel time. The northbound trains from Avignon require a change in Brussels Midi. Thinking I might head in that direction a day ahead of my travel mates and meet them back in Paris the night before we return to the US. Thanks for the encouragement around 15 minute transfer time.

Not all northbound TGVs out of Avignon go to Brussels. Some only go as far as Paris. Depending upon your departure time from Avignon, you have a choice of makng a connection in Paris or in Brussels. You can take a TGV from Avignon to Gare de Lyon in Paris. Take the RER D from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord. The 8-minute ride will cost you a single metro ticket (about €1.70). Take a Thalys train from Gare du Nord to Amsterdam. Or take a TGV from Avignon to Bruxelles-Midi and either a Thalys train or an IC train from there to Amsterdam.

What Tim said, but also look into the possibility of direct trains or connections between Avignon and Lille and/or Brussels, avoiding the potentially stressful journey across central Paris from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord.

Tim, what's the secret to securing those low fares? When using the TGV before, and buying tickets from the US, we've paid significantly more for the CDG - Avignon leg. Appreciate your help and advice.

Eric, If you read French, you can book your Avignon-Paris or CDG-Avignon tickets at www.voyages-sncf.com. If you don't, book at www.tgv-europe.com which is a multi-language SNCF site. To keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares, choose Great Britain as your country of residence. Book your Paris-Amsterdam tickets at www.thalys.com.

Thanks, Tim. Great advice. Much appreciated.

Philip: How hard is it to change TGV trains at the Brussels Midi station? Some connections are only 15 minutes. We've used the TGV three times in each direction (CDG - Avignon and Avignon - Paris Nord) ... so we're kind of novices to finding the train and coach numbers on the boards.

It sounds like you're thinking of going directly from CDG to Amsterdam. If so, you can book your CDG-Brussels TGV tickets at www.tgv-europe.com. Book your Brussels-Amsterdam Thalys tickets at www.thalys.com. So long as you have all your tickets in hand and don't have to stand in line at a ticket window at Bruxelles-Midi to retrieve them, 15 minutes is plenty of time to make your connection to go on to Amsterdam. If you don't mind a longer ride, you could wait until you get to Brussels to buy IC train tickets for Brussels-Amsterdam. The price is always the same, no seat reservations are possible, and your tickets are good on any train. Just jump on the next one. They run about once/hour.

I think fifteen minutes would be OK at Brussels Midi as long as the train is on time - it isn't a wildly complicated station. But as Tim says, if you get a slightly slower intercity rather than Thalys train from Brussels to Amsterdam you won't be tied to a specific journey anyway. I think that Tim is being a little too light about the difference between having to cross from one station to another across Paris and changing at Brussels. The RER isn't incredibly reliable and buying tickets at central Paris stations can be a slow process - long queues for either machines or human sellers after a long-distance train gets in.

Thanks, Philip. The travel day to Amsterdam could fall on Bastille Day. So it's probably wise to avoid Paris then anyhow. And I'll be lugging two bags ... making any extra steps undesirable.

Eric, Since I pack light, taking the RER D from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord wouldn't be taxing at all for me. However, if you're going to be lugging heavy luggage, then by all means take a TGV to Brussels and change there for Amsterdam.

Tim: I admire people who pack light. While I'm getting better, I'm not there yet. More power to you.