This guide explains the various options for taking a high speed train from Paris to Avignon.

Final Destination: Mirimas
All trains also call at: Orange, Montellimar and Arles.

These are the direct trains from Paris to the station closest to central Avignon; though they are (much) slower than the trains to Avignon TGV station because they leave the Paris to Marseille line north of Valence; so spend around an hour travelling on the conventional tracks.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but bookings can open sooner when SNCF is running a promotion.

When booking 2nd class tickets only one type of ticket will be available per departure, discounted 'Prems' tickets or 'Seconde' tickets; though the price of Seconde tickets are also typically cheaper when they are first placed on sale.
When booking 1st class tickets there will be a choice of Premiere tickets and Business Premiere tickets.

The two key T&Cs of booking Prems, Seconde, or Premiere tickets are:

1. Up until two days prior to departure, these types of tickets can be refunded for no additional charge (big tick), but a €15 fee will be payable for making a refund in the two days prior to departure.
2. It's also possible to exchange tickets to an alternative departure on the same journey, but you will have to pay any difference in price between the cost you paid and the cost at the time of the exchange.

Though if you book Business Premiere tickets, the key T&Cs are that tickets can be exchanged and refunded free of charge up to 30 minutes after departure, so if you get to the station just too late to miss the train you were originally booked on to, you won't lose out financially.

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey, but rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding these TGV trains.

The price is dictated by demand per departure, so book ahead and try and be flexible re: your departure and arrival times, as trains leaving earlier or later can be cheaper.

Targeting these trains:

To find these direct trains to Avignon Centre more easily when booking tickets, select 'Avignon Centre' as the 'To' station - and use the options to filter by direct trains on the respective website.

However, if your final destination in Avignon town centre, it’s often worthwhile comparing journey and ticket options to both Avignon TGV station AND Avignon Centre station.
The trains to Avignon TGV tend to be cheaper than these direct trains to Avignon Centre station.
To make the comparison use Avignon as the generic destination and don't tick the direct train options.

Most of the options you will then see  for Paris to Avignon Centre journeys will involve taking a TGV from Paris to Avignon TGV station and connecting there into a TER train on to Avignon Centre.

If the TER train is departing from Avignon TGV within 30 mins of the arrival of the train from Paris, then book the complete Paris to Avignon Centre journey (via Avignon TGV) online.
However, if the waiting time is more than 30 mins, making the journey to Avignon town centre by bus may be faster.

So in these instances (a connecting time of more than 30 mins) book the Paris to Avignon TGV journey online; then on arrival at Avignon TGV station, visit its Accueil/Information desk and enquire whether the train or bus will be the best option for reaching the city centre.
If the train is the best option, then book a ticket for the train journey to Avignon Centre on arrival at Avignon TGV.

These are the TGV InOui trains to Avignon TGV station,

Avignon TGV station is 6km from the city centre.
It is now linked to Avignon Centre station by up to 2 x TER trains per hour, but if you have to wait more than 30 mins for one of these trains, it's worth checking out the times of the buses.

If you do subsequently opt to take the train between Avignon TGV and Avignon Centre stations, you will need to purchase a ticket for it on arrival at Avignon TGV.
Or there are multiple other booking options - see the 'Ticket Information' below.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but bookings can open sooner when SNCF is running a promotion.

When booking 2nd class tickets only one type of ticket will be available per departure, discounted 'Prems' tickets or 'Seconde' tickets; though the price of Seconde tickets are also typically cheaper when they are first placed on sale.
When booking 1st class tickets there will be a choice of Premiere tickets and Business Premiere tickets.

The two key T&Cs of booking Prems, Seconde, or Premiere tickets are:

1. Up until two days prior to departure, these types of tickets can be refunded for no additional charge (big tick), but a €15 fee will be payable for making a refund in the two days prior to departure.
2. It's also possible to exchange tickets to an alternative departure on the same journey, but you will have to pay any difference in price between the cost you paid and the cost at the time of the exchange.

Though if you book Business Premiere tickets, the key T&Cs are that tickets can be exchanged and refunded free of charge up to 30 minutes after departure, so if you get to the station just too late to miss the train you were originally booked on to, you won't lose out financially.

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey, but rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding these TGV trains.

The price is dictated by demand per departure, so book ahead and try and be flexible re: your departure and arrival times, as trains leaving earlier or later can be cheaper.

Expect to pay more for this journey between the beginning of June and mid-September, particularly if you will be travelling on a Friday or Saturday, as the most heavily discounted tickets inevitably sell out faster at times of particularly high demand.

Selecting the station when booking:

Avignon has two stations and this matters when booking tickets:

(1) Avignon TGV, which is on the edge of the city and served by these trains

(2) Avignon Centre, which lives up to its name as it is adjacent to the city centre; and is served by less frequent direct trains from Paris.

Travelling to Avignon TGV station:

If you know that Avignon TGV is your optimum final destination, then when looking for tickets on SNCF select it as a specific station; this should filter out the options to Avignon Centre making these trains to Avignon TGV easier to find.

Travelling to Avignon city centre:

If your final destination is in Avignon city centre, it’s worthwhile comparing journey and ticket options to both Avignon TGV and Avignon Centre stations.
Select Avignon Centre as the 'To' station on SNCF Connect.

A few of the options you will then see will be for the direct TGVs between Paris and Avignon Centre.
However, most of the options you will see for Paris to Avignon Centre journeys, will involve taking a TGV from Paris to Avignon TGV station; and connecting there into a TER train on to Avignon Centre.
And those journeys with a change of train at Avignon TGV  tend to be cheaper than the direct trains to Avignon Centre.

IF the TER train is departing from Avignon TGV within 30 mins of the arrival of the train from Paris, then book this end-to-end journey from Paris to Avignon Centre station via Avignon TGV station online.

However, IF the waiting time between trains at Avignon TGV station is more than 30 mins, making the journey to Avignon town centre by bus may be faster.

So in those instances (a connecting time of more than 30 mins) book the Paris to Avignon TGV journey online; and then on arrival at Avignon station visit its Accueil/Information desk and enquire whether the train or bus, will be the best option for reaching the city centre.
Then if need be book tickets for the train on to Avignon Centre on arrival at Avignon TGV station.

When making a train journey from central Paris to Avignon TGV station, you now have a choice of travelling by standard TGV InOui trains or by these Ougio trains.

So you can now opt to save money, but have a much more basic on board experience, and travel on a Ouigo.

If you do opt to travel from Paris to Avignon by these Ouigo trains, you should aim to be at the Gare De Lyon, 30 mins before the train is due to depart.

And that's because you need to pass through 'reception' before boarding a Ouigo train - staff need to verify that all passengers are abiding by the 'rules' of travelling on a Ouigo train, no additional un-booked luggage, no bikes etc.

Online bookings usually open: up to 9 months ahead of the travel date

Tickets for the alternative service of TGV InOui trains are usually made available 4 months ahead, so if you look up this journey more than 4 months ahead on SNCF Connect, you may only see these Ouigo services, but they are not the only option on this route.

What is particularly worth being aware of when booking tickets for journeys by Ouigo train services, is that:

• Premiere/1st class tickets are not available.
• Reservations are included when booking, as they are on the TGV InOui trains, but you can opt to pay additional fess, or book a more expensive type of ticket to select a specific seat (more info is available on the Ouigo 'Train Guide').
• The more expensive type of tickets also include an additional luggage allowance, click the Ouigo 'Train Guide' to access more info on the luggage allowances on Ouigo trains; they're more restrictive than on a TGV InOui train.
• You cannot book or collect tickets for Ouigo trains at stations.
• The two key T&Cs of booking either of the two types of ticket available for journeys by Ouigo trains are:

1. The tickets are not refundable.
2. Exchanges to alternative departures are possible until 1 hour before the beginning of the boarding procedure, but they incur a fee of €10 per passenger, with any price difference between the old and new ticket(s) also added to this fee.

Though these factors, and more, are why you can make big savings by opting to travel by these Ouigo trains and not on the standard TGV InOui trains.

Eurail and InterRail Pass Users:

Rail passes cannot be used on Ouigo trains, but if you will be travelling with a 2nd class pass, our guide to using rail passes in France, explains why taking a Ouigo train can be worth considering.