The short version
- Avignon is about 2 hours 40 from Paris Gare de Lyon by TGV. The TGV station is 6 kilometers outside the walls, with a shuttle train to Avignon Centre in a few minutes; Centre station is two minutes from the walls and a 15-minute walk from the Palais.
- Our Best of Provence in Three Days meets your train at Avignon TGV: two nights in a four-star hotel inside the walls, the Palais and the bridge on your first afternoon with the tickets in hand, a full day through Roussillon, Gordes, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Saint-Rémy, the Pont du Gard and Les Baux, and a last morning at two Châteauneuf-du-Pape cellars before the afternoon train, $1,925 per person. One Night in Provence, $775, does Orange and Châteauneuf one afternoon and Arles, Les Baux and Saint-Rémy the next day.
- The Palais des Papes, the largest Gothic palace in Europe, opens every day of the year, 9:00 to 19:00 until November 1 and 10:00 to 17:00 from November 2 to December 18; €16, or €19.50 with the gardens and the bridge, under-10s free. A new route through rooms never shown before opened in May 2026, with a free web app on your phone, and the renovation runs to spring 2027.
- The Pont Saint-Bénézet, four arches of the 22 that crossed the Rhône in 1185, is €6 on the same hours, about 35 minutes. The Rocher des Doms garden above it is free, with the view over the bridge, the river and Mont Ventoux, and a free river shuttle to the Île de la Barthelasse at its foot. The Petit Palais on the square, 300 Italian primitives and a Botticelli, is free, closed Monday and from November 16 to 30.
- The Provence everyone comes for is outside the walls and mostly off the bus map. Saint-Rémy is a roughly hourly Zou! bus, Les Baux a few of those runs, Orange a 15-minute train, the Pont du Gard a bus whose timetable we could not find published, and Gordes two buses with a change at Coustellet. Sénanque, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Fontaine-de-Vaucluse have no practical service from Avignon.
- The Festival d’Avignon, the 80th, filled the town from July 4 to 25, 2026; the 81st is announced for July 2027. Les Halles on place Pie is the covered market, every morning but Monday behind Patrick Blanc’s living wall, with a free chef’s demonstration on Saturdays at 11:00; our cooking classes start there.
What to see
Seven popes ruled from Avignon between 1309 and 1377, and the palace they left is two palaces joined, Benedict XII’s plain one and Clement VI’s grand one: the Grande Audience, the Grand Tinel banqueting hall, the pope’s bedchamber with its painted birds and vines, and the Chambre du Cerf with its hunting frescoes, where photographs are not allowed. Give it two hours and expect stairs; there is no wheelchair route. Until November 15, 2026 the Korean artist Lee Ufan has work through the rooms. The City Pass, €24 for 24 hours or €32 for 48, adds nine monuments and museums in Avignon and Villeneuve across the river, and covers the Palais, the gardens and the bridge.
The bridge is the one from the song, begun in 1177 by the shepherd Bénézet according to the legend, with the chapel of Saint-Nicolas on its second pier; a lift takes strollers and wheelchairs up. The walls, 4.3 kilometers begun in 1355 under Innocent VI, are free to walk from the bridge entrance up to the Rocher des Doms. Inside them, place de l’Horloge is the café square where our hotel stands, Les Halles the market, and rue des Teinturiers the lane with the waterwheels. UNESCO listed the palace, the bridge and the old city together in 1995.
The ring around Avignon is the second day. The Pont du Gard, 21 kilometers west, is free to walk across and under; the museum is €8 and shut from November to February, the top tier is a guided climb at €15, and the car park €9 a day. Les Baux is a village 245 meters up on a spur of the Alpilles with the ruined château, €10, on top and the Carrières des Lumières, the projected-art show in the old quarry, €16.50, open every day of the year, with Matisse from October 9, 2026. Saint-Rémy has Les Antiques, the Roman arch and mausoleum free by the road, Glanum behind them, €9, closed Monday from October to March, and Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, where Van Gogh painted from May 1889 to May 1890, €10 in cash only.
The Luberon is the other half of the day: Gordes stacked on its cliff with a Tuesday market, the abbey of Sénanque in the valley below it, €8 with a guide in French or a tablet, no Sunday mornings and the lavender off-limits, Roussillon’s ochre trail, €3.50, and the spring at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. On Sundays the six-day trip swaps a stop for the antiques market at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Our Two-Night Biking trip rides all of this from a hotel in Gordes.
For wine, Châteauneuf-du-Pape grows on round river stones a short drive north, and Tavel, the rosé appellation, across the river; our three-day trip ends with two Châteauneuf cellars, the six-day adds Tavel. Orange, a 15-minute train, has the best-preserved Roman theater wall in Europe, €11.50 with the museum. Eat papalines, the pink chocolates filled with Origan du Comtat liqueur, daube, tapenade, and Cavaillon melon in summer; truffles in winter.
Getting there and around
TGVs run from Paris Gare de Lyon to Avignon TGV through the day, about 2 hours 40 at the fastest. The station stands 6 kilometers out at Courtine: a TER shuttle reaches Avignon Centre in a few minutes, and buses and taxis take about 15. From Centre station the old town is through the Porte de la République, two minutes, and the Palais 15 minutes on foot; tram T1 runs from the station. The tourist office is at 41 cours Jean Jaurès, Monday to Saturday 9:00 to 18:00 and Sundays 10:00 to 17:00, and it is where our day tours meet.
The regional Zou! buses leave from the PEM bus station next to Centre station. Line 707 reaches Saint-Rémy in 45 to 50 minutes, roughly hourly from 6:30 to 19:15 in summer, and goes on to Les Baux, about an hour, on some runs, with few coming back; the exact runs change by season, so check the planner. Line 907 reaches Coustellet in an hour and a quarter, where line 917 goes on to Gordes; Châteauneuf-du-Pape has a weekday bus from Sorgues, not from Avignon. Orange is 15 minutes by TER. Tickets are sold ten for the price of seven, with a surcharge on board.
By car, the Palais des Papes car park inside the walls has 825 spaces, €19.30 for 24 hours and no vehicles over 1.90 meters; the Île Piot park-and-ride across the river is free with a free shuttle to the Porte de l’Oulle. Les Baux charges €5 for the first hour, Gordes €8 for up to four, the Pont du Gard €9 a day, and the road down to Sénanque is one-way from March 15 to September 30.
Our second day does six of those stops between 8:30 and 7:00 p.m. in one van with eight guests at most, and the third morning the Châteauneuf cellars, which no bus from Avignon reaches at all. The Six Days in Provence adds a cooking class and Tavel and carries on to Nice by first-class TGV; the Five Days adds Aix and the Luberon; the Lavender Tour runs July 6 to 25 only.
When to go
Provence is Mediterranean: hot, dry summers, the mistral on clear cold days, and most of the rain in autumn. The lavender at Sénanque and on the Valensole plateau blooms from mid-June to mid-July, with the cut starting in the last days of June; our Lavender Tour runs July 6 to 25 and sells out.
The festival takes July: the 80th ran July 4 to 25, 2026, with the Off on the same dates and the Cour d’honneur of the Palais as its stage; the 81st is announced for July 2027 with the programme in April. The town is full, and a festival ticket gives a reduced rate at the Palais and the bridge. Book the hotel before anything else.
From November 2 the Palais and the bridge drop to 10:00 to 17:00, then 10:00 to 18:00 from December 19 to January 3; the Pont du Gard museum shuts from November to February, the Petit Palais from November 16 to 30, Glanum on Mondays from October to March, the Lavender Museum from December 23 to March 30. The Château des Baux keeps 10:00 to 17:00 in winter and closes on December 25; the Carrières open every day of the year. Winter is truffle season, with a truffle lunch on our five-day trip when it is.
April to June and September to October are the months. The Saturday market fills place des Carmes and rue de la Carreterie from 8:00 to 13:00, the Sunday flea market the same square, and Les Halles every morning but Monday.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Avignon a day trip from Paris?
Only just, for the Palais and the bridge: 2 hours 40 each way leaves an afternoon inside the walls. The Provence around it, Les Baux, Saint-Rémy, the Pont du Gard and Gordes, is why people come, and it needs at least a night. One Night in Provence is the shortest version we sell: the late-morning train down, Orange and a Châteauneuf cellar, a night inside the walls, and the Van Gogh day before the train home.
Avignon TGV or Avignon Centre?
The TGVs from Paris stop at Avignon TGV, 6 kilometers out, with a shuttle train into Avignon Centre in a few minutes; Centre is the old station by the walls where the regional trains and the Zou! buses leave. Our trips meet you at Avignon TGV with a driver, and the day tours at the tourist office on cours Jean Jaurès.
Can you see Les Baux, Saint-Rémy and the Pont du Gard without a car?
One of them a day, with planning. Saint-Rémy is an hourly bus; Les Baux is on a few of the same runs with few coming back; the Pont du Gard has a bus whose times are not published anywhere we could read; Gordes takes two buses; Sénanque, Châteauneuf and Fontaine-de-Vaucluse have none. What you give up is seeing six of them in one day, the cellars, and the tickets bought ahead, which is what our second day is.
When is the lavender in bloom?
Mid-June to mid-July at Sénanque and on the Valensole plateau, and in 2026 the cut began on June 29. Sault, higher up, runs later. The fields at Sénanque are off-limits to walk in. Our Lavender Tour runs July 6 to 25 from the Avignon tourist office, with Sault, Gordes and Sénanque, $160, and sells out.
Is there a tour from Paris?
Yes. Our Best of Provence in Three Days, $1,925, is the one: two nights inside the walls, the six-stop day and the Châteauneuf cellars. One Night in Provence is $775 with Orange, Châteauneuf, Arles, Les Baux and Saint-Rémy. The Five Days, $1,850, and Six Days, $2,350, add Aix, cooking and Nice; the Two-Night Biking trip is $1,185 from Gordes. All meet at Avignon TGV, rail not included; we book it once your dates are set.
Our Most Popular Day Trips From Paris
Ride between Avignon and the Provence villages with two hotel nights along the way.