Arriving in Avignon on May 18 for 4 days. Was told by rep at RailEurope that I need to reserve train trips to Aix and Cassis now or may not get a seat. Is that true? Also, isn%26#39;t there another train line that doesn%26#39;t require reservations?
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Do not book through RailEurope. They charge a substantial fee on top of the ticket price, and do not list all the trains.
All the trains are listed on the French rail operators%26#39; web site: www.voyages-sncf.com but stay with French. If you switch to English you get shunted to another site that does not list all the trains.
It is unlikely that the trains will sell out, but you can book with SNCF. Hints on how to do this are at seat61.com/…20voyages-sncf.com
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The RailEurope Rep is either ignorant or a bare-faced liar.
Almost all services from Avignon Centre train station to Cassis use TER trains on which seat reservations are not possible and which therefore cannot %26#39;sell out%26#39;. The same applies to journeys from Avignon Centre to Aix en Provence Centre via Marseille.
The only journeys even with a possibility of selling out are those from Avignon TGV train station, either to Aix en Provence TGV, or to get to Marseille for a train to Cassis.
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Unless something has changed drastically very recently, if you are travelling from Avignon to Aix, the only direct train service is using the TGV from the TGV station in each town. They journey is very quick, 20 minutes, but of course you have to add to the transfer time to each TGV station.
You can travel from Avignon to Aix by TER (local) train but you have to take one train to Marseille and another to Aix it would take much longer, given that the Avignon-Marseille bit is about 40 or 50 minutes and the Marseille-Aix bit another half hour or so, and you may have a wait for the connection in Marseille. The advantage is you don%26#39;t have to book the TER trains, or get shuttle bus to the station.
A further thing to bear in mind is that the TER line from Marseille to Aix was being refurbished last year and there was a replacement bus. I posted an enquiry on here a few weeks ago about this line and it is open again, but apparently not running smoothly.
However, there is a direct bus service a few times a day, see lepilote.com/Img/…LER-23_Aix-Avignon.pdf This might be cheaper, quicker and simpler, and I doubt you have to book it more than a couple of days in advance, if at all.
To get to Cassis, you have to get to Marseille by the transport means of your choice and then get the TER train from Marseille St Charles station and then shuttle bus or taxi or walk the two miles from Cassis station to the town, or get a bus from the Marseille city centre to Cassis centre.
Hope this helps and if I%26#39;m wrong on anything, could someone please let us all know!
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Seems accurate to me, and a great deal more helpful than my earlier post, which suggested that you can go from Avignon to Aix via Marseille. You can, but it%26#39;s a very poor way to go - ChicChantal%26#39;s routes are massively preferable.
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If you decide to travel via the TGV you WILL need a reservation, as all TGV seats require one.
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