Avignon

Introduction

Pont d'Avignon

© All Rights Reserved Erik85

Avignon is a city in the Vaucluse department, located in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in southeastern France. The city itself has around 90,000 inhabitants, though the total metropolitan area is more than three times as big regarding the number of inhabitants.
For more information, also see the official Tourist website of Avignon.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

• Notre Dame des Doms, the cathedral.
• Palais des Papes (Papal Palace).
• 4.3 kilometres of ramparts, remains of medieval fortification.
• Pont d'Avignon
• Several old (ruined) bridges over the river.
• Calvet Museum
• Museé du petit palais.

Events and Festivals

• Festival d'Avignon - mainly about art.

Weather

Avignon has a typical Mediterranean climate though with slightly bigger temperature differences between summer and winter and rain is possible during all months. Summers last from June to September when average daytime temperatures are between 28 and 31 degrees Celsius and nights are around 14-16 degrees. Winters are from December to February when it's between 9 and 12 degrees during the day, with chilly nights of just 1-3 degrees Celsius on average. Occasional frost and even snow are not unheard of, but usually won't last long.
Precipitation is highest during autumn (October-November) and also in May. Summers, but also winters are relatively dry.

Getting There

By Plane

Avignon-Caumont Airport (8 km from the city) has a few services. Flybe flies to Southampton and seasonal to Exeter. Jet2.com flies to Edinburgh and Leeds.
For a much wider choice, the airport near Marseille is a good alternative.

By Train

The French Railways provides TGV (highspeed) trains to and from a number of places including Paris (just over 2,5 hours!). They all arrive/leave at the Gare Avignon TGV 4 kilometres southwest of Avignon in the suburb of Courtine. From Gare Avignon Centre the TGV to Paris arrives/leaves as well. Also from here, Transports Express Régionaux provides regional services. These include trains to Arles (20 minutes) and Nimes (30 minutes).
During July and August, there are direct services from London (6 hours) and Ashford (5 hours) by the Eurostar train.

By Car

Avignon is just east of the A9 (towards Montpellier and west of the A7 (towards Marseille highways.

By Bus

There are bus connections with Aix-en-Provence (1 hour), Arles (1,5 hours), Marseille (35 minutes) and Nimes (40 minutes), among other regional services. Long distance services are with Linebus and Eurolines.

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Avignon has a wide range of restaurants, including several with Michelin stars:

• Restaurant La Mirande - Michelin starred restaurant offering seasonal, organic dishes
• Restaurant Christian Etienne - Michelin starred restaurant with specialised tomato and truffle menus.
• Auberge De Bonpas Hotel & Restaurant - Restaurant offering traditional Provencal cuisine, with weekly jazz sessions & summer BBQs
• Le Bain Marie - Reasonable restaurant set in an 18th century mansion
• Auberge de Cassagne - Classic Provencal restaurant in a hotel with full spa facilities.

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

• University of Avignon

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

La Poste in France is also referred to as the PTT (short for postes, télégraphes et téléphones). The mailboxes are painted bright yellow and often there is a slot for local city mail and another slot for "outside mail". Normally there is a queue in the post office, but most of the post offices have the self service machine installed which is quite easy to operate. Nowadays many of the tabac and even some of the souvenir shops also sell postage stamps. Normally an overseas postcard costs almost as much as sending a letter.
Post offices are generally open from 8:00am to 7:00pm Monday through Friday, and 8:00am to noon on Saturdays. Apart from the basic job of mailing letters, most of the post offices do some banking activities also and some even have photocopy machines and cyber cafes for internet access.