Category Archives: Provence

Provence by rail all year round!

cathedral

Eurostar have recently announced a 6h 15min service from London St Pancreas to Marseille to run all year round. The train will only make two stops, at Lyon and Avignon. So it will only take something under 6h from London to Avignon, without the hassle of security queues and airport transfers.

The service will start on May 1st 2015 – just perfect for walking in Provence before the weather gets too hot.

Sunflower’s guide Walk and Eat around Avignon is perfect for those using public transport to get to walks in Provence – not just Avignon, but other key towns in the area like Arles, Nîmes, St-Rémy and Gordes. As well as the towns, the book also describes walks focussing on well-known beauty spots like the Pont du Gard and Les Baux de Provence.

But for those of you who like to drive, why not take the train all the way to Marseille – from where it’s just a short straightforward drive to Aix-en-Provence, the meeting point for Sunflowers two ‘Landscapes’ guides to Provence. From Aix you could either drive east with our guide Eastern Provence: Côte d’Azur to the Alps or head west with Languedoc-Roussillon and Western Provence. Each guide has about a dozen car tours, with plenty of picnic spots and walks en route.

Since walking in Provence is enjoyable in all seasons, the new Eurostar year-round service to Avignon and Marseille will be a real boon.

Photo: crèche at Avignon’s cathedral: our authors like to visit Provence at Christmas