Marseille to Avignon: A Full-Day Train Trip

Avignon earns a day from Marseille for the Great Chapel and frescoed rooms of the Palace of the Popes, the surviving arches of Pont Saint-Bénézet and the canal-side Rue des Teinturiers. This is a full-day trip from Marseille Saint-Charles and back, using regional rail to Avignon Centre and a walk through the old town. Each rail leg in the planned journey takes just over an hour. The schedule gives up Collection Lambert’s contemporary art: adding its roughly two-hour visit would bring you back at least that much later, plus the extra movement. To fit it into this day instead, replace the bridge visit and optional pauses.

A full day from Saint-Charles and back

Rail fare

TER full-price adult one-way, Marseille Saint-Charles–Avignon Centre: €26.50

Two-site ticket

Adult €19.50; Palace of the Popes, papal gardens and Pont Saint-Bénézet

Avignon is worth a full day for time inside both paid monuments. The rail projections include a change each way, and they are not booked departures. If the outbound journey runs late, cut the market pause first.

Les Halles d’Avignon is a covered food market before the palace. It opens 06:00–14:00 Tuesday–Thursday and 06:00–15:00 Friday–Sunday. On Monday, skip the closed market and head straight for the palace.

Beside the palace, Notre-Dame-des-Doms Cathedral is worth a brief look for its Romanesque interior and gilded Virgin above the apse. Skip this optional interior on Mondays at the planned morning stop: May–October Monday hours are 14:30–17:00, while November–April Mondays are closed. May–October hours are Tuesday–Friday 08:30–17:30, Saturday 09:00–17:30 and Sunday 09:45–17:30. November–April hours are Tuesday–Friday 08:30–12:00 and 14:30–17:00, Saturday 09:00–12:00 and 14:30–17:00, and Sunday 09:45–12:15 and 14:30–17:00.

Above the cathedral, Rocher des Doms looks across the Rhône to Pont Saint-Bénézet, Île de la Barthelasse and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, and on clear days you may see Mont Ventoux. Allow a relaxed half-hour to an hour for the garden and viewpoint. The garden opens at 07:30 year-round, closing at 18:00 October–March, 20:00 in April, May, August and September, and 22:00 in June and July.

Lunch on Rue des Teinturiers takes you beside a canal and surviving waterwheels from its textile-trade past. Sit down somewhere along the street before returning to the Rhône.

After the bridge, optional Place de l’Horloge offers a final pause by the town hall and theatre. Continue straight towards Avignon Centre if you need more time for the return.

TER, TGV and guided tours

From Marseille Saint-Charles, regional rail reaches Avignon Centre, close to the walled old town. The planned outbound and return journeys each involve a change. Leave Avignon Centre by its main exit, cross the boulevard and tram tracks towards Porte de la République, then continue through the gate along Cours Jean-Jaurès and Rue de la République towards Place de l’Horloge and the palace.

Direct TGV INOUI trains also run from Marseille Saint-Charles to Avignon TGV, but Avignon TGV is not the old-town station. The TER connector, La Virgule d’Avignon, takes you to Avignon Centre. On the September 2026 weekend service illustrated by the timetable, departures were generally around every 30 minutes, with some longer gaps. Selected second-class TGV tickets start at €15 one way per adult, subject to train, date and availability; you also need the connector to reach the old town.

Independent rail travel lets you spend the planned time inside both the palace and bridge. A multi-stop guided tour only replaces this trip if it leaves time for both interiors and includes, or gives you time to obtain, their admission. A photo stop outside either monument changes the day substantially.

Palace of the Popes

The Palace of the Popes (Palais des Papes) is worth entering for the Great Chapel’s vast volume, the Consistory Hall and the hunting scenes in the frescoed Stag Room, not just its fortified Gothic exterior. The standard visit has many stairs, and the accompanied, reservation-only step-free route reaches selected rooms rather than the entire usual circuit. Arrange that adapted route in advance if you need it.

The palace is open daily: 10:00–18:00 from 1–4 January, 10:00–17:00 from 5 January–6 February, 10:00–18:00 from 7–28 February, 09:00–19:00 from 1 March–1 November, 10:00–17:00 from 2 November–18 December and 10:00–18:00 from 19–31 December. Booking ahead is recommended, not compulsory, and normal entry needs no fixed slot. The combined ticket covers the palace’s papal gardens, distinct from the public Rocher des Doms viewpoint.

Pont Saint-Bénézet

From lunch on Rue des Teinturiers, the route returns towards the Rhône for Pont Saint-Bénézet, also called the Pont d’Avignon. Go onto the surviving arches for the Chapel of Saint Nicholas and the view back towards the Palace of the Popes, rather than treating the bridge only as a riverside photograph. The open stretch lets you see how the medieval crossing once reached out into the river.

The bridge opens daily. Published 2026 daytime hours are 10:00–17:00 from 5 January–6 February and 2 November–18 December, 10:00–18:00 from 7–28 February and 19 December–3 January 2027, and 09:00–19:00 from 1 March–1 November. General admission needs no fixed entry slot, although booking ahead is recommended. Visitors with reduced mobility can use a lift for step-free access, and its operation can be confirmed with the site at +33 (0)4 32 74 32 74. Strong winds can temporarily close the bridge, so an outdoor crossing remains less certain than the palace interior.

Tickets and walking conditions

Adult prices for the two paid stops on this walk.

Criterion	Combined ticket	Two single-site tickets	24-hour Avignon City Pass
Adult price	€19.50Best	€22 total	€24
Palace and bridge	Both; papal gardens	Both; palace gardens	Both; one visit each
Transport included	None	None	Optional Orizo bus and tram; no Marseille TER

For this palace-and-bridge walk, choose the combined admission rather than two separate tickets or the city pass. The pass may suit a longer stay with other included attractions or local bus and tram journeys. Pass holders can go straight to the palace prepaid-ticket line without a separate timed reservation.

The route is mostly on foot, but the old town’s uneven paving near the palace and on the bridge calls for care, and the climb to Rocher des Doms is steeper than the station approach. In summer heat, carry water and use shade during the longer midday stretches, because the exposed streets and squares can be tiring even when the garden offers a pause. If stairs are difficult, the palace’s adapted route needs advance arrangements, while the garden ascent may require assistance.

Collection Lambert instead of the bridge?

After the bridge, the planned walk returns via Place de l’Horloge to Avignon Centre. If contemporary art matters more to you than the Rhône crossing, substitute Collection Lambert for the bridge and optional pauses rather than trying to fit another interior into the same return. The collection occupies the Hôtel de Caumont and Hôtel de Montfaucon, two historic houses, with works by Cy Twombly, Anselm Kiefer, Christian Boltanski and Nan Goldin.

Allow about two hours inside: adding it to the existing day would push the Marseille return back by at least that visit time plus the walk to and from the museum. From September to June it opens Wednesday–Friday 14:00–18:00 and weekends 11:00–18:00, while July opens daily and August Tuesday–Sunday 11:00–18:00. Last entry is 17:30, and it closes on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Adult admission is €8 during the reduced-rate period from 2 September to 5 November 2026. The planned afternoon remains on Pont Saint-Bénézet.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: fares and charges, services, opening hours, and closures. Route times and distances were calculated from geolocated stops.

• SNCF TER Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur — fares and charges
• SNCF TER Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur — service
• Tarifs et horaires – Palais des Papes | Avignon Tourisme
• Palais des Papes + Pont d’Avignon
• Les Halles – marché couvert (Avignon) | Avignon Tourisme
• City of Avignon — opening hours
• Diocese of Avignon — opening hours
• Avignon Tourisme — closures
• Pont Saint-Bénezet – Avignon Tourisme
• Tarifs et horaires – Pont Saint-Bénezet | Avignon Tourisme
• Informations pratiques – Pont Saint-Bénezet
• Parcours confort
• Horaires train Marseille-Avignon TGV – SNCF Connect
• Train Avignon TGV – Marseille pas cher – SNCF Connect
• SNCF Connect — fares and charges
• Horaires train Avignon TGV-Avignon Centre – SNCF Connect
• SNCF TER Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur — service
• Boutique en ligne – Avignon City Pass
• The monuments and museums included in your Pass – Avignon City Pass
• Pass Transport 24h (Accès illimité bus et tram) – Avignon City Pass
• Avignon Tourism Office (Avignon Tourisme) — service
• Collection Lambert — fares and charges
• Collection Lambert — opening hours