Nice to Nimes by Public Transport (and back again!)!

Hi, my husband and I are traveling to the South of France in June. We are flying to Nice, but need to be in Nimes by the following day (at latest). We don%26#39;t drive (Are we mad going to the South of France without a car?!) so are planning on taking the train from Nice, via Marseille to Nimes.

Firstly, I am wondering if this is a sound idea? Or does anybody know of a better alternative (eg a bus/coach that would take us to Nimes directly from Nice etc)?

Secondly, and more importantly, once we arrive in Nimes, we plan to be there for 3 days before moving on. We fly home from Nice 5 days later, and so need to travel towards Nice taking in the best of the area on the way! We would dearly like to fit in a trip to the Camargue, but aside from that are open to suggestions on where best to visit, but obviously with such limited time to explore, we want to make the most of the time.

We would prefer to avoid spending time in Nice itself, Cannes, Monaco etc and would like to see more of the %26#39;rural%26#39; towns. However, how realistic is this bearing in mind we are doing it all by public transport?

Can anybody suggest an itinerary that may suit us?

Sorry for the long post, but any advice would be appreciated!

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Hi,

I flew into Nice a few years back and had to stick to public transport so i have a fair idea of the difficulties. the biggest problem is that large parts of provence - especially the pretty, secluded bits - are not on the train line. you can get from nice to nimes and off to arles or aix, for example, fairly easily (and on TGV too) but if you want anything better then it%26#39;s a bit tricky. st tropez for example, is not accessible by train, though there is a coach from there to nice (air conditioned too, which the train wasn%26#39;t - we took the train from st tropez to st raphael).

if you want to stick to public transport the best idea is to look at the rail network and plan round that:

rail network: entreprise-sncf.com/nos_lignes/principale.pdf

then book/plan your journeys on the SNCF website:

www.voyages-sncf.com

having spent a fair bit of time in small provincial train stations in france i can tell you that there are a lot of very small stations, often for places that are really little more than villages. Plus, french trains are usually fairly reliable and punctual, so you don%26#39;t need to worry too much about getting stuck in the back of beyond. ticket prices are not outrageous either so, if you were armed with lots of timetables and an open mind, you could just spend some time checking out small town france. you don%26#39;t like somewhere, catch the next train out (be warned: some small towns have two trains a day: one in and one out).

Here%26#39;s one train journey in the camargue:

avignon-et-provence.com/tourism-in-provence/…

another option is to cycle: either hire a bike before a train journey and take it with you, or hire when you arrive.

i hope that helps

a

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Thanks for the advice Ade - much appreciated. Especially the reassurance about the train system in South of France - knowing it is (mostly) reliable, is a big help!

Have you (or any other forum contributors) spent any time in Marseille? Visiting the city does appeal, but I was wondering whether it would be time well spent considering out tight schedule?

Thanks in advance.

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Hi Jemima

I can%26#39;t drive either and I%26#39;ve been to the south of France for six years out of the last seven. Important things to remember:

Best connections for trains buses or a combination of both are the ones early in the morning ie those used by French commuters to get to work. This may mean very early starts but it%26#39;s worth it.

People in tourist offices speak English but don%26#39;t know much about the bus and train network. For that go to the train station where they probably do speak English or the bus station where they won%26#39;t. Do you speak French?

Plan your journey back with care. I discovered to my rage four years ago that while I could get a bus from l%26#39;Isle sur la Sorgue to Apt one afternoon, I couldn%26#39;t get back to l%26#39;Isle where I was staying the same day without going all the way back to Avignon and then getting another bus back to l%26#39;Isle. No kidding.

All roads lead to Avignon so if you get the train there from Nimes (about 15 minutes I think) you can get to most places by walking up the road to the bus station. I suggest you do this one day and get the bus to St Remy. It%26#39;s exquisite. If you can manage a connecting bus to les Baux, it%26#39;s well worth it but you may not be able to.

Also near you and bussable are the Pont du Gard, Tarascon with a brill castle.

Look into direct coaches from Nimes to Aix. There%26#39;s likely to be one and it%26#39;s well worth a day%26#39;s visit.

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Thanks for that! All very useful information. I did a little more reading last night and had decided that St Remy did sound worth a visit, so I think we%26#39;ll definitely be adding it into our itinerary - especially now knowing it%26#39;s so accessible.

Unfortunately my French is limited (I haven%26#39;t spoken any since I took my GCSE some 15 years ago!) - but I%26#39;m relatively confident with a little bit of a brush up I%26#39;ll be ok! My husband doesn%26#39;t speak a word, so the pressure%26#39;s on me! However, I take reassurance from your comments on the tourist offices and rail stations having English speaking personnel. I will attempt to use French where I feel comfortable doing so, but does anybody see my lack of language skills being a barrier in any way?

I%26#39;m getting very excited about this trip now! Not least so because of the reassurance from contributors to this forum (admittedly I have been a little bit nervous of doing this all by public transport!) - so many thanks to you all!

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