Avignon
France
The papal city inside four kilometres of walls, on the Rhône, two hours and forty minutes from Paris by TGV
Photo by Chelsea Essig on Unsplash
Photos by Roelf Bruinsma, Jossuha Théophile and Frédéric Barriol on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
April to June, and September to October — high summer is hot, and the festival fills every room in town
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 100mm in Oct
Where it is
43.95°N, 4.81°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Book July months ahead or not at all — and see a fringe show in a room above a shop, which is what the festival is
- Go into the Palais des Papes when it opens, before the coach groups
- Walk up to the Rocher des Doms for the view of the bridge and the river
- Cross to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon for the view back at the walls
- Use Avignon as the base it is: Arles, Orange, the Pont du Gard and the Luberon are each under an hour
Avignon travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeCards everywhere inside the walls, down to the market stalls at Les Halles. Prices are ordinary for Provence most of the year and roughly double for a room in July. Refuse the conversion when a terminal offers to charge you in your own currency.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines on the Rue de la République and around the Place de l’Horloge. Avoid the independent machines that offer to convert to your own currency.
Avoid these
- independent machines that offer to convert to your own currency
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- Société Générale
- BNP Paribas
- Caisse d’Épargne
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
Reasonably safeA small city with ordinary city crime: bags and phones taken from café terraces, and cars broken into in the car parks outside the walls. The mistral can blow hard for three days at a time and makes the ramparts and the bridge unpleasant. July is the thing to plan around — the festival brings hundreds of thousands of people, rooms are booked months ahead, and the summer heat is well over thirty.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- café terraces on the Place de l’Horloge — phones on the table and bags on the back of the chair are what goes
- Hire cars in the car parks outside the walls, which are broken into; leave nothing visible, and nothing at all overnight
- the area around Avignon Centre station late at night — quiet after the last trains, with the odd hassle; walk in through the Porte de la République and along the main street
- The festival crowds in July, where pickpockets work the queues and the parades of actors handing out flyers
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodLes Halles on Place Pie is open every morning except Monday and is where lunch should come from. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards are twenty-five minutes north and Côtes du Rhône is the house wine everywhere; ask for it by the pichet. Outside July, restaurants inside the walls stop serving earlier than visitors expect.
Travel tipsNightlife
A student and theatre town: terraces and wine bars most of the year, and for three weeks in July the whole walled city stays up.
- Place Pie — the bars around Les Halles, where the students are
- Rue des Teinturiers — cafés under the plane trees along the canal and its waterwheels
- Place des Corps Saints — a small square of terraces in the south of the old town
- Place de l’Horloge — the big square, for a drink rather than an evening
Closing: Around 01:00 most of the year. In July the fringe runs shows until close to midnight and the squares stay full long after.
The festival runs for about three weeks in July. Fringe tickets are bought at the door or from the flyers being handed out, and the official programme in the Palais courtyard sells out early..
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Avignon
No Holistay rentals in Avignon yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Avignon on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Marseille Provence MRS
1h 10mfrom the airport· 65 km as the crow flies
About 1h10 door to door by road.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
