Avignon and French coast

TGV is the high-speed trains.  SNCF is the regular trains.

SNCF is the French state rail company. They run all the trains in France, high speed, medium speed, low speed. TGV is one of their brands.

We did a holiday in this area last May. TGV to Nimes, then Avignon, Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence and back to Paris. The trains between places are reliable and cheap, but with small children your needs will be quite different from ours (mine are all grown up). Your idea of staying in one place is probably a good one; Nimes is lovely and has a huge park with fountains, ideal for children who are tired of sightseeing, also has good train connections. - probably best to avoid the bull fighting fiesta though! PM me if you have further questions.

Nimes is lovely and has a huge park with fountains, ideal for children who are tired of sightseeing, also has good train connections. - probably best to avoid the bull fighting fiesta though! PM me if you have further questions.

Yeah for Nimes! That's where I first met my DH.

I generally agree with the staying-in-one-place-with-small-children thing, but my kids travel surprisingly well when we're out and about and sleeping in lots of different places. Have a great trip!

A colleague who was driving in a UK bought Peugeot back from Spain to England, who spoke no French, broke down in Nimes and he said the people in the little garage where he went were so friendly, the proprietor let the kids play in the garden of his house nearby, gave them all drinks, and charged a very low price.