Quick answer
Verdict: Settle the last leg before you leave home. With a car it's an easy forty-minute drive, so reserve the hire where you land — the airport or Avignon's TGV station — not in town. Without a car, book a driver in advance — sort it early and the last bit is easy.
When it's simple: Plan it early and the forty minutes vanish — car waiting where you arrive, or a driver holding a sign at the platform. You reach Uzès unhurried.
When it isn't: It only goes wrong when it's left to the day — a missed connection, luggage on a local bus, a stop at the edge of town after dark. None of that is really about buses or trains; it's about leaving the last bit too late.
We've welcomed enough guests to watch the same thing happen again and again. Getting here is easy — a flight, a fast train, all of it bookable from your sofa — right up until the last leg from Avignon — the bit people save for later. And that's the trouble: once you've landed, it's the hardest part to sort and the easiest to get wrong. The guests who arrange it before they come walk in relaxed; the ones who mean to work it out on the day arrive tired and an hour behind, wishing they'd done it from home.
Why this leg and not the rest? Because there's no train to Uzès — the station closed decades ago — the bus that turns up online is a local one, not built for arrivals, and taxis don't sit waiting the way they do in a city. None of that touches you if you've arranged your car or your ride in advance; all of it does if you haven't. For where to base once you're here, see Uzès or Avignon; for getting here from anywhere else, see Getting Here.
We host near Uzès — and we can tell who planned the last leg
We own and run La Valette Boutique a few minutes from Uzès, and we meet guests as they arrive, every week of the year. It's the same every time. The ones who settled the final forty minutes before they travelled — car booked at the airport, a driver arranged — walk in relaxed. The ones who meant to work it out at Avignon arrive an hour later than they'd hoped, only to find the TGV station isn't the town, the last bus had gone, or its stop was a walk from anywhere.
We'll say this against our own pocket. We'd happily book you a transfer — but honestly, we'd rather you just sorted the last leg before you came, whichever way suits. It's the one bit of planning we ever nag guests about, because it's the bit that decides how your first evening here feels.
The principle
Why we go on about the last leg
Most places, you can turn up and figure arrival out — a taxi rank, a metro, a row of cabs at the kerb. Here you can't lean on that. The stretch from Avignon has no train, one local bus, and no line of taxis waiting, so it's the one leg that doesn't forgive being left to the day. That's why we bring it up before you've even booked: get it settled and everything after is easy.
In short: it's the one leg you can't leave to the day.
If you'll drive
Book the car where you land
Having a car feels like arrival is already handled. It's only half handled. The car sorts the drive — it doesn't sort where you pick it up, and that's the bit that trips people. So decide the pickup now: reserve at Avignon's TGV station or your arrival airport, never the town centre, so you're driving the moment you step off the train. Settle the point in advance and Uzès is forty easy minutes; leave it to the day and you can land beside a closed desk or a queue that isn't moving.
In short: the drive's nothing — it's where you collect the car that matters.
If you won't
Arrange to be driven
No car doesn't mean no plan — it means a different one, made just as early. A private transfer booked from home meets you at the platform, takes your luggage, and delivers you to the door in the same forty minutes, for a price agreed in advance. And because it's all booked, you know exactly how you're getting to the door. Arrange it before you travel and being car-free costs you nothing but the fare.
In short: booked from home, there's nothing left to sort on the day.
The bus, honestly
A local line, not an arrival service
The bus looks like the easy answer — and that's exactly what catches people out. It's a local line for residents and students, not an arrival service: a few runs a day, leaving from Avignon's town centre rather than the TGV station, and on some, setting you down at the edge of Uzès, a walk from anywhere. If you're travelling light and you've checked the times, it's a lovely cheap way in. Turn up with bags on arrival day and it'll catch you out unless you've done your homework. Check the current line timetable before you count on it.
In short: fine if you've checked it, trouble if you haven't.
The real trap
It's always the same mistake
Look at what goes wrong and it's the same story told four ways: the guest who didn't know Avignon's TGV station sits outside town and needs a shuttle to reach the buses; the one who arrived at the stop after the last departure; the one set down at the edge of Uzès in the dark; the one queuing for a taxi that wasn't there. None of it is really about buses or trains. Every one of them left the last leg to the day instead of sorting it first. Sort it beforehand and none of this happens.
In short: it's leaving it late, not the buses, that costs you the afternoon.
Frequently asked questions
No — Uzès has no station; the line closed decades ago, so every route finishes with a road leg of about forty minutes from Avignon. Trains get you as far as Avignon (or Nîmes); the last stretch is by car, transfer, or bus. Because it's the only part without rail, it's the part to arrange first.
Yes, comfortably — if you arrange it ahead. A transfer booked from home meets you and takes you door to door in about forty minutes. The local bus is an option for light, flexible travellers who've checked its times, but it isn't built for arrival day with luggage. It's not really about how you come; it's about sorting it before you land.
About forty minutes on good roads, whether you're driving yourself or being driven — the distance is small. The drive is never the hard part. The only thing to sort in advance is how you'll be in a car at all: hired at the airport, or a driver booked from home.
Yes. A pre-booked transfer has a fixed price, waits for you if your train is late, and means the last forty minutes are already sorted. Hailing a taxi on the day is possible at Avignon but not guaranteed, especially in the evening — exactly the gamble that catches people out.
It matters more than people expect. The TGV station sits outside the city; the buses and many taxis are at Avignon Centre, linked by a short shuttle train. If you're driving, pick the car up at the TGV station and skip the city entirely. If you're not, know which station you land at before you travel — sorting it out on the platform is how forty minutes becomes ninety.
Ready to book
A door at the end of the forty minutes
Two stone apartments a few minutes from Uzès, fifteen from the Pont du Gard, with parking at the door. Tell us your train and we'll help you sort the last leg before you travel. Book directly — no platform fees.
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