Quick answer
Verdict: Settle the last leg before you leave home. With a car it's an easy forty-minute drive (about 40km), so reserve the hire at Avignon's TGV station, or at Nîmes, Montpellier or Marseille airport if you're flying in rather than taking the train, 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: a 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, with a flight and a fast train all 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, liO line 115, 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 the last leg is the part worth planning
We own and run La Valette Boutique a few minutes from Uzès, and arrival is self check-in with a keybox, so it pays to have the last leg sorted before you travel. Travellers who settle the final forty minutes in advance, with a car booked at the airport or a driver arranged, arrive relaxed. Those who plan to work it out at Avignon can find that the TGV station isn't the town, the last bus has gone, or its stop is 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 (liO line 115, a few runs a day), 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, but 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, if you're flying in, at Nîmes, Montpellier or Marseille airport rather than Avignon's own, which has very limited scheduled service, never the town centre, so you're driving the moment you step off the train or plane. Settle the point in advance and Uzès is forty easy minutes (about 40km); 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 and about 40km, 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 liO regional coach line 115 (Alès, Uzès, Avignon), a local line for residents and students, not an arrival service: a handful of runs a day from the PEM, Avignon's bus and train interchange next to Avignon Centre station, setting you down in Uzès at the Le Refuge stop, a walk from the centre with bags. If you're travelling light and you've checked the times, it's a lovely cheap way in, a few euros rather than a fare. Turn up with bags on arrival day and no plan, and it'll catch you out. Check the current line 115 timetable on lio-occitanie.fr 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.
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private transfer | About 40 minutes, door to door | Fixed price; ask us for current rates | Yes, essential |
| liO line 115 bus | About 50 to 60 minutes with the connection | A few euros | Check the timetable; limited runs |
| Self-drive | About 40 to 45 minutes | Rental cost only | Pick up at the TGV station or airport |
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 (around 40km) from Avignon. Trains get you as far as Avignon, or Nîmes; the last stretch is by car, transfer, or the liO line 115 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, which is 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.
About 40km, which works out to roughly 45 minutes by car on ordinary roads with no motorway toll. That is our own door-to-door figure from Avignon TGV station specifically; the wider 'about forty minutes' you'll see elsewhere on this page is the same trip measured town to town rather than to our door.
It's liO regional coach line 115, running Alès, Uzès, Avignon. In Avignon it leaves from the PEM, the bus and train interchange next to Avignon Centre station; in Uzès it sets you down at the Le Refuge stop, a short walk from the centre. It runs a handful of times a day, so check the current timetable before you build a plan around it.
It varies by operator, time of day and number of passengers, and we would rather not quote you a figure that is out of date by the time you travel. Ask us when you book and we can point you to current rates, or you are welcome to compare a couple of local transfer firms yourself. Either way, arrange the transfer ahead rather than on arrival.
For most travellers, another airport. Avignon's own airport has very limited scheduled service, mostly seasonal, so flights can be hard to find and pricier than you'd expect. Nîmes, Montpellier and Marseille all have more regular year-round connections and are a broadly similar drive to La Valette Boutique, so they are the gateways we point guests to; see our Getting Here guide for the full breakdown.
Ready to book
A door at the end of the forty minutes
Two stone apartments 45 minutes (about 40km) from Avignon, a few minutes from Uzès and fifteen from the Pont du Gard. Tell us your train and we'll help you sort the last leg before you travel. Book directly, with no platform fees.
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