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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Nicky Gardner

Rail route of the month: the slow train from France to Spain

Train line along hill coast with inlets
The regional train from Avignon passing Cerbère, right on France’s border with Spain. Photograph: Damocean/Getty Images

Avignon is a natural way station for travellers from Britain and northern Europe bound for the Iberian peninsula. It’s a place for choices. Fast or slow?

Travellers in a rush to reach Spain head for the Gare TGV, which opened in 2001. It is a good way south of the city centre in Courtine, a new suburb that was once a watery wasteland between the Durance and Rhône rivers. From that rather sterile out-of-town station, a high-speed train leaving at 8.40am gets to the Spanish capital by mid-afternoon.

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