Jim143

My wife and I had a fantastic trip this summer to Paris and Provence. We would like to thank all the people here at Fodor's forum who answered our questions and gave so much good advice. It really made a difference.

Now I do have one problem. We enjoyed it so much that now would like to return....... I think some one warned me about that. We would like to go back to the south of France next summer for probably a couple of weeks. Thinking about probably renting 2 gites for say a week each in different areas. To summarize our trip this summer, we spend a couple of days near Pernes Les Fontaines and then several days at Arles. We did a little drive tour north of Carpentras through Sablet, Vaison la Romaine and Suzette. Did a circuit through Gordes, Bonnieux, Roussillon.Went to Pond du Gard and Uzes. Les baux and Saint Remy, Toured Arles including market day and spent a day at Aix.
Our initial thoughts for a return trip are:
- my wife would like to spend less time driving and more time at one location...just enjoying the local area and people
- its such a fantastic area so we don't mind going back over our routes but would not return to the same attractions.
- try to get a gite with a pool, close to a town with some good restaurants, where we could do a little walking, picnics etc. Stu Dudleys posts on gites will be a great help there, but suggestions on areas would be great.
- maybe a week more to the east say in the Luberon and another say west of the Rhone or even to the north.
- will probably fly into Marseilles and rent a car from there.
- take in one or 2 markets
- possibly an excursion along the coast

I would welcome any suggestions on possible base locations and comments on framing up an itinerary.

StuDudley

Here is where we've spent 8 weeks in Provence. A 10 min walk to town, with a great Monday morning farmers market, and several "basic" restaurants.

http://www.gites-de-france.com/locat...te-84G475.html

Stu Dudley

MarySteveChicago

I understand your desire to return! And Iam with your wife about less traveling. I can only speak about the Luberon. We used a charming B&B in Gordes as our base and hope to return too!

Jim143

Thankyou Stu. That is the type of situation that would work. I'll investigate further.

Yes Mary...Now that we have had the one trip and seen many of the highlights I think I will be able to settle down and relax and enjoy the Provencal life but mix in a few day trips.

yipper

Ttt

Jim143

We are looking at apartments in Nice and any suggestions on desirable areas there would be welcome. We have been looking at possibly the Carre d'or area which seems to have popular reviews. Nice Pebbles appears to be a well regarded rental agency and it looks like we could get an apartment for under 900 euros a week. In Nice we would probably like to explore the older area of the City, spend some time on the beach, and have some day trips by bus or train along the coast.

StuDudley

Here's the Nice Pebbles apt we rented this past June. Great location.
http://www.nicepebbles.com/nice-fran...t/rentals/242/

I updated my Cote d'Azur/Provence itinerary based on our 4 week stay in Nice & the Luberon this past June. If you don't have the updated "edition" - e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach a copy to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley

Jim143

Thankyou Stu

I notice in the booking that there is a mosquito package that can be purchased for 45 pounds. Are mosquitoes that much of a problem in Nice? Does it vary by the time of year...we are going there early July.

StuDudley

Mosquitos find me and devour me. I didn't encounter many/any while we were in Nice in early June. We keep windows open.

Stu Dudley

Jim143

We have booked a gite near Vaison La Romaine for our second week and we will have a car and tour around the local area. That stay ends on a Sunday and we feel like we would like a couple of extra days and leave from Marseilles on Wednesday, staying Tuesday night in a hotel near the airport.
Does anyone have any suggestions for somewhere to stay and explore for the extra two nights? We are not interested in B&B but maybe a small hotel, reasonably priced, probably to the west or east and not too far driving from either Vaison La Romaine or Marseilles. Last time we did stay a few days at Hotel Hermitage near Pernes le Fontaine and were very pleased with our stay. I am tempted to go back there but it may be a little deja vu

Jim143

Looking at two options to travel from Nice to Vaison La Romaine. We could get the tvg to Avignon and rent a car there and drive the remainder, about an hour. Or we could rent a car in Nice and drive about 3 1/2 hours. If we get some cheap train tickets there doesn't seem to be much cost difference. So the decision probably comes down to the experience. Is there any particular advantage of one over the other? Will the long drive be worth the trouble? Are the roads congested and difficult to drive especially close to Nice?

StuDudley

Drive.

The route is actually quite scenic - especially the Maures Mountains around the St Tropez exit. OTOH, if the TGV takes the same tracks we took to Antibes from Nice - it is very non-scenic. The drive from the Avignon TGV station to Vaison is not scenic - until you get past Carpentras.

Stu Dudley

Jim143

Thankyou Stu. I'm still on the fence. I'm a little apprehensive about the long drive and getting out of Nice. Starting to lean towards the less stressful TVG.

For my Canadian friends, I've spent the last 2 months agonizing about flight arrangements. The standard question of when to buy. I did lots of research into strategy...buy on Tuesday, check different sites, monitor prices every day and at different times. But in the end I've come to the conclusion that Air Canada doesn't have the competition to care about any of that. Prices kept gradually rising and I kept getting gradually more nervous. Finally I had what looked to be a reasonable price on Orbitz for my preferred flight. All flight combinations are not shown on the Air Canada website so I had to call to compare the Air Canada price....and it was a fair bit more expensive. So then I went back to the Orbitz site and booked. Now I'm embarrassed to say that I had made a stupid mistake....the Obitz price was in American dollars which I did not realize until I made the transaction. The Air Canada price was actually a fair bit lower. But no real problem since I could cancel the Orbitz transaction which I did. Then I immediately called back to Air Canada to book the same flight. Now would you believe that during the call and just before I got to the credit card information, that the clerk says "oh the price just went up", and would you believe that it was then a couple hundred dollars more than the Orbitz price (yes Canadian dollars) that I had just cancelled!!! I couldn't handle any more trip planning for days.

The sequel to that story is that I have since bought our tickets. I couldn't take it any longer. Right now I'm glad I did as the same flight today is substantially more expensive. I'll be kicking myself if prices drop in the next few months or if there is a sale, but c' est le vie.

Jim143

Has anyone had any experience with the Villa Saint Louis in Lourmarin?

Jim143

Stu

Just looking at adapting your Valensole Plateau,Riez, & Moustiers day trip to fit our stay at Lourmarin. The Gorge du Verdon is not too far from Moustiers and I am wondering if it is worth the trouble and time to extend the day trip to do a portion of the gorge...say maybe as far as La Palud sur Verdun.

StuDudley

You could probably do that - but spend some time in Moustiers also.

Stu Dudley

moatenote

We are planning a cruise of the Rhone and southern France in 2016 and hope to spend a few days ahead of time in Nice and other areas of Provence. Trying to decide when would be the best time to travel there, weather-wise. We're looking at around a 2-week trip. We can leave either April 11, mid-May, or Sept. 12 or 19. Thanks for any help!

Jim143

moatenote I am not familiar enough with the weather in Provence to give you any advice. I know it was fantastic when I was there last July. I've read some about the mistral winds and April may be a bad time for that. I suggest that you post your question as a new post.

Jim143

We will be in Lourmarin for 2 days, Sunday and Monday. On one of those days we would like to drive to Moustiers Saint Marie. I understand that both days are closed shopping days but is either Sunday or Monday preferable?

We plan to drive from Moustiers to the Gorge of Verdon and some distance along the gorge. I see that there is a road on both sides and am wondering if one side is of any advantage over the other? I thought for example that on the south side we could go just past Aiguines where there is a look out. Alternatively there seems to be a look out approximately opposite if we went the north rim.

I am thinking that between the drive, touring Moustiers and the gorge will full our day but are there any suggestions for sights in between or driving routes that would add to the trip?

StuDudley

Moustiers is somewhat of a "tourity" town with all the Faiance stuff. But when we were there, these stores were closed for lunch - so my guess is that they will be closed Sunday all day and perhaps Monday morning also.

The Route des Cretes loop on the north side has the best views - but be careful - it's a little treacherous.

Stu Dudley