Kellykd

Parenthood has grounded us for the past few years. We are now brave enough to take on Europe with our 4 year old! We're looking forward to touring the south of France in June, with our son. We're hoping to rent a car and stay in Gites for 2 weeks. Can anyone recommend a good "base camp" location from which to explore Provence and the Coast? We're looking for 2 locations to stay, for 1 week each, with plenty of day trip options. With only 2 weeks, what are the highlights we must see? Also, any hints on travelling this region with a young child. Thanks ever so much for your advice! K

StuDudley

My wife & I have spent over 25 weeks exploring that region & staying in Gites. I've developed a 20+ page itinerary that describes my favorite villages, sites, drives, markets, etc. We're returning for 4 more weeks this June. If you want a copy of this itinerary, e-mail me at [email protected]

If you want to stay in a Gite, you had better move fast - the best ones are reserved a year in advance, or so. Click on my name & you should find a post I did about a month ago about renting Gites through the Gitesde-France program. The title of the post is about renting a house in the countryside.

We've stayed in 7 different gites in 7 different locations in this region. I would recommend finding a gite near Nice - back in the hills near Vence would be a great location. Then in Provence, find one either near St Remy or in the Luberon near Roussillon, Gordes, Bonnieux, Goult, or Menerbes. Actually, anyplace in the Luberon between Apt & Gordes is fine. I'm not fond of the section of the Luberon close to the D2 between Cavaillon & Coustellet. East of Malbec & Oppede le Vieux are OK, however. BTW, I don't reveal specifics about the Gites we've stayed in - I don't need any more competition when trying to rent them again in the future.

Stu Dudley

AnselmAdorne

Hi Kelly,

Stu's excellent post on the rental of gites can be found here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34926192

In addition to the Gîtes de France program, here are a couple of other sites where you can rent from owners:

www.vrbo.com
www.frenchconnections.co.uk
www.holiday-rentals.co.uk

My wife and I have used all three of these sites over the last few years.

I'd just like to add my vote for the Luberon as a great area for a first visit to the region. You can fill a week with wonderful day trips from the villages Stu mentions.

I wish I could provide you with some advice on travelling with a 4 year old, but ours is 22 years old now.

Anselm

amwosu

Hey Stu... not to be nosy but where will you be staying in Provence this summer? You've given such excellent recs that I'd love to buy you lunch while I'm in Provence this June (last week)if we can make it work.
Ann Marie

StuDudley

We'll be just a little south of Mt Ventoux.

Stu Dudley

cigalechanta

I'm with you, Stu. I no longer give my favorite B&Bs because when I first arrived here and posted them, I could no longer get a reservation. But now we stay at only a few yearly. I can give information on those that we loved before these.

phyllis_stein

Hi Kelly, we're in the same boat. My husband and I are heading to Provence for the last two weeks of June, with a rental car, in 2 different gites, with our 4-year-old son.

We've booked the gites in the Vaucluse, one in the Luberon and one in Haut Vaucluse.

We are hoping to see a lot on day trips, but we're also hoping to keep the daytrips to morning outings, with afternoons devoted to swimming and exploring closer to home.

I hope we will find places of interest to all of us, such as L'Isle sur la sorgue (antiques + canals and waterwheels), Vaison La Romaine (market + ruins), maybe the L'Occitane factory (potions and lotions + factory machinery). I'm going to contact local tourist offices for information on possible farm visits -- goat cheese or honey making, for instance.

Since we're an easy drive at home to the coast, we're avoiding the Cote d'Azur, so no beaches on this trip, but we did make sure to find gites with pools (whether private or shared).

I hope something I've said will help.

When you've made your plans, what about arranging a playdate?!?!?

Kellykd

Hi Phyllis,
Wow, a kindred spirit! Have you travelled Europe with your son before? This looks to be a great region for kids. Especially if we can do as you said - morning outings and afternoons by the pool. If I'm successful in finding a gite in Luberon, we should absolutely set up a playdate! Thanks for writing!!

kdcwood

Hi Kelly (and Phyllis too)--

We made our first trip to Europe with our daughter when she was 14 months old, and she's now 13 and a very experienced traveler. We first visited the Luberon when she was nine, and then lived there the next year for six+ months. Our daughter attended the village school in Bonnieux, and Bonnieux is now like a second home to us.

All that said, I think a European vacation is very do-able with a four year old, and I think Provence (especially the Luberon) is a great location. I highly recommend basing in a cottage/house/apartment or gite-- some type of rental unit that will give you more space to spread out. Look for a place that outdoor space to play, and in June you could enjoy a swimming pool. Sometimes it works well with children to stay in some sort of a complex with several rental units that might attract other families... potential playmates. Our daughter always enjoyed staying someplace where there were friendly dogs and cats or other animals.

I've written a piece on another travel website about Activities for Children and Families in Provence: http://www.slowtrav.com/france/prove...s_children.htm

And here's also a link to the companion piece on Food for Children and Families in Provence http://www.slowtrav.com/france/prove...d_children.htm

I think both families will have a wonderful time--

Kathy

phyllis_stein

I'm glad you joined in the discussion, kcdwood; I have already benefitted tremendously from your contributions to slowtrav.com.

Kelly, we have traveled with our little boy in Europe before. When he was two, we were based in London for about seven weeks and took a two-week side trip to Italy (Umbria and Venice). That was a great trip in many ways, and a real education for us about setting the pace with small children. Now, we take things s-l-o-w-l-y. And we'll split up now and then.

The time allotted for attractions has changed since we became parents, too. Art galleries = 20 minutes (think three of the paintings you most want to see). Natural history museums = as long as they are open (think dinosaurs, animals, hands-on exhibits). Historic houses work best if there is 1) armour 2) people in costume 3) a maze.

This trip looks like being somewhat different from our last overseas trip. Less gear, I suppose (no stroller -- that was bags of fun in Venice!), which will be nice, but now our son is a little less easy-going and a lot more opinionated, so we'll need to be more flexible.

One thing regarding gear, though: I read (over on slowtrav, I think) that the EU has adopted new guidelines for car seats and boosters, which seem more stringent that US standards regarding what seats kids need to sit in at what ages. (This might be a good thing to post in a whole new thread....) As far as we're concerned, we had hoped to bring just the base of our Graco turbobooster car seat. If I'm reading the new regs correctly, we'll need the back as well, which raises a whole new set of questions about getting the seat there. The airlines won't allow it for use in the cabin, and it's too big to fit as anyone's idea of a carry-on (well, mine, anyway). I guess we can gatecheck it on the way over, at least. I know the car rental agencies offer child safety seats, but our track record isn't too good with those, so we'll be schlepping our own.

I'm a little worried about Food Issues; I was unreasonably relieved to hear kcdwood's own well-traveled daughter was not always an adventurous eater. Again, this is where the gite experience will be helpful. I hope they sell pasta at the hypermarkets. I saw a photo in The Economist of a woman in Carrefour with Nestle Quick in her well-laden shopping cart. Chocolate milk at least, hurrah.

StuDudley

There is a huge hyper-marche just west of Apt. It opened sometime in 03 - they were just putting the finishing touches on it in June when we were there that year. You can get all the pasta, etc you need there. The milk tastes a little different than ours in the US, however.

See if you can contact Kevin - he is a frequent contributor to this forum. He's an American & running a B&B in the Luberon. He & his wife are raising a son there, who I think may be in his early teens now. Kevin can perhaps give you some ideas of things to consider in the region. Post something like "things to consider when staying in the Luberon with a 4 year old" and I bet you will attract his attention. Remember, it's now 7:30 pm in the Luberon & he might be having dinner then ready for bed soon.

Stu Dudley

kdcwood

Kelly, if you end up staying north of the Luberon, the big new supermarket Stu is talking about is E. Leclerc, located on the west side of Apt, before you get to the town. We absolutely love shopping there-- I like just browsing to see what's for sale. You will find lots of pasta, pasta sauce, chicken, even peanut butter, potato chips and taco kits. I'd try to buy produce at the outdoor markets though and bread each day at the local boulangerie.

Most milk in France is sold on the shelf-- not refrigerated. You'll also find eggs on the shelf. However, Leclerc does have some refrigerated milk, in one of the dairy aisles.

In addition to the big hypermarche (which you'll also find in Cavaillon, Avignon and I think L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue), many of the villages have a small grocery store, sometime now a small chain called Cocci Market. We pick up some supplies at the shop in Bonnieux, though the meat/poultry offering is limited and they often seem to run out. So if you just need a couple of things, there are alternatives to driving into Apt.

(By the way, this discussion has helped me decide to change my user name on Fodors. The kdcwood is just way too formal!)

Kathy

phyllis_stein

Kathy, thanks for posting about E. Leclerc; I even looked at their website. Our first week in Provence will be spent outside of Rustrel, so it looks like that hypermarket will be fairly handy as we return home from daytrips.

I'm familiar with that shelf-stable milk from our trips to Italy. Luckily, Italy has the refrigerated type widely avalable in supermarkets, too.

Egads, sorry for hijacking the thread, Kelly.

Kellykd

Thank you so much...I'm thrilled with all of these responses! I cannot tell you how much you've eased my mind about a) our choice of destination and b) our decision to bring along our child. Now, if only I could find a vacant gite!

DanM

We have travelled with our children in Europe for years. We never plan too much in one day, always allow play for time (even at the expense of must sees), and involve them in planning. Even if they are not picking places out (hard to do with a 4 year-old), we talk up the places we are going so that they will at least have some idea about what they are seeing. My son was four and loved the Louvre our first time. Still enjoys going to art museums at 8 years-old.

In Provence, a typical day would be as follows:

Sleep until we wake up. Eat breakfast whenever; drive to Arles; visit the market; eat lunch (across from the rebuilt Yellow House); see the Roman sites (coliseum was the big hit with the kids-you can run all over the place and the views of the river are great); return to B&B; swim, shower, and change; eat dinner; to bed.

This has almost always been our pattern whether in Paris, Luxembourg, or London. We do not rush with the full knowledge that we simply will not see as much as we would if it was the two of us. However, we also get to do things like playing in the children's play ground at Luxembourg Gardens, eating ice cream while standing in the Dordogne, and being the only Americans at a McDonalds near Vichy (my daughter was two but remembers this becuase our then 7 year-old had been sick that day). I still have snail shells my daughter collected during our visit to Glanum (they sit on top of a clock in out living room). It will be so fun, but take time to do the things you child will enjoy.

swagman

DanM

In your travels with children, have you ever needed medical attention for your children?

When selecting overnight/base location, do you have particular criteria(s) to ensure that medical services are readily available if necessary.

I am not paranoid, just cautious.

s

swagman

DanM

I just realised you have previously posted a reply to my question in the slowtrav forum. Thank you, I find comfort in your assurance and experience.

s

ita

we spent a week in a gite at Vence. It was a great location for exploring the coast and much less touristy than St. Paul de Vence. An added attraction is Matisse's chapel. Then we moved to Lourmarin for a week. It is a beautiful village but can be explored in a few hours. We used it as a base to travel out of. In retrospect I think I would choose a location with easier driving, such as St. Remy or Arles. The roads around Lourmarin are difficult and one should be off them before dark.

Byrd

ttt

DanM

Swagman:

You received some excellent feedback over there too. Better than I can give. I speak a little French and my mother is fluent, so I was never too concerned. Plus, I always felt like the hosts at our B&B would be able too help if necessary. We battled bed bugs, asthma, colds and the like with no problem. Nothing too major, thank goodness.