Nights in Provence

For a stay in a larger place, I'd recommend Aix-en-Provence, which is a lovely small city. There's a beautiful tree-lined boulevard, with restaurants and cafes down one side and many squares filled with cafes. In the summer there's a music festival. I really enjoy Aix.

In the smaller villages and towns, the main evening activity is a leisurely dinner. The area we are most familiar with-- the Luberon-- also has many musical events and festivals, especially in the summer. In warmer weather, dining is normally outdoors and you can stroll and enjoy views before and after dinner.

Kathy

I enjoy staying in Nice because of its variety and all that it has to offer on foot. You can choose Old Town where you'd have plenty of day and night activities with plenty of "people-watching" as you sip wine beneath the stars. But if you wanted the quieter evening, you could either stay in or walk to some of the neighborhood areas say on Victor Hugo Boulevard in the Negresco area where you'll have restaurants mixed with hotels and apartment buildings without the busy feel of Old Town. But having said this, IMHO even though these places great, they don't remind me of any of the places in Italy you mention. To me there is a decidedly different feel from France to Italy. Both nice, but different.

Well, there is a little town very near to Provence that is IMHO the most beautiful place in France. The name of the town is Uzes. I have been to the places mentioned above and they were lovely as well, but if you stay inside to old walls of this vibrant town, you will be enchanted. In the center of the town is Place des Herbes which is the main square where there are wonerful restraunts, night life, shopping. It feels like home to me, and if I had the resoures, I would buy an apartment there in a heartbeat. The town has a great vibe and is very close to some great little towns you would want to visit. I have used a rental office in the town (www.2poppies.com) and have stayed in her(Christina) own apartment that she rents out right in Place des Herbe. Every Saturday morning there is a HUGE market that crams all of the Place and the ring road that surrounds to town. There is a smaller market on Wed.
Have a great time! Google Uzes France and see for yourself. It's my little piece of heaven on Earth!
Best,
Cathy

Just about every city & town in the Cote d'Azur & Provence has what you are looking for. Of course, the large cities like Nice, Cannes, Aix, Avignon, Arles will have more cafes. Don't eliminate St Tropez - one of our favorites. We've vacationed in these regions for 34 weeks.

Stu Dudley

Are you looking for a small town or large city? Nice is a large city, approximately the size of Florence. It has lots of outdoor cafes, interesting neighborhoods, great pedestrian plazas, flea markets, beach, etc. One of our favorite cities. It has somewhat of an Italian flavor since it was once part of Italy. There are countless small villages and hill towns similar to Italy. The Luberon area is somewhat similar to Tuscany. Lourmarin is a small town with lots of what you are looking for, and is a great base to explore the Luberon.

I agree with Stu - you'd be hard-pressed to find any city, town, or village in Provence that wouldn't meet your criteria. Aix, Avignon, Arles - they all have large but also secluded squares where you can sit and sip wine and people-watch. St-Rémy, Uzès, and other touristy towns have the same on a smaller scale. And even villages like Maussanne and those in the Lubéron will always have people lolling around at café tables at night, mingling,nibbling, talking and taking in the atmosphere. You'd really have to crawl under a rock way out in the remote countryside not to find what you're looking for.

We enjoyed Avignon a lot. LOVED the beach at Cannes. Enjoyed our last night in Nice.

We didn't stay in Roussillon, but loved visiting there. We should have stayed there because we stayed late so we could enjoy sunset among the red rocks.

http://www.theluberon.com/VILLAGES/roussillon/roussillon.htm

Thank you to everyone. I've been researching the places you've mentioned and they all sound wonderful.

We just booked our flights! They were expensive, but we got a direct flight on Delta JFK to CDG, and direct from Nice to JFK on the way home. We will have 15 days, not including travel days.

So the plan is to possibly spend a couple of days in Paris (can't just pass through without stopping!), then take the train to Avignon, Aix or somewhere in the western part of Provence. Then we'll base in that area and explore for about 4-5 days. After that we'll mosey over towards Nice, perhaps spending a day in St Tropez.

Now the fun comes, trying to find places to stay! Thanks again for your great information.

When you finalize your itinerary, post again with your preferences (hotel vs apartment etc) and you'll get some good suggestions for places to stay.

Hi Cybertraveler...
I'm American and have lived in St. Remy on and off for 12 years. On my site ProvencePost.com you'll see, at the top, a tab that says WHERE TO STAY. There I list a bunch of hotels I really like, divided into three loose price categories. You'll find some good ones to choose from. I'll also be curious to see what other people here recommend. Good luck and have a wonderful trip!
Julie

St Tropez has everything that you're asking for. It's really not that glitzy, I would reconsider it.
Sure there are the billion dollar boats, but that's the eye candy when you just sit at a nearby bar with a bottle of wine.
The really glitzy time in ST is really after midnight,which I don't see very often, at the high end restaurants and clubs, which I don't go to, and the occasional beach club that would prefer my age group not stop by( Nikki Beach)
I actually thought the same as you about ST, but we are going back in June for our 5th trip here, we stay a month, it's just great. A great big market two days a week, really great food within a half hour, lots of smaller towns to explore and stay in if you prefer a less expensive hotel,

We visit St Tropez quite a bit also - and I agree with susanna's comments. We're way too old to seek out the "glitz". It doesn't take any effort at all to bypass it - wherever it is (I don't even see it - except for the large boats). We usually try to leave the "village" by 11am & not return till about 5pm to avoid the day trippers & bus tour people.

Stu Dudley

Hi ct,

We very much enjoyed our stay at http//www.hotel-en-provence.com/uk/index.php

Details of our visit are at
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/ira-returns-from-22-loverly-days-in-europe.cfm

We very much enjoyed our two-night stay in St. Tropez a few years back and look forward to an opportunity to return. It is a lovely village with fantastic views, nice outdoor cafes and restaurants, and some good shops, particularly a great ceramics shop. To answer your question re Piazza San Marco of Venice and its equivalent, I will go out on a limb here and state that, no, there is nothing like it in the regions of France we visited to date, or anywhere else we have been to, for that matter. However, this is my subjective opinion