South of France - 7 Days - April

Old Jan 24th, 2017, 08:35 AM
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South of France - 7 Days - April

Hello
I will be on a euro trip with my wife and we wanted to check the south of france (provence and cote d azur).

We will arrive in marseille on april 19th in the morning and we will leave from nice on april 25th in the afternoon.

I have a few Ideas where we want to go (Nice, ville de france, etc...) but i cannot decide if we should go to verdon (gorges) and cote du rhone (wine tasting), if we keep our trip only in the cities beetween nice and marseille, or if we try to make it until the cinque terre in Italy.

right know, it is most likely we would do something like:

19/04/2017 Arrive Marseille 12:00
20/04/2017 Marseille aix em provence - Avignon
21/04/2017 Avignon Verdon
22/04/2017 Verdon Nice
23/04/2017 Nice (explore region)
24/04/2017 Nice (explore region)
25/04/2017 Leave Nice 19:00

do you guys think it is worth it going all the way to avignon and verdon in such a tight schedule?
Also, could you guys give us some tips on charming little towns on our way?

Best Regards
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 09:21 AM
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You only have 5-6 days, I think you should choose only 2 places. I gather you don't want to see Marseille and are just arriving there for some reason (maybe flight)? Becuase you leave immediately. And then I guess you plan to sightsee in Aix just during you day going from Marseille to Avignon somehow? Are you renting a car? Yes, that is possible but rather busy.

I think the first 4 days are too hectic, they would be for me, you are only spending hours in each place. So it wouldn't be worth it to me but it's really up to you, you have to know yourself and your travel style.

I don't know what you mean about the wine tasting. That doesn't appear to be a destination, and why are you doing it? You can drink wine in a wine bar or cafe. YOu can easily get a glass of Cotes du Rhone to drink in such places.
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 09:33 AM
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I wanted to spend more time in marseille, but i thought that, maybe, half day would be worth it if we got see something else.
Anyway, regarding the wine tasting, the region of Cote du Rhone is near avignon isn´t it? So i thought about going to some wineries in there. I haven´t made any research regarding which winerie we would go, but i thought it would be an easy thing.
Anyway, after your post i am thinking about taking avgnon and verdon out of my itinerary, but i am afraid i would have a lot of time to spare.
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 09:56 AM
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I like it like that.
Les gorges are spectacular and are best seen with a night I between.
a small car is better than a big car for these roads.
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 09:57 AM
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You only have 6 full days. There are plenty of "cute little villages" and scenic drives in the Nice Hinterland (Alps).

I certainly would not spend 5 hrs driving from the Marseille airport to Aix to Avignon to Nice just to visit Provence in April on such a short visit. And I would certainly not add several hours driving and then stay near & visit the Verdon gorge. The Gorges du Verdon is about my 5th most favorite gorge in France behind the ones around the Gorges du Tarn, Ardeche, and several within 1 1/4 hours of Nice.

Just stay in or near Nice and visit that region. It would be a good idea, however, to spent the first night in Aix, and then head to Nice.

Do you have my 32 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary? I've sent it to over 5,000 people on Fodors (4-8 every day). It describes our favorite villages, cities, scenic drives, the canyons I mentioned previously, mountain drives, markets, restaurants, and has a section about Provence fabric. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 10:02 AM
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I'd spend the first night in Marseille. Then, depending on how often you like to change hotels, either do Aix as a day trip the following day, spending two nights in Marseille - or just move on to Aix and spend the second day and night there.

That leaves you five more days which is not a lot. I would just base in Nice and do day trips. Along the coast to Antibes, Villefrance, Eze - all great day trips and easily done by public transportation. In the hills beyond Nice there is Vence, St Paul de Vence, Torrettes, Haute Cagne, etc. Way more than enough for the time frame. Those towns/region better done by car.

Or spend a couple nights based in Vence with a car to see that area and the rest in Nice to do the coast.

Here's my photos from the area: http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/france_-_cote_dazure

This trip reports has the south of France in the middle (scroll down half way to get to the region you're interested in).
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 10:05 AM
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What I like In Your itinerary is that is yours.
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Old Jan 24th, 2017, 10:16 AM
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>> i am thinking about taking avgnon and verdon out of my itinerary, but i am afraid i would have a lot of time to spare.
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Old Jan 25th, 2017, 02:57 AM
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You won't have a single spare minute. People simply don't understand how much there is to do and see in every square foot of France. You could spend months and months around Nice and still not have seen or done it all.

You can have a glass or bottle of Côte du Rhône in any café or restaurant anywhere in France. It's not that special. There's no need to make a long drive just to see some vines - they look pretty much the same all over the world.
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Old Jan 25th, 2017, 03:29 AM
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Thank you everyone.

So, i guess i had a wrong idea of the region. Where i live, one can drive from 200km without seeing much..

I should probably skip Provence then. Spend a day in marseille, the other day i would go to the calanques and then head to nice (not sure if this can be done in the same day..).
In nice i would check vence and other towns, and after that, do the day trips to the coastal cities around nice.
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Old Jan 25th, 2017, 06:08 AM
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Don't forget the fabulous Nice Hinterland. Did you get my itinerary - I've sent out about 10 since I mentioned it yesterday - don't know if you were one of the e-mails.

Stu Dudley
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Old Jan 25th, 2017, 07:16 AM
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I got it! thank you very much!
I will take a close look at it
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