milestogoneedadvice

Arriving in St. Remy late afternoon/early evening on Thursday. We will have all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will drive to Nimes on Sunday but that still gives us the morning in this area.

Would this work?

I'm reading that Sunday is not a good day to go through the Luberon.

Friday:
St. Remy to Gordes - Roussillon - (that area, not sure on stops or specifics), but spend the morning have lunch in the area, then to Avignon (Michelin says about 90 min. from Roussillon). Spend the afternoon in Avignon (dinner)?(There may be a better plan than Avignon??) and back to St. Remy.

Saturday:
Start early at Pont du Gard (spend the morning and lunch? or lunch at Uzes?), up to Uzes for while and end the day in Arles and back to St. Remy.

Sunday:
Market at Isle -Sur- Sorgue I think we are missing the lavender, although harvest varies. This will be the first week of August. Should we drive to Sault? If so, this would be a good day. If not we could have more time in Arles. Or perhaps there is something else we should see in the area??

Monday:
We could go to Les Baux, spend the morning on our way to Nimes. We would stop for the olive oil tasting near Les Baux on our way to Nimes. They are open on Sunday, but only have tours on Tuesday and Thursday.

On arrival in Nimes we can get checked in, walk around some and find a relaxing place for a glass of wine and dinner!

cigalechanta

Nimes, Uzes, Pont du Gard shold be don't together as they are so close to eachother. Bistro Du Grezac in Uzes is a good spot for lunch. We've driven in the Luberon on Sundays, not a problem. Uzes has a good Saturday market.

StCirq

<<I'm reading that Sunday is not a good day to go through the Luberon. >>

Why not? Sure, things close on Sundays, but they do everywhere in France, so it doesn't matter where you are. Just be sure to hit up a grocery store if you need on before about noon, because getting supplies will be tough until Tuesday. You can do a lovely drive through the Lubéron.

Unless there's a lot of traffic in Les Baux, you don't need a whole morning. Just a couple of hours. Then on to Pont du Gard, Uzès (don't go there Saturday - great market but it obscures the loveliness of the main square), then Nîmes (where you can see the Maison Carrée and the arena, which seems to be perpetually clothed in scaffolding), in a couple of hours and then a stroll around town.

milestogoneedadvice

Thank you both for the advice.

Sunday:
Great, I love the idea of a lovely Sunday drive through beautiful French Villages. So the market at Isle -Sur- Sorgue will start the day. Then a drive including Gordes and Roussillon. I will read about how others have planned their route through this area. Again we will probably just miss the lavender, but we will read and see as it gets closer.

Monday:
A couple of hours in Les Baux and then on to Pont du Gard and Uzes. We will then drive to Nimess where we can see the Maison Caree and the arena, and enjoy a stroll around town.

That certainly tidied up the itineray. In fact, so wel, that Friday and Saturday are days to fill.

?I read about a wine tour, that might be fun.
?A full day in Arles.
?A full day in Avignon (including drive to and from St. Remy)
?Villages of the Cotes du Rhone

If some of you can get me started I will read more.

cigalechanta

Nimes also has a beautiful parc.
and a wonderful bookstore, Cote Sud.

milestogoneedadvice

We still have 2 full days based in St. Remy, Friday and Saturday.

?I read about a wine tour, that might be fun.
?A full day in Arles.
?A full day in Avignon (including drive to and from St. Remy)
?Villages of the Cotes du Rhone

If some of you can get me started I will read more.

Thanks!

bossanoville

I spent 3 days based in St Remy, then another 4 in the petit Luberon region (based in Bonnieux Le Clos de Bois) - really enjoyed the area around St Remy more than I thought!

I stayed at Le Mas Menouille 5 minutes from town by car - run by madame Michelle, who is the kindest host - I wasn't looking for a big splurge so it was 70euros for a room, a huge toilet, and lovely grounds.

Don't miss
1. Carrieres de Lumieres. 15 minutes drive from St Remy Google for information. Absolutely moving 40min light show of Renoir, Chagall and Monet's paintings in a remarkable old quarry. We ended up in there for 1.5h. I parked here for free then made the 8 minute stroll into Les Baux (which is well worth 2-3 hours, enjoyable stroll, experimented with a crossbow, had great meal at a terraced restaurant for lunch with a view, touristy shops but interesting nonetheless.

2. If you like roman ruins, Glanum is worth a visit. Very evocative. I also enjoyed the St Paul de Mausolee (sp?)or more famously, the hospice where Van Gogh resided. Just see tripadvisor for details. I thought it was particularly poignant in the evening light.

3. Renting a kayak from a nearby town (Collias) and taking it down and under the Pont was something we deeply wanted to do, and completely regretted not doing. The river was dead calm when we visited at 5pm.

P.S. There is a fantastic viewpoint of Les Baux on the D19 headed from St remy to the caves of sarragan, or the old quarries - ABSOLUTELY stunning at sunset while watching the castle light up. We had a Sat Nav (GPS) which worked fine for us and I pre-keyed many of the attractions into it so we could simply click-and-go while there. Maps are perfectly fine as well.

milestogoneedadvice

I have hit a roadblock. I think I'm simply on overload of information. I read Stu Dudley's Provence itinerary. And I think I've read most of the threads here for Arles, Avignon, St. Remy, and the Luberon,

Sunday looks good, a lovely Sunday drive through beautiful French Villages. So the market at Isle -Sur- Sorgue will start the day. Then a drive including Gordes and Roussillon. There are other stops in there that we can make too. I'm not sure how much we should try to "plan" that day. It seems that just driving and letting it happen would be good. But we don't want to miss anything either! Comments????

Monday is pretty full too. Carrieres de Lumieres and Les Baux, Pont du Gard, Uzes and drive to Nimes where we can see the Maison Caree and the arena, and enjoy a stroll around town.

I don't know how to plan Friday and Saturday. These are still on the list of ideas:

?I read about a wine tour, that might be fun.
?A full day in Arles.
?A full day in Avignon (including drive to and from St. Remy)
?Villages of the Cotes du Rhone
?Looking at Stu Dudley's information, we could easily have another driving day through different villages
He really like Aix, is that too far for a day trip? We could go early Saturday for the market and th morning.

If anyone has suggestions for any of these places, I would love to know more.

What about evenings in St. Remy?

cigalechanta

Yes, if you start out early you can visit Aix.
In St Remy, there was jazz on thurdday nights at the
La Gousse D'Ail. Call to be sure if that's the day this year 90 92 16 87

StCirq

There is plenty to do in St-Rémy in the evening. Just walk around. No need to plan.

Christina

YOu don't have to plan every second, don't worry about planning every evening, just relax about it. Eat dinner, walk around, if you see something, fine.

You can easily do a day trip to Aix from St Remy, there are nice roads (one a major highway, the A7) and it's only about 70 km, which is about 40 miles. It's only about an hour drive or so.

milestogoneedadvice

Thank you for responding with information that is so helpful. For those of you who have been there done that, you offer valuable insight for those of us who want to experience France.

At this point we have a plan for Monday in the St. Remy area. It is the day we depart from St. Remy. But we are approaching this area with wonder and flexibility.

I'm glad to know that Aix is a day trip that we can consider. Until I read Stu Dudlye's itinerary I had not considered it.

If you have favorites in the area please share.

bossanoville, we are looking forward to the Les Baux sunset view. Sunrise and Sunset a wonderful part of travel, thank you for sharing this incredible piece of information. I had read about the Carrieres de Lumieres, and your information was the final piece to know that we should include it! Glanum keeps coming up in the research, so definitely on the list to consider!

Thanks to all for your time and most of all patience!