1-2 Weeks in Southern France, I need Help!
 

I am trying to plan trip to go for a week or two on the south Coast of France. I prefer smaller to midsize towns with polite locals. I like beaches, cliffs,some sort of nightlife, hiking, meeting locals, Wine, great local food, stuff that is off the beaten tourist path(except for beaches which is practically unavoidable.) I want to stay in one or two places and have the option of taking a train for a day somewhere if need be. I've been to France before but never down to the south coast. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Where in the south??? Cote d'Azur, Languedoc, Roussillon, Dordogne????

I have 80 pages worth of itineraries for these locations (3 separate itineraries) that I've sent to over 3,000 people on Fodors & aol. E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one or all to the reply e-mail.

A car would be mandatory for the Dordogne and inland Languedoc. Actually, my Languedoc itinerary has very little info about beaches - except Collioure - I prefer the inland areas.

Stu Dudley

I'd take a look at areas like Narbonne and perhaps Sete. Antibes and that area is very nice but can get heavily touristy. Good luck.

The best two week vacation my wife and I ever had was in the town of Lunel, in Languedoc. At thet time, my cousin was working in Bahrain, for a French bank. One of his co-workers offered him his home in Lunel for the summer. My cousin called me from Bahrain, and asked if we were interested in spending a couple of weeks in Lunel. Two days later we were on our way there, site unseen. Lunel is a moderately interesting town, but it has great reataurants. Its claim to fame is that it is the home of Perrier water, and it was the French home town of Karl Marx. In any event, the proximity to Montpellier, Nimes, Avignon, Arles, and many other lovely French towns is vary desireable. The best part of that vacation, largely because of the free housing, is that when I figured out the total cost of the vacation, including air travel, it turned out that I actually SAVED $17.00, had I stayed home for that time!

I really liked the feel of Cassis (to the southeast of Marseilles and due south from Aix en Provence). You'll have hiking opportunities and the views of the calanques are just amazing. Bondol is nearby so you'll have some fantastic reds to choose from, along with the Cassis white which is nice with the seafood you'll find.