1 base or 2?
 

we are finalizing our provence plans and thank you to those of you who have patiently responded to our questions.
we will spend one week in an apartment in nice - we don't expect to come back to this area and would like to see it.
on to the vaucluse with 2 weeks to spend. have found an apartment in bedoin which i like and is reasonable. big dilemma is whether to take it for 2 weeks or split the weeks between bedoin and lourmarin. if staying in bedoin 2 weeks, are distances too great to areas further south or does it make sense to relocate for a week. we have stayed for two weeks at a time in one location before and the upside is less getting acquainted time and more intimacy with the place, downside is more driving to explore. any ideas on these two locations. by the way, planning to spend 2 days at the end of our trip in cassis before leaving from marseille as this seems like it might be a nice ending. any thoughts. as usual, thank you.

I'd certainly go for a split.

Lourmarin is proximate to the Luberon but is nevertheless quite a distance from the Saint-Rémy, Les Baux, Arles, etc area.

It's not too far from Bedoin to the Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux area of the Luberon, so a more logical choice for a split (if distances are a criterion) would be in the vicinity of Saint-Rémy, rather than Lourmarin IMO.

I agree with Tuck.

We've stayed 6 weeks in Bedoin. Gordes is about 45-50 mins away, but St Remy, les Baux, Lourmarin, Arles, Nimes, & Aix are more than 1 hour away - which is more driving than I would want to do. You may decide to get on the freeway from Bedoin to get to the St Remy/Arles area, or go through Avignon - but both are not scenic drives, IMO. Also, Uzes & Pont du Gard take some doing to get to. It may not look that far away on a map, but it takes longer than you may think.

I would spend the second week near St Remy. Lourmarin is a little remote also. Personally, I prefer the Luberon (Gordes, Bonnieux, etc) over the St Remy region, but St Remy would be in a better location to visit Arles, Uzes, Pont & the places that are too far from Bedoin.

Tip - getting through Carpentras to Bedoin going west to east is tough in the afternoon because people are going to the Hypermarche there & trafiic is bumper to bumper (left turn stops traffic). Swing north of Carpentras a bit & bypass it. Going east to west is not a problem.

Stu Dudley

I wouldn't want to stay in Bedoin two weeks, I would definitely move. First, it's up on a hill, and driving in it is limited. I don't know where your apt. is located, but I wouldn't find it that convenient to be staying up on that hill for two weeks with the idea of doing lots of day trips to areas all over Provence. You can drive from there down to the Luberon, but it will take up a lot more time (not to mention if you want to go anywhere SW of there, like across the Rhone).

I also wouldn't want to stay two weeks in a small village like that unless I knew what it was like and what was around there in terms of dining, etc. As I said, as I recall, you go quite a ways down a road to get there and then up the hill (with limited parking places due to some of it being pedestrian only) and I don't recall any town of any size even near there where you might go out to dinner for a change. I also wouldn't want to be making long drives, and up hills, at night after driving somewhere else for dinner.

Cristina - I think you are confusing Bedoin with some other town - perhaps Crillon la Brave. There is no hill you drive up to get to town, although there is a small hill where the church is located, but unless the OP's apt is close to the church, she won't be driving up there. The area south of Bedoin is perfectly flat - Avignon, Luberon, St Remy/Arles, etc is in that direction. Obviously, heading east up Mt Ventoux is quite a climb - but you won't be using that road for anything except going to Mt Ventoux.. There is a main road through town that is perfectly flat, with lots of cafes, restaurants, & shops lining the street. There is a nice grocery store in town also, plus about 3 boulangeries & 3 bucheries. There is a vegetable vendor also in town.

We've spent 16 weeks vacationing in Provence - 6 of those in Bedoin (4 weeks last year). In '10, we're returning to Bedoin for 2 more weeks. We think it's perfect - nice grocery in town, lots of cafes/bakeries/bucheries, several restaurants, 3 pizza places, 3 bike shops, good tourist office, not over touristy like Les Baux, St Remy, & Gordes.

Stu Dudley