4 days in Provence
 

Three of us including teenager will be in France for 9 days in August. We would like to spend 4 of those days getting a flavor for the Provence and Cote d Azur areas. Here are my questions:

1. Taking the TGV and basing ourselves in a comfortable hotel that allows 3 people in a room in Provence - should our base be Avignon or Aix-en-Provence or some other city? Any suggestions about a 3.5-4.0 star hotel will be appreciated.

2. Thinking of doing day trips from Provence base to Nice and Cannes and Monte Carlo - is it better to drive or take bus tours (are those even available ?)?

3. Leave Cote d Azur for another time and explore Provence area instead. If yes what would you recommend as the "must see" sites in the 4 days?

We are interested in the usual things - villages, dining, landmarks, - not so much shopping.

Thanks in advance.

Dante

I suggest sticking to Provence -- the Cote d'Azur will be bumper-to-bumper traffic in August.

Aix is a neat city -- but it IS a small city. If you want the real Provencal experience you should base yourself somewhere like St Remy, Lourmarins, Bonnieux or Rousillon. To do it right, you should TGV to Avignon, pick up a rental car and head for your base. Visiting villages in Provence is lovely, but staying in one, particularly where you can walk someplace for dinner, is heavenly.

Uh Oh,

Thanks for the suggestion. Can you recommend a car rental agency in Avignon? I have status with Hertz and National but haven't checked if they serve the Avignon area. Or would you recommend some other European or local agency?

Of the 4 cities you mentioned as a base I have seen St Remy recommended quite a bit - would you recommend one of the four as better than others?

With our teenage son wanting to see the Riviera and the water it would be nice if we could get out that way one day. Or maybe next time.

Dante

Save Nice/Cannes for another trip - plus it is too far away from 'central" Provence to do a day-trip there - especially in August.

I love Aix (never considered it a small city), but Aix is not centrally located in Provence to see the main stuff without excessive driving. For a first-timer with a teenager in tow, I would stay in St Remy and use it as your base. Avignon is centrally located - but it is a large city & if you also visit Paris on your 9 day trip, you might welcome something smaller in size. Lots of shops, restaurants, cafes, pizza places in St Remy.

You'll need a car to get to the main sites - buses or "tours" will consume a lot of 'wait" time, and there is no train station in St Remy (they are only in the larger cities like Avignon, Arles, Nimes, Aix).

Take the TGV to the Avignon TGV station & rent a car there. St Remy is only 30 mins away.

Do you have my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary?. I've sent it to over 2,000 people on Fodors. E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach a copy to the reply e-mail. Do so soon - we leave for 6 weeks in France three weeks from now.

Stu Dudley

If your son wants to see water - take a day trip to Cassis - but in August traffic & parking will be difficult. Do it on your last day in Provence - you may find that you might not want to leave Provence. We've spent 18 weeks vacationing there, and there is LOTS to do & see. Go through my itinerary to find them.

Use www.AutoEurope.com or www.kemwel.com to rent a car. They are the same company. They are a US broker & will probably give you the best rates - unless you have a super deal with Hertz. They will "set-you-up" with Europcar, Avis, Hertz, Budget, etc. The Avignon TGV station has all the main car rental places - including Hertz (although we've never rented a Hertz car).

Stu Dudley

Stu,

Yes, I got your itinerary and am in the process of going through it. Thanks.

All,

Any hotel or rental car recommendations based on personal experience in St. Remy?

Dante

We stay in Gites (houses) - so I'm not familiar with hotels.

Forgot to mention - do your car research on the two sites mentioned above, but call them and ask for an AAA discount on top of their published rates. We have a EuropCar reserved through them for our upcoming trip. On about 80% of the trips we've taken in France, we have ended up with a EuropCar car. If you have a Gold or higher CC, decline CDW (insurance) - your CC will offer it instead, at no cost to you.

Stu Dudley

I always thought of both Aix and Avignon as small cities, what else are they. They are both around 100K population, I believe. On the other hand, St Remy is not a small city, it's only around 10K population and doesn't even have a train station. It sort of feels a little bigger than that to me, but def. not a city.

Nice is too far to do day trips from Avignon or Aix, I would leave that for another time.

highly recommend autoeurope or kemwel to book your car rental in advance, I've used both.

I haven't stayed in St Remy and don't like it myself, but lots of other people do. It is smaller than Aix so would be easier to find a hotel to drive elsewhere from, that is true, if you are driving a lot. There aren't that many 3-4* hotels there so you should be able to narrow it down pretty quickly.

I agree with the recommendations posted here. We stayed in a gite in St. Remy 3 years ago which was our base to explore Provence. We've rented from Kemwel and AutoEurope without problems. You can get a rental from Avignon. We also did a day trip to Cassis where we took a tour of the Calanques. Also, my teenage boys enjoyed their swim in the Mediterranean.

Take a look at Mas des Carassins within a five-minute walking distance to the center of St. Remy http://www.masdescarassins.com/anglais.php
It is a nice small hotel with mini suites which would accommodate your family; reasonably priced; gracious English speaking hosts, and a large swimming pool which may come very welcome in August. We stayed there in 2006 and thought that it was a good choice.

Since your son wants to enjoy the water, my suggestion would be to do 5 days in Provence and then Nice for the rest of the trip. You can find many hotels or apartments either directly across from the beach or within talking distance.

You'd also be able to ditch your car and enjoy Nice on foot and make day trips (Eze, Antibes etc) by train or bus. There is also a boat ride from Cannes to Monaco which is lovely and captures the entire coastline. Nice is a very enjoyable city and you can easily spend 4 days there.

I have used apartments on ownersdirect.com and nicepebbles.com and found them more comfortable (and generally less expensive) than a hotel room. It's quite handy to have a full kitchen to make coffee/breakfast in the morning and a refrigerator for snacks, fruit or wine for the evening.

We stayed at a small hotel - Auberge Santroumierenco (pool) just outside of St. Remy in 2008 for 9 nights and used St. Remy as our base for visiting Nimes, Arles, Orange, the Camargue, Les-Baux-de-Provence, Pont du Gard (took the tour inside the upper aqueduct area). We flew from NC through Chicago to Charles de Gaulle, then took the TVG to Marseilles where we had reserved a car from Hertz. We recommend spending more $ for an automatic car (we had a stick-shift that was tempermental). We returned the car at Avignon and took the TVG back to Paris. We were just in the Languedoc-Roussillon area and returned for two nights in St-Remy to visit four French friends whom we met in 2008. The people are wonderful there! We visited the Roman site of Glanum on this trip and had previously visited the hospital where van Gogh lived for a year. Wonderful area to visit!

We preferred Cassis to Nice, as the coast and town are quite unique. In fact, Cassis was one spot where we really wished we'd been able to bring our kids -- who were college age at the time we visited. As well as the gorgeous clear water, the calanques offer great rock climbing opportunities.

Rosiekins,

Did you make the TGV reservations from the States? Do you recall how much the 1st class fare might have been?

We will get off at Avignon. Did you take the TGV to Marseille because of Hertz's location?

uhoh_busted,

Did you drive to Cassis from Avignon? How was the road? Any precarious,un-guardrail-protected turns? How long is the drive from Avignon?

Thanks.

You should have made your TGV reservations 3 months before departure, when you would be more likely to find cheap FREM fares. I thing they are about 40E for 2nd class & 60E for first. Second class on the TGV is about like business class on an airplane. When making reservations on the SNCF site, do not select US as your home - you'll be "switched" to the more expensive RailEurope site. Select UK instead to get the English version.

Avignon has tons of car rental offices at the TGV station - which is outside of town.

The drive to Cassis is easy. Check driving times on www.viamichelin.com

Stu Dudley

The drive is very easy. Nothing precarious. We did Cassis as a daytrip from St Remy. (Well, actually we were just outside of town in St Etienne de Gres (sp?) ) Regardless, the hardest things you may encounter re: driveing, are roundabouts. Learn to think of them as your friend. If you aren't sure you've sussed out the right exit, just go round another time to be sure.

Remember, that the cote D'Azur is not the true Provence

You can "do water" right at the Point du Gard. People swim there all the time. No need to go zooming off to the Riviera with such a limited schedule. And every largish town has a municipal swimming pool you can use.

Based on Stu's comment, I went ahead and got the e-tickets. Outbound to Avignon leaving Paris at 13:16 in 1st class for 3 of us for 135 Euros. Return to Paris at 10:05 in 2nd Class for the 3 of us for 135 euros. Says on the tickets: TGV Prems and non-exchangeable, non-refundable. Is 270 Euros a bad price? Also my son got categorized as Adulte and should have been Youth. I entered the date of birth for him but for some reason he still got flagged as an adult. If the youth price is indeed lower should I email SNCF and see if they will credit the difference? Has anyone encountered this sort of thing before? Now on to the car rental and hotel.

135E is about 40E per ticket - good price for 1st class.

I've never purchased a youth ticket, but based on what I have read on this forum, PREMS do not offer youth discounts, but are still less expensive than any youth discount that IS offered.

Stu Dudley

We stayed in Provence for two weeks last summer with our family. We rented a vacation home in Gordes. We did a daytrip to Eze from Gordes because we had honeymooned there 15 years earlier and wanted to see it again and show the kids where we had stayed. It was 2 1/2 hours of driving in each direction which I think is far more than you would want to do when you have only a few days in the area. Since we had two weeks we were able to rest up the day before and after such a long car trip.

Lisa

At AutoEurope website pickup and dropoff at Avignon station for 4 days minus 6 hours for a Citroen C4 or similar
Compact · Automatic · A/C is coming to


303.59 USD Basic rate includes VAT, liability and fire insurance and unlimited miles.

Inclusive Rates Include:

Value Added Tax (Vat)
Liability Insurance
Fire Insurance
Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)
Theft Protection (TP)
Unlimited Miles
416.73 USD Inclusive
I would opt for the Basic but that still seems high. This is the cheapest Automatic available. Seems kinda high - $300 for 4- days. Have others found similar pricing. I haven't asked for the AAA discount and haven't checked the Hertz rates yet.

Did you check the kemwel rates??

Call AutoEurope and ask about the AAA discount, and then ask for their Kemwel rate (after you determine what it is on www.kemwel.com ). For the last 2 years, I have found the Kemwel rate to be lower than the AutoEurope rate - although they are the same company.

Stu Dudley

Just got back 2 weeks ago, I agree with Stu (Hi, Stu, I'm gonna email you soon....) about Kemwel. I also think cote D'Azur is LESS amazing than Provence... Of all the places we traveled to during our 10 days there -- we will definitely remember those small, charming villages up on the mountains.... Lisa mentioned Gordes, which for us was one of the highlights of our day trips...

I would definitely rent a car, but if you're used to automatic transmission, be careful to rent one (they don't have many of them available), 'cause those very narrow, very steep, very winding roads can be dangerous, you need be fully alert, and you sure don't want to be preoccupied with a manual transmission, even if you're familiar with it....

Kemwel reserved for us an automatic "VW Passat or similar" (we ended up getting a Peugeot van which had transmission issues, so I returned it and got the Passat Diesel which was really great) for less than $600 for 9 days... that was Europcar in Nice airport. But when I made the reservation, back in February, the Dollar whad better value than today...

Europcar had all kinds of added fees (which we expected, I asked Kemwel)... I refused the insurance charges (they didn't try pressuring me like in some other places in Europe), after buying an Amex $25 extra-coverage insurance.

The value of the dollar isn't very high right now, so it's possible that rate isn't that unusual, as well as the fact that you are including insurance in the second quote. I rented from Kemwel last summer in Provence and didn't pay that much but I had my own insurance, and rented for closer to a week. It's just like the US, often a four-day rate is the same as a week rate, so amount per day isn't the best indicator always. So your $303 USD basic rate is really only about 210 euro or around 50 euro a day for an A/T when rented for four days. That isn't that unusual or high a rate. There are lots of places in the US you'd pay about that much per day for renting a small car and A/T is the only kind you can rent here.

I bet your problem is the four-day rental, and if you rented for a week it would only be about $400 or $57 a day rather than $75 a day.

Update on the car rental:

Hertz PREPAID price is $319.40 for a peugeot 307 Auto or Ford focus Auto.
Kemwel Citroen C4 with ac Automatic is $300.82. Additional charges to be paid locally are 37.4 E station surcharge and 3E/day Road tax adding another $70.

Check with Kemwel about a free GPS, which can be very useful.

Rental car reserved with National.

Still struggling with hotel choice. Has anyone stayed in Hôtel de l'Horloge 3 star hotel at 1 Rue Félicien David - Place de l'Horloge, Avignon? 4 nights are 760E at Booking.com.

Colbert's Patrice emailed me the following: One double large room with private comfort
For your son , attic room (photo of this room on the web site of the hotel) private comfort
The two rooms can will stay on the same floor and 3 meters of them.

I am not so sure about the "attic" room and haven't been able to spot it in the photos Patrice suggested. Anyone have any experience with the attic room? I get claustrophobic easily if there are no windows.

d'Europe is at 540E per night for Triple Prestige room.

No vacancy in thames-residences.com.

Any nice apartment suggestions? Or another hotel a little further away from the walled city but still having restaurant, fitness club, etc.?

I haven't stayed at that hotel, but the location is certainly central. Maybe a little too central, but I don't know (about church bells). That seems a high price for Avignon to me, for a 3* hotel (almost 200 euro a night?). But for three people, maybe not. But then I guess you are looking for top end hotels if you want a firtness club and restaurant, there aren't many choices there. I am surprised a 3* hotel has those.

There aren't very many 4* hotels in that area, so there won't be that many to check out with fitness clubs and restaurants. Of course I think the Mirande is the best, but I imagine it is pretty pricey. There is the CLoitre St Louis, another one of the top places.

Check out the Auberge de Cassagne http://www.aubergedecassagne.fr/
I considered it once as you get more for your money outside Avignon proper, I think (it is a suburb, Pontet). And it may be easier with a car, actually, which is why I considered it. Also, it has a pool.

I stayed at the Hotel Palais du Papes three years ago. Slightly quirky but we really liked it. Terrific location; the hotel is just opposite the palais. We parked the car in the huge car park under the place/square in front of hotel. It's a fairly easy in and out of the town from the car park. www.hotel-avignon.com

Auberge de Cassagne for Chambre Parc is coming in at 344 E per night.

Cloitre St. Louis for Superior room with extra bed is $409 US. Disturbing reviews on Tripadvisor about no air conditioning making me concerned; otherwise could be a good choice.

Palais du Papes has no vacancy.

Just booked Hotel Cezanne in Aix-en-Provence. According to the Michelin website, from Avignon TGV, 12.84 EUR in Toll 5.00 EUR | Petrol 7.84 EUR. Time is 58 minutes of wich 34 minutes on motorways and Distance is 84 km with 67 km on motorways

Has anyone stayed at this hotel and/or done this drive before? Comments?

Would it have been better to book the TGV tickets all the way to Aix?

On our return to Paris we will spend the night near CDG. Does the TGV terminate at the Gare de Lyon or does it continue on to CDG? If it does continue on, will it be possible to add on to the tickets to get to the CDG stop?

I would book the TGV to Aix, use the rest of the day to explore Aix, then pick the car up next morning.

From Aix there are many trains daily to CDG, some which require transfers in Avignon or Lyon (city, not the gare in Paris) but a good selection of direct trains.

If your aim is CDG, don't go via Paris.

I am not sure if I can change the TGV tickets now. I bought them and printed them out and they are REMS i.e. non-refundable, not changeable I suppose.

We may just have to contend with driving the 60 miles from Avignon to Aix.

On the return though if there was a way to continue on the TGV beyond the Gare du Lyon station to the CDG station that would be ideal and we could pay for the difference on the train or at the station. Otherwise, we will have to take a cab from the Gare du Lyon to the Hyatt CDG which is where we are staying the night before our flight back to the US.

The trains to Gare de Lyon don't continue to CDG. Am 99% sure of this but if I am wrong, someone will catch it. You would need to get to Gare du Nord by Metro or taxi then take the RER to CDG.

Given the extra hassle, cost to get to Gare du Nord then three RER tickets to CDG, I would taxi from Gare de Lyon to your hotel. But, I am lazy and cranky not to mention older than you are!

PREMs are nonrefundable and only changeable, I think, for a fee.

TGV trains do terminate at Gare de Lyon. You will then have to travel to CDG via taxi, metro or Air France bus.

PREMs are nonrefundable and nonchangeable, that is why they are a special fare. It is prepaid and that's that.

Someone who returned from France last month told me that as of 1-1-11 France requires all drivers to have French/International license.

Did anyone else come across this law while trying to rent a car with a US driver's license in Paris or Provence?

National Car Rentalcould not provide any clarification - I am renting from them with a US DL - hope the rental desk in Avignon doesn't demand to see a local license.

There is no such think as an "international license". I suppose you mean one of those international permit things that is just a translation of your national license. I'd say there is zero chance that a car rental agency in France will require only a French license from their renters.

ANyway, I haven't heard of that law, but if you are so worried about it, go to AAA and get one of the IDPs, they don't cost that much and you get it on the spot, I think.

It wouldn't be a law, but probably a regulation if it were true.

This is what the french embassy says: http://www.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article376

They say it is advisable to have an IDP, but not required. Europcar's website says an IDP is only required if your native license is in a language they can't understand. I know French anyway so have answered a few questions when they asked them when I rented (although a DL is basic clear info), but English isn't that difficult for them to comprehend, not to mention all the UK drivers.