4 days - provence or Côte d'Azur?
 

We will be traveling to France next September (2015) for a river boat cruise down the Rhone river, visiting cities such as Chalon, Lyon, Arles, Avignon, Vienne, Tournon, and Viviers. We will be arriving in Paris several days before our cruise and spending 4 days getting acclimated and driving into Normandy.

After the cruise, (ends in Arles), we want to spend a few days doing something else.

What I'm wondering is, if you had only 4 days in either Provence or Côte d'Azur, which would you go to? I was in Nice, Monaco and Avignon about 20 years ago (college years) just spending about a day in each. This trip, i will be traveling with my husband who hasn't been to either region.

I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. I'm leaning towards Provence, possibly staying in St Remy as a base.

Thanks!

Since either choice would be a good one, let the fates decide and flip a coin !

- Kevin

Since you will be arriving in Arles - stay in Provence. That would save you around 2 1/2 hrs of driving. In fact, you could stay in Arles the first day and save a day of car rental.

Stu Dudley

Thank you both for the input!!!

If we stayed in Arles the first night, where would you recommend staying after that as a base location? Looking at Aix or St Remy i think.

Considering all options for excursions but may try to fit in a cooking class.

Places/things to do that look interesting to me thus far:
Vaison-la-Romaine
Wine villages such as Gigandes
Gordes
Camargue
Cassis
Wineries/olive oil tastings

Would you recommend any of these more than the others or have i missed something? I know we can't fit in everything in such a short stay.

Wondering about going to Marseille... Told by tour company we need to rent a car there but hoping to find rental closet to Arles.

The rough itinerary I had was

Day 1 - explore Aix all day, see the sights, lunch & dinner in Aix, overnight in Aix
Day 2 - day trip to Cassis, possible boat tour, lunch in Cassis, back to Aix for dinner/overnight
Day 3 - cooking class in morning - includes lunch, afternoon in St Remy, see the sights in St Remy, dinner & overnight in St Remy
Day 4 - drive to Carangue (possible jeep tour), lunch in Paradon on way back, hit olive oil tour on way back, back to St Remy for dinner/overnight (or go to Gordes instead)
Day 5 - Liburon - loop of 3 villages: Lacoste, Menerbes and Oppede-le-Vieux, lunch spot at Oppede, back to Gordes for wine tasting tour, catch the sunset, dinner in Gordes, overnight in Gordes
Day 6 - depart for home

Since i have estimated 4 days only this is obviously too much to fit in. Is there anything that you'd take out immediately? I don't usually like this much activity jammed into a few days but since the cruise will be 8 pretty relaxing days, I was thinking this might be ok.

It's also hard to tell exactly how long it will take to drive everywhere... On a map it all looks pretty close but hard to know what road conditions will be I guess.

Thanks again for any help and insight!

Aix isn't really centrally located enough to use it as a base if you only have 4 nights/3 1/2 days. I love Aix - but Avignon and Arles have somewhat the same look/feel. I think the best base if you only want to stay in one spot is St Remy. There are other similarly-sized villages that I like better (Uzes), but St Remy is closer to the sites most people want to visit in Provence.

We're both foodies & wine fans (we live near the Napa/Sonoma area), but we've spent 20 weeks exploring Provence and have always felt that taking time away from other attractions to go wine tasting or take a cooking class is not good use of our time - and especially for you with only 3 1/2 days available. Wine tasting is a "different" event than it is in Napa/Sonoma.

For 3 days I would:

- Take my Luberon driving tour - visiting Gordes by 9:00 then Oppede le Vieux, Menerbes, Bonnieux, Roussillon and the beautiful countryside between these villages.

- Drive through the Cote du Rhone and Dentelles Mountains visiting Vaison, Seguret, stop at the "cave" in Gigondas if you want an "taste" (no tours).

- Visit the Pont du Gard, Uzes, and Castillon du Gard.

- Visit Avignon or Arles in the morning then Les Baux in the afternoon.

- Drive my "lavender route" - no lavender this late, but this is a very scenic drive. Visit Sault, Montbrun (from below), Brantes, Simiane la Rotonde, and the Gorges de la Nesque.

- Visit a local farmer's market in the morning

That's 5 days worth of stuff - and you only have 3 1/2. And I could continue to suggest about 10 other days worth of things to see/visit close to St Remy. IMO, there is no need to go to Cassis, Camargue, or Marseille. Like I stated - we've spent 20 weeks there & we're still finding new places (Colorado Rustel, and east of St Saturnin this past June).

You really don't need to schedule any time in St Remy if you stay there - you'll "get enough" just starting and ending your days there.

I developed a 31 page Provence/Cote d'Azur itinerary that describes the above suggestions in more detail, and also our favorite markets, restaurants, sites, and has a section about Provence fabric. I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail. Do so soon - we leave for 5 weeks in France in about 2 weeks from today.

Stu Dudley

Stu-

Thanks so much. That kind of help is invaluable.

I would definitely like your itinerary and I'll be emailing you about that.

Thanks again :-)

Amy

Hi,

StDudley have right it is a very good plan, if you don't known this places Uzes, Camargues, Gorges, very nice places.

Since you have been to Arles and Avignon, and have not shown any interest in Les Baux and Pont du Gard I would not base in St Remy. I am a little confused by your rough itinerary which is 5 nights (5 days) and then you say you only have 4 days. How many nights are you spending post cruise? Also you say depart for home on day 6. From where are you departing for home? Also what day of the week does your cruise end? This would affect your detailed itinerary-renting car, market days, shops open, etc.

I would do this:

Day 1. Cruise ends(morning) in Arles. Rent a car in Arles. Drive to Aix. Spend day in Aix and the night in Aix.

Day 2. Morning in Aix, especially if a market day. Drive to and spend the following 3-4 nights at the Les Mas Perreal, near St Saturnin in the Luberon

http://masperreal.com/index.html

http://masperreal.com/yourstay.html

In route north to Les Mas Perreal you can stop for lunch in Lourmarin with possible stops in Cucuron and Ansuis.Dinner at a nearby hill town. Roussillon is 10 minutes, St Saturnin even closer. Kevin will make a reservation for you.

Day 3. You will wake up in the Provence of Peter Mayle that everyone dreams about. Following a Gourmet breakfast you will go on your planned daily activities for the day. Kevin can help you on this. You could even plan(reserve) your dinner at a local hill town this evening.Today may be a good day to see the hilltowns of the petit Luberon- Bonnieux, Lacoste, Menerbes, Oppede-le-Vieux. You might be able to fit in Saignon.

Days 4 and 5 will start as Day 3 and then with destinations to the north, west, or east.

http://masperreal.com/luberon-home-base.html

http://masperreal.com/outdoor-markets-provence.html

Day 6. Leave for home with fond memories of France.