My husband and I are spending 5 days in Southern France in Mid September. Flying into Nice and renting a car and then train to Paris. Should we stay in Avignon or Arles? Should we stay in one place or change locations to Marseille, Nice or someplace else? Currently planning on Saturday market in Arles, a winery/vineyard tour somewhere, afternoon in Les Beaux. Any suggestions on areas to stay, sights to see and vineyards to visit? We are looking for a French experience and don't plan on a lot of shopping that can be done in the United States.
Another plan was to stay 3 days in Provence then drive to Beaune for 2 nights.

Arles or Avignon would be fine, I prefer Avignon as there is more to do in the evening (both are small) and the restaurants more diverse. Last time I was there I used the train to get about so you need to find a park for the car (normally outside the walls). I also would stay in a small hotel inside the walls rather than in an international one, more fun

I'd also look at Nimes (as in Denim the stuff jeans are made of) another pretty city

For me 5 days needs only one base.

The Popes palace do a general tasting of local wines but splash out and buy the best tour there one day, we were surprised how good it was for a bit of a tourist trap.

Assuming you are taking the TGV to Paris, you will be departing from Avignon so perhaps base there for the duration of your stay in the south. It is also centrally located so you can visit the various towns and villages surrounding it.

Please note that the drive from Nice airport to Avignon will take approx 2.5hrs on the A8/A7 freeway.

The Sunday market at L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a must and it is not far from your base. You can also head east to the Luberon and/or west to Pont du Gard and visit nearby Uzes.

Plenty to see and do in that part of the world!

Enjoy!

s

Thanks for the input. Can you recommend a specific tour company, I have read about several.
My husband is probably only good with going to a market one day. Which is better, Saturday in Ales or Sunday in Sorgue?

I would just stay in one location in Provence for only 5 days. I'm not a big fan of staying in Avignon - too much urban sprawl as you drive in & out for your day trips. Not the "image" of Provence you'll want to remember. I recommend staying in St Remy if you want to be around shops, cafes, restaurants, and other tourists - or in the Luberon near one of the hill villages if you want countryside.

Drop Beaune. It will take some time to get there - which will leave you with only 2 1/2 days in Provence & 1 1/2 days in Burgundy - which is not enough time in either location.

Do you have my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary? My wife & I have spent 34 weeks in these regions & the itinerary describes our favorite villages, markets, scenic drives, sites, etc. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail. I've sent it to over 3,000 people n Fodors.

Stu Dudley

>>Which is better, Saturday in Ales or Sunday in Sorgue?<<

Most first-time visitors would prefer the l'Isle sur la Sorgue market. It has food, antiques, fabric, soap, etc. Get there early (8:30) - it becomes wall-to-wall people by 11:00.

What do you want a tour company for??

Stu Dudley

bm

I was just about to suggest staying in St Remy rather than Avignon or Arles for the exact reasons Stu gave (and I guess he should know as he is one of the resident experts on Provence here). I was just in Provence in July and based in St Remy for 5 nights and did day trips to Arles, Avignon, Uzes and Pont du Gard, Les Baux and the Luberon villages. Loved all of it but very glad I didn't base in Avignon - parking and driving there more difficult than the other places so glad I only had to do it once and not daily. The second worst place for parking was Arles - every place else was a breeze.

We stayed at the Hostellerie du Chalet Fleuri (www.hotel-lechaletfleuri.com/)in St Remy. Great location as it was just off the D99 so very easy to drive in and out each day, but still only a ten minute walk to the center of St Remy for dinner, etc. Private free parking.

St Remy has a pretty good market on Wednesdays.

Look for a place to stay in and around Maussane-les-Apilles, near Les Baux. That will give you the small-village experience you want and yet be near enough to the markets and sights that interest you.

Wow, such great input. Thank you.
We are looking for a good wine tour.

What do you mean by "wine tour?" There will be wine all around you, with plenty of opportunities for dégustations and buying of wine.

I read that we should do a organized wine tour with a guide, suggestions?.
Since we will be driving from Nice, should we consider staying 2 nights in Aix en Provence and then 3 nights in St. Remy?

Since you have only 5 to 4 1/2 days available to visit all the wonderful sites in Provence, I'm not sure consuming 3/4 of a day or so on an organized wine tour would be the best use of your time - unless you are a big wine buffs. The major wine area is the Cote du Rhone - which is about 45 mins away. I would spend more time planning your daily events, and then determine where a wine tour fits into your priorities - remembering that it will consume the better part of a day.

Aix is our favorite city in Provence, but 3/4 of a day is about all many people need to visit it. There are a couple of options:

1. After you land in Nice & pick up the car, head straight to Aix and spend the better portion of the day there and then off to St Remy around 5PM or so. This would only work if you arrive in Nice by about 10am.

2. Same as above, except stay overnight.

Forget about Aix if you land on a Sunday or Monday when all/most shops will be closed.

Stu Dudley

Agree (again) with Stu except I was in Aix on a Sunday last month and there were lots of markets going on. Every square had something different. All along Cour Mirabeau was a craft fair type market, the Hotel de Ville square had a book market, another square a huge produce market, another a flower market. Touristy type stores were open so the only thing you couldn't do was shop in 'regular' stores. Some of those types of stores were open on Monday morning. At least in mid summer Aix did not have that 'closed up' feel some towns have on Sundays.

We stayed in St. Remy at Le Mas des Carrasins and recommend it highly as a base for that area (we also enjoyed a night in Avignon, but with your limited time I would probably skip staying there).
I would base myself in one place and drive from there- you can cover a lot of ground from St. Remy. I was extremely underwhelmed by Arles and by the Arles market - very little of any actual interest to a tourist but miles of junk designed for what appeared to be a largely immigrant population. The market(s) in Aix were vastly superior.
It doesn't sound like you are spending any time in Nice, which is too bad because Nice is fabulous and has many interesting places nearby to visit too (Villefranche, Eze, not to mention St. Paul de Vence, etc.) You might consider staying for a night or so in Nice before driving on, visiting Aix for part of a day and then continuing on to St.. Remy. You could see some of Nice and the surrounding area before concentrating on Provence. It's all good! You need twice as much time as you've allocated to do more than scratch the surface, but whatever you end up with you'll love it.

We thought St Remy was wonderful and a great base from which to visit many places. If you decide to stay there, we enjoyed the Hotel Sous les Figuiers. The property is lovely, the location is very convenient, and the owners are quite helpful with restaurant recommendations and such things.

I think a good wine tour with an expert who knows certain vineyards and houses could be good, but I don't know of any. I like wine a lot but don't buy it to take home when I go to France so don't ever do that kind of thing as I don't see the point of it unless you are buying a lot. Maybe someone else on Fodors will come up with something they know.

Of course, you had better be in the right places for the kind of wine you like. you may know some companies, but here in one in Avignon that does that, I just don't know their quality http://www.avignon-wine-tour.com/ I like circuit one, actually (Tavel and Costiere de Nimes).

I agree with Stu. Why waste time with a tour when you can do it yourself. You can google for wine routes.

One reason to do a wine tour is not having to worry about the strict drinking/driving laws in France. Also, experts can take you to producers you might not be able to visit on your own (FYI, this is especially the case in Burgundy).

If you want to do a day's circuit of some of the best lower Rhône wines, it's easy. You can do a very nice tour on your own beginning in Beaumes-de-Venise and then heading north to Vacqueras, Gigondas (excellent tasting room on the village square), Séguret, and Sablet. Get the Michelin map of Provence or go to the viamichelin.com web site to see the route, which begins at the town of Carpentras.