babyatlas

we fly into nice and have seven days to explore southern france. i realize this is a HUGE area and we have no ambition to explore it all. the mountains and associated villages really appeal to us so we are wondering if it is do-able to fly into nice, drive over to the pyrennes and explore that area then return to nice. we have seven full days in the area. thanks for the input.

iris1745

Could you do it-yes, but you are spending too much time driving. Probably six or seven hours each way, depending on what location in the Pyrennes. That takes up a lot of your seven days. Plenty to do in the Nice area, or you could consider going as far as Avignon. Much to do and see in that area. Perhaps three hours. Richard

StuDudley

How much time did you expect to spend in each area???

Nice - now much time just in Nice

Do you want to see anything between Nice & Perpignan - or just head to the Pyrenees as fast as possible?

In the Pyrenees - between Perpignan & Biarritz - how many days do you expect to actually stay in the Pyrenees? Anything on the Spanish side??

Do you want to spend any time in the Pays Basque area around Biarritz??

Now for the looooong trip from Biarritz back to Nice (I would depart by air from Biarritz - not Nice). Do you plan to spend any time dawdling along this route with 1 or 2 overnight stays?

There are few cute "associated villages" in the Pyrenees - compared to the quantity of them near Nice, in Provence, Languedoc, and Pays Basque.

When is the trip??

Stu Dudley

StCirq

I don't quite see the logic of flying into and out of Nice if you want to visit the Pyrenées. Why not fly into Toulouse and out of Nice or vice versa?

At any rate, that would be way too much territory for me to cover in 7 days. You're going to traverse several very distinct areas of France, each of which has a bazillion historical and cultural offerings and loads of interesting cities, towns, and villages. A week is a very short amount of time. I'd fly into Nice and stay there - there's hardly a shortage of things to do and see. Even with 7 days, you'll barely make a dent.

babyatlas

thank you - this is what i needed to know. we already booked our tickets to nice (got a super deal which is why we chose flying into nice). we are country travelers - meaning we don't like big cities, museums, architecture, traffic, etc - nothing wrong with these things of course but we just really enjoy driving along a country rode, finding quaint villages, taking mountain hikes, grabbing a beer, etc. maybe these things are not possible on this trip - which is fine - but we just looked at the pyrennes yesterday on a map and were wondering if it were do-able and not too crazy (as we enjoyed the alps immensely)....sounds like it might be on the crazy/rushed side so we will save that area for a return trip.

so, given that, are there cities/villages you would recommend. activities? is the Millau viaduct a reasonable destination? we will have a rental car the entire time.

stu, you mentioned there are lots of cute village in nice, provence, languedoc - could you please recommend?

thanks again for the guidance. we leave in a couple of weeks. we have always traveled without hotel reservations - and hope that we have as good luck this trip as we have in the past.

StuDudley

>>could you please recommend?<,

Gosh - there are probably over 500 of them - too many to list here. E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary & my 35 page Languedoc itinerary to the reply e-mail. I've sent them to over 2,000 aol & Fodors people. Do so soon - we leave for a 3 week vacation in Europe in a few days.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

Driving along country roads, finding cute villages, taking mountain hikes, and grabbing a beer are all abundantly possible in Provence and the Côte d'Azur - that's pretty much a good part of what people go there for.

You need to familiarize yourself with the area, so the first item on your agenda should be to get yourself maps of Provence and the Côte d'Azur. Then look up these places:

Digne-les-Bains
Apt
Cavaillon
Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
Mont Ventoux
Gordes
St-Rémy-de-Provence
Les Baux
Tarascon
Aigues-Mortes
Uzès
Ile-sur-la-Sorgue

Familiarize yourself with the Lubéron. Familiarize yourself with the Bouches-du-Rhône. Familiarize yourself with the coast. Figure out how much driving you want to do in a day and maybe plan the whole trip as a big loop starting out from and ending up in Nice.

babyatlas

StCirq - THANKS for the list of cities. I just picked up a detailed map of southern France today so will plot these locations out tonight....now we're talking!

StCirq

Well, that's just a start. There are hundreds and hundreds of such places. Just did those off the top of my head.

Have fun with the map!

Underhill

You should also pick up a copy of the Michelin Green Guide to the Côte d'Azur, and possibly the companion Guide to Provence. Those are great resources; I couldn't plan a trip without them.

mpprh

You could reduce the highway driving time by putting together a trip including Alpilles, Montpellier, the Cevennes, Millau viaduct (I went over it yesterday !) and Gorges du Tarn.

There are lots of historical towns and villages to stay on the way.

Peter