7 days in provence, do my ideas make sense?
 

Finally narrowed down my plans. One week in Provence... thought 3ish days in Luberon, then 3 days using Arles as a base.

Is this a good balance?

Where would be a good base in Luberon? GOrdes?????

Or,should I do one base camp? If that , which?

Last question... we will be going end of May.. Any bull fighting at that time?

Thanks.

Big question: do you plan to have a car? If not, the Lubéron will be difficult to visit and even worse as a base. If you have a car, however, I'd suggest staying in Bonnieux. It's a bit bigger than the other Lubéron villages and thus offers more in the way of restaurants and cafés.

Basing in Arles: probably not, although it makes sense if you're planning to go places by train. Otherwise look at St-Rémy or perhaps Maussanne-les-Alpilles, both small towns that are easy to access by car.

What kind of bull-fighting? Killed or not?

When I was in Arles, they had various bullfights for the rice Festival, and I know they had some where they didn't kill the bull, not sure if they had any where they did or not as I didn't go. I thought maybe it was outlawed by now but I'm no expert.

The season starts at Easter, but I don't know how frequently they have them, or if they have them outside some festival times (I know they do at Easter, then the Rice Festival in the Fall when I was there, and once in July). They also have them in Nimes. IN any case, it will be the season, so recommend you look for a calendar in 2012 for Arles and Nimes. In fact, one of the big festivals for that in Nimes is Whitsun which is the end of May, but it is such a big deal that it is super crowded and booked up long in advance (hotels).

From the tourist office in Arles (bull fighting)
http://www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr/us/a7/a7b.htm


I agree with underhill

We have stayed in Mausanne a few times and really like it a lot....small village with friendly people and close to many great Rose wine producers. It is quite close to ST Remy so can make it your home base but do need a car.