Advice on our Provence itinerary, please.
 

We will arrive in St Remy de Provence late afternoon on Thursday (April 1)after overnight flight and TGV from Paris. Plan dinner at La Maison de Bournissac.
-Friday~village of St Remy, Pont du Gard, and Uzes
-Saturday~Glanum, Arles, Les Baux with dinner (need recommendation either on the way back or in St Remy)
-Sunday~Isle Sur la Sorgue, Abby de Senanque, Gordes (for view), Rousillon and dinner at Mas de Cure Bourse (Will driving back to St Remy in the evening be too difficult from here?)
Does anyone have websites, FAX, or phones for any of the restaurants so we can reserve? I appreciate your help. We're putting the final details in place!

Sounds ambitious. If you are planning on starting out the door at 8 am and touring till 5 or 6 pm it should work. Keep in mind that while in the smaller towns you need to eat between 12 and 2. Otherwise it will be difficult for you to find restaurants that are open.

Many of the roads in that area are slow going so be sure to take that in to account.

Your Sunday schedule seems a bit much. Not sure if you can get all that done in one day.

You could return to St.-Rémy by way of Maussanne-les-Alpilles and have dinner at the Bistrot du Paradou (reservations a MUST) or go over toward Fontvielle and dine on the way at Le Cabro d'Or, which is under the same management as the famous Oustau de Beaumanière. In Fontvielle itself is the very good La Régalido, which has 1 Michelin rosette.

I do think the drive back to St.-Rémy from Le Mas de Cure Course could be a bit long late in the evening. Could you fit it in for a traditional Sunday lunch instead?

As the locals would say... Vous êtes fou!

You start out with a Friday that is just about doable and then go crazy on Saturday and Sunday by trying to do much to much. I can sympathize with the desire to try to get in the maximum when you only have three days, but i think you'll end up just exhausted and not really appreciate it.

Anyway, I am sure you'll work all of that out when you are here....

Coming in early April has the advantage of still being a bit off-season, so you don't need to be too worried about planning out everything in advance.

And your drive back to St. Remy at night shouldn't be a problem. Count about 45 minutes.....


Bon voyage et surtout bon chance!

On your Friday schedule, I would suggest heading to Pont du Gard first and then having lunch in Uzès. There's a charming small restaurant called "Les Fontaines" at 6, rue Entre les Tours.
You can visit St Rémy itself later in the afternoon upon your return - there are several restaurants in the town
for dinner which are well worth the visit:

Jardin de Frédéric
La Source
La Serre
La Maison Jaune

I see nothing wrong with your Saturday schedule - although you might want to go to Arles first thing in the morning as it's market day. On the drive back you could have dinner in Le Paradou (just outside of Maussane) at Bistro La Petite France or in the valley below Les Baux at the Riboto de Taven (reservations required at both)
The Bistrot du Paradou won't be open for dinner in April.

You might find yourself spending more than just a morning in l'Isle sur la Sorgue, as Sunday is the big market and antique market day. I would suggest having lunch at the Mas de Cure Bourse rather than dinner.
After lunch a drive to the Abbaye (no lavender will be blooming yet)and past Gordes (one village I find that now looks best from a distance) wouldn't take all that much time and you won't have trouble finding you way back to St. Rémy.
If you would like phone or fax numbers for any of the restaurants, you can email me directly.

Patricia
Maussane-les-Alpilles

We have travelled to St. Remy in each of the last 11 years. Some comments:

-La Maison de Bournissac was great in Sep. 2002. I believe it has changed hands since but probably will still be excellent. If you can dine outdoors do so.

Your Saturday schedule seems fine. In St. Remy, try the recently re-located and expanded Gousse d'Ail. Say hello to Tjebbe the owner for us. Great guy. Another choice nearby in Maillanne is the "Oustalet de Maillane"--very good restaurant. There is a museum dedicated to Mistral in Maillanne--worth a few minutes look-see.

Your Sunday program is ambitious.Drive back is not difficult. I try to avoid night driving if I can--just take it easy and be aware of drainage ditches along the road that sometimes can be tough to spot.

You are welcome to contact me at [email protected] for more information.

Hi

just to be pedantic ........
Uzes and Pont du Gard are not in Provence. They are in Languedoc, but all are welcome to visit !

Peter
The Languedoc Page
http://tlp.netfirms.com

The Mas de Cure Bourse is wonderful but returning at night was not so easy, there's a long narrow road that leads up to it, so I suggest you do as Patricia says, and go for lunch under the fig trees though they won't be in bloom with fruit. Underhill's suggestion of the Regilido is good because it's on main street in the village so you won't be lost. Should you stop there, visit the boutique Emma, run by the owner/chef's daughter that is on the main floor. Paradou and Petite France are also very good suggestions. Have a wonderful time in my favorite part of France.

I forgot about those nasty drainage ditches--but I do remember how many times we got lost trying to get from Isle sur la Sorgue to the Mas de Cure bourse. I definintely wouldn't want to try it at night.