Aubignan as a base (Domaine le Vallon)
 

Hello everyone

I plan to visit Provence in late July next summer, both to see the lavender and sunflowers... visit the markets.. and see the end of the Tour de France.

I've found this B&B through a search here. It looks just marvelous. The added bonus is that they are quite close to the end (late-middle?) of the final day of the Tour de France which passes near/through Sault and of course Mont Ventoux.

A few questions for anyone familiar with this area:

As far as visiting Sault, Valensole Plateau, Abbaye de Senanque, and so on - does this seem close enough or rather out of the way? Naturally I'll want to see things other than the flowers, does this seem a good central location for the Luberon in general?

On the last day, the Saturday of the final stage before Paris... how difficult do you think it would be to view the Tour and then dump and run for the TGV in Avignon to get to Paris that night? Since it seems the Sault leg is later rather than earlier in the day (which means what, timewise?) are we asking for trouble do you think?

Many thanks!

YES - Aubignon is a good (central) location for what you plan to do and see.

However I believe the lavender fields will have finished blooming in late July. We watched harvests during the first week of July.

Avignon is probably an hour and a half from Sault. With the Tour on that day, roads are likely to be crowded, so it'll probably take quite a bit longer. Avignon is not that easy to enter through the outlying suburbs...

It's a stone throw from Beaumes de Venise. In Sault be sure to visit the beautiful Boyer shop famous for his nougat, and by the area's
lavender honey

Thanks Mimi and Tuck!

I just thought of this - I assume there is a train station in Carpentras. I suppose I could try to make it there, see if I can leave the car there instead and catch the train from there, changing in Avignon? The rub is the car dropoff.

ps again.

Would you say 5 nights in this location is overkill? I am thinking that the first two nights of the trip would be St. Remy, then on to Aubignan for 5 nights (as a base with day trips), then on to Paris for 4 nights.

I may be wrong, but I don't think there's a station in Carpentras - Orange would be a better bet I believe.

FWIW - Brantes is one of my favorite villages!

There is no train service; railway line comes into Carpentras, but there's no more passenger service. There are large freight yards at the edge of town, but even the freight service is just about finished. The nearest train stations are:

Gare d'Avignon (25 km)

Gare de Cavaillon (27 km) * bus service. A Carpentras-Cavaillon bus service is included in the SNCF timetable "Guide Régional des Transports", available at most train stations.

Gare d'Orange (25 km)

Bus
Two bus companies provide service to surrounding towns. The Arnaud company has 4 or 5 buses a day between Carpentras and Cavaillon (45 minutes); this bus route is Carpentras, Pernes, Velleron, Le Thor, Grangette, St Antoine, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Cavaillon, Orgon, Sénas, Pont-Royal, Lambesc, St Cannat, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille.

• Bus-11 schedules

- Carpentras, Pernes-les-Fontaines, Le Thor, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Cavaillon, Marseille.

Cars Arnaud Buses

8, Ave Victor-Hugo

Tel: (33) 490 63 01 82

YES - I'd stay put there the entire time (especially if the B&B is indeed 'marvelous').

The advantage you have is the closeness to the Autoroute, so you could be quickly in the Saint Rémy area (and the Pont du Gard) and back for daytrips.

We stayed in that area & watched the Dauphine Libere go up Mt Ventoux in '06. There are not many roads in that region that get you in & out of the Bedoin area quickly. I would imagine that you won't be able to cover much ground till about 3-4 hours after the race ends - maybe longer. Remember - Mt Ventoux will probably decide the Yellow Jersey. The TdF has not gone up Ventoux in about 7-9 years - that was the year Michael Pantini edged out Lance. I would sure like to hear from someone who has watched it from Ventoux before making plans to sleep that night in Paris. The late trains from Avignon to Paris leave at 6, 6:45 (1 change), 8, & 9 for the 2 1/2 hr trip. With no traffic, the Avignon TGV station is 45 mins from Bedoin. If you leave from Bedoin, pick a route to Avignon that does not go through Carpentras (which is difficult to navigate even withouth TdF traffic). There is a SNCF Botique/ticket office at the Carpentras train station - but no trains.

Do you have my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary?? If not, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll send one.

Stu Dudley

Thanks again Tuck and Mimi - sounds like a good place to park it.

Stu, I have your wonderful guide. Thanks!

Another thought: What if we stayed in Avignon Saturday night and got on either the 640 AM, or 8 AM train to Paris? Would we still have time to see some of the finale? The first train would get us to Paris proper at 9 AM, roughly...

This is just a guess, but I think your chances of watching the Mt Ventoux stage and sleeping in Paris that night are slim. I would go the next morning. What time does the Paris stage actually hit Paris?

Stu Dudley

Hi Stu

A friend of mine who follows the Tour said they usually start the ride at noon-ish, which would mean if we arrive in Paris Sunday before noon we'd definitely be ahead of them.

Yeah, I'm thinking we'd be better off just getting to Avignon Saturday night and then taking the train the next morning to Paris.