Trying to triangulate my husband's love of France and birding, our adult daughter's love of bustling cities, and my love of café crème sipped leisurely , I originally thought of Arles. The Camargue in the back yard, though, got me wondering about mosquitoes. They think I'm delicious. Are we less likely to get bitten outside in Avignon? I'm thinking a week there early September. We loved Sete years ago.

I imagine car rental is needed for the Camargue? Otherwise I hope we can find a bus to catch the tail end of lavender season?

Mosquitos love me!!!. We've spent about 20 weeks near Avignon in June and no problems. About 4 weeks in Sept & no problems.

Stu Dudley

I have never had any real problems with mosquitoes in Avignon or when I lived in Bédoin. I now live in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes and I have never really noticed a serious issue with them.

Now, the Camargue is a totally different ball of wax. That is the one area where I get eaten alive by them. I avoid the area because of it. Sad.

Stu, 1994, thank you. That helps.

I assume mosquitoes are part of the great circle of life, but would we really miss them?

Perhaps we were just lucky, but we did not have mosquitoes in September in the Camargue or Arles. We found Arles seemed a bit grey, but I might still choose it over Avignon, which just did not appeal that much. The location is good though. We loved Aigues Mortes because we stayed overnights. Aix was our absolute favorite base, but It is not, IMHO, the best base for travel.

I think of mosquitoes as bird food. A barn swallow can eat up to 850 mosquitoes per day. Hope this type is not a light as it seems here.

The Mosquito is the state bird of the Camargue. What's why we avoid the Camargue.

Stu Dudley

The Camargue is one place to which I very much hope to return. If need be, I will use mosquito repellent, maybe Fall is a good time to go. Our three days there was fine, no bites.

I liked Avignon more than Arles, myself, so I think that's just personal, hard to predict. Avignon just seems more open and lively to me and more expansive, not narrow crumbling alleys as much.

However, I was in Arles one September during their annual Rice Festival and that was a lot of fun. This year it is Sept 10-11 and thus if you want to be there during that, you will have to book far ahead.

I think this is a program.
https://www.arenes-arles.com/

Note that the bullfighting event is a big thing on that festival. Also, the day I was there, they did the running of the bulls in the street, also. B ut it wasn't like Pamplona, they were a little bored, it was more casual although luckily they weren't too interested in goring the local boys on the street. I think they have at least one event that is "sans picador" (usually on Sunday) but I did not go to any bullfight one way or another. This is a big event in Arles. There is also an event on Saturday (Corrida Goyesque) which is a big deal. That means they wear costumes like during the era of Goya. description
https://arenes-arles.com/archives/goyesques/

Now I am not up on the latest on that point, I know they were trying to rebrand the thing as a spectacle (hence the Goyesqua) but not sure if they still kill the bull or not. They used to do it so you didn't see it after the matador wounded it.

I don't think you are going to find any lavender season in September, especially down south. The last area is Sault as it is higher altitude and that ends around mid-August. Their big lavender festival is always 8/15.

When we attended a bullfight in Arles, the goal was to grab rings off the bull's horns and it really was a fun spectacle. The bulls were not killed.

The bullfight, "rings contest" in Arles was a "concurso de recortadores con anillas", and no, the bulls are not killed.

Mosquitos love me, find me "delicious" and when visiting the Camargue in late June, I literally doused myself in mosquito repellant, as my hosts warned me to do. When we opened the car door at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes, but luckily, I was prepared and protected. Other weren't, andI felt really sorry for those who hadn't protected themselves with repellant on our boat ride through the marshes. Yes, in the summer at least, they are a huge problem (at least for me), as Stu notes, so it's best to go protected with repellant.

Like Sassafrass, I did love Aigues Mortes. We visited immediately following Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, and I didn't have mosquito problems there. It was a pleasure to walk the walls....charming town.

There are some serious differences between French and Spanish bullfighting. I would recommend a tourist goes to a French bullfight

bilbo (on good behaviour today)

Oh, most excellent fodorites! This is all so good.

Yes, sassafrass, but where are those swallows when I need them? Loafing around in barns. I'm glad to hear you didn't get bitten.

One February in Athens I left my bedroom window open, never dreaming they were out there. Half the next two nights were search and destroy missions.. One great thing about the USA is the window screen.

I'd consider going to the Camargue, maybe, am sure it's amazing, but my birder husband has the permethrin-soaked clothes and fancy binoculars. Chiggers plague him, never bother me. We're different flavors or something.

Great info, Christina. I'll shoot for the Rice Festival. I'd have considered bullfights in Spain, but always missed the season. A non-lethal one sounds perfect. Also love Goya. Arles connection, I wonder? I think he ended up in France.

KTravel, good to know!

Yikes, Maribel. Early September is summer here in Missouri, so probably there, too.

We enjoyed a walk around Aigues-Mortes one year. Charming town. Louis IX started one of his possibly well-meant Crusades there, so educational tie-in for us St. Louisans.

Bilbo. It's been awhile, but have you ever not been on good behavior?

Has anyone toured the L'Occitane factory?

Yes, sassafrass, but where are those swallows when I need them? Loafing around in barns. I'm glad to hear you didn't get bitten.

One February in Athens I left my bedroom window open, never dreaming they were out there. Half the next two nights were search and destroy missions.. One great thing about the USA is the window screen.

I'd consider going to the Camargue, maybe, am sure it's amazing, but my birder husband has the permethrin-soaked clothes and fancy binoculars. Chiggers plague him, never bother me. We're different flavors or something.

Great info, Christina. I'll shoot for the Rice Festival. I'd have considered bullfights in Spain, but always missed the season. A non-lethal one sounds perfect. Also love Goya. Arles connection, I wonder? I think he ended up in France.

KTravel, good to know!

Yikes, Maribel. Early September is summer here in Missouri, so probably there, too.

We enjoyed a walk around Aigues-Mortes one year. Charming town. Louis IX started one of his possibly well-meant Crusades there, so educational tie-in for us St. Louisans.

Bilbo. It's been awhile, but have you ever not been on good behavior?

Has anyone toured the L'Occitane factory?

'The Mosquito is the state bird of the Camargue'
Outstanding Stu!
OP SB, I agree with Christina's mention of the Fest du Riz in Arles. The parade and associated events are fun to be sure, but just as essential is to get hammered spend time with locals in a local eatery, the less swanky the better.
Bon Chance.
I am done. the end