Barcelona to Marseilles WHERE In Between?
 

15 night trip for DH and me (in 50s) begins in mid May. We are envisioning five nights at each end, (arrive in a.m.), but it's the five in the middle that are under consideration. Also probably ok to take a night away from Marseilles if needed. The five in Barcelona would include a day to Montserrat or Girona. We enjoy art, classical music, fine food (but not seafood), wine!, churches, scenic overlooks and lots of walking. (not too into shopping generally). Last spring's awesome trip was two weeks exploring Madrid, Malaga, Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada by train.

We are considering Mallorca, or else train/car Spain to southern France. Your ideas are welcome. This is our first time to Barcelona, and I haven't been to Marseilles for many years.

Option one: Mallorca would be nature/hike/caves, sightsee Palma, train to Soller. We would not anticipate beach activity except for a walk along it. . Thinking of basing in Palma, we tend to like cities. We do travel light, so could switch locales...

Option two: 1 Girona, 2-3 Montpellier, 4-5 Avignon or Aix? But I am not sure of "big pops" interesting activities in last two. I've been to Aix once as well, 40 years ago, and remember my first taste of herbes au Provence there, :) as well as watching a purse snatching unfold in the square in front of us :(
Option three: 3 nts Mallorca and 2 nts Lyons or Aix? (depending on exit flight Palma to ?)
Your thoughts welcomed, thank you in advance.

I would spend 8 nights in Provence and 2 nights in Marseille.

Take the morning 3 1/2 hr TGV from Barcelona to Nimes, pick up a car, and spend 4 nights in St Remy and 4 nights in the Luberon. If your 8 nights in Provence includes a Sat to Sat - rent a gite in the Luberon and go to a morning farmer's market, pick up a roast chicken, paella, etc and have some dinners or lunches at the gite.

Stu Dudley

Ha! I knew you would say St Remy, Stu! I had just told my hubbie that!
Anyway, I WAS wondering where best to pick up a car, (I thought maybe Montpellier) so thank you for answering that.
We like to have specific places to visit each day, and really enjoy eating out, not in. I'm not opposed to the occasional picnic, but overall we would not want more than 1 a week.
So what is there to do around St Remy? The guidebooks don't show much.

Stop overnight in Collioure, France, a little north of the Costa Brava.

My wife & I have spent 20 weeks vacationing in Provence. We were just there in late June last year for 2 weeks.

We really liked St Remy 15 years ago - but less today. However, St Remy seems to be quite popular with many tourists. We prefer the Luberon (6 weeks there), around Bedoin (10 weeks), and close to Uzes (2 weeks).

If you have done any research on Fodors, you probably already know that I offer my 35 page itinerary for the Cote d'Azur & Provence to anybody who asks for it. E-mail me at [email protected] if you would like a copy.

Stu Dudley

Thank you for the email, Stu. I will look at it today. I feel certain a reworking of trip is in order....and HappyTrvlr--Collioure looks to be of interest (at the minimum a lunch and art gallery stroll on the way!)

If you stop in Collioure, your car situation will be different. And then it is a 3 to 3 1/2 hr drive to Provence.

Stu Dudley