Barcelona to Monaco
 

We are flying in to Barcelona and will be staying in Barcelona for 3 nights. Is this enough? Too much? We then have 6 days to get to Monaco to board a cruise ship. We plan on taking a train from Barcelona to Perpignon,France to rent a car( so there will be no large drop-off charge in Monaco). We plan to drive from Perpignon to Monaco and want to stop along the way at some interesting sites and cities. We have been told to see Avignon (should we stay overnight here and use it as a base?) Also what about Arles? Any suggestions from the Fodors community would be greatly appreciated.

Carcassonne to me is an absolute highlight of southern France but is a slight detour off your main route - otherwise I would spend some days in the Avignon area - seeing that fantastic city as well as nearby Arles, the Pont du Gard - to me the finest Roman relic outside of Italy - and places like Les Baux and St-remy

then en route to Monaco drive via the Gorges de Verdun - the Grand Canyon of Europe and then thru the hinterlands of Provence down into Nice - the main road along the coast itself is a drag to me - traffic-plagued main road that is just no fun to motor on.

http://www.venere.com/blog/route-napoleon/

A great way to drive thru the hinterlands of Provence away from the hectic coastal route is to take like I did not long ago the famous Route Napoleon, built thru the mountains of rural Provence to provide a military route to the Nice and Italy area. It goes thru a very rural area - lots of lavender fields, etc. and by the famous Gorges de (du) Verdon - the spectacular Gorges de Verdun (Verdun>).

Thanks so much for the great suggestions.

Look at Avignon, St-Remy, Les Baux for bases.

3 nights is a little short for Barcelona especially if you are jetlagged after a long flight I generally recommend 4 days for Barcelona and more days if you plan on Daytrips.

PalenQ- Is that route Napoleon a winding mountainous road or is it a flat drive? It sounds wonderful as does the Gorges de Verdon. I we are driving from Avignon- how would we get to that route?