cynthia22

I will be travelling in Cote dd'Azur/ Provence in November and am looking for suggestions on where to base ourselves. Provence is the primary destination altho we are flying into Nice. Looking for charm etc as opposed to big cities. Arrving Nice and spending a day or two - best town to stay rather than in Nice itself? Then drive over to Luberon and Provence. A friend suggests staying in Gordes for the next 6-7 days and taking day trips from there. Is Gordes too touristy? And should we perhaps divide the time and use two base towns (3 days each) in order to best see the area? If so, suggestions for base towns?
This site has been very helpful in the past and I look forward to your suggestions!

twoflower

I've been researching the same stuff for an upcoming trip - especially around the Luberon. My findings are that, yes, Gordes is touristy, but worth considering despite that. Other popular options recommended to me (on this forum and elsewhere) are Bonnieux, Goult, and St Remy.

GregY2

Unless you have some aversion to driving I would always suggest staying in the one place as much as possible and seeing the surrounding area in day trips. We have a house in the Vaucluse and we routinely vist places like Bonnieux, Gordes, Arles, St Rèmy, Nimes, Pont du Gard etc in day trips (not all the same day!) To my mind, Gordes is a bit off-centre to be used as a base. A lot of people recommend St Rèmy, but there is so much to see, if you are happy to drive an hour or so, you can see just about anything in the Luberon/Vaucluse from any reasonably central location, We find it a great advantage to have a single base, you don't have to unpack/repack, you don't need to park the car with your luggage in it, and there is more chance of seeing local life, and maybe meeting people, if you are in the same location for a while.

TimS

I spent five nights in Nice in May and found it to be a great base. From what I've read and from my daytrip experiences, I'd recommend Antibes as an alternative.

luvparee

I was in Provence almost 3 years ago and am going again next summer. The first time we stayed in Velleron at the Villa Velleron which was a fabulous place. If you look on a map of the Luberon/Vaucluse area, it seems about equal in distance from Avignon on the west to Vaison-la-Romaine on the north, Roussillon on the east, and Aix to the south.

Next summer we are staying a a B & B in Perne les Fontaines as it seemed also to be in the "middle" but wanted a new venue to stay in this next time.

I think you'll be able to tell from the map that all the villages are not that much of a drive in any direction.

Enjoy!

Joy

Lavande

My first choice of a Provencal town will always be St. Remy! Perfect hub for day trips, plenty of good restaurants (shopping & sites) in town, and one of the best markets (Wed.) in all of Provence! A short drive to Les Baux, Mausanne, Arles, Avignon and lovely longer drives to Nyon, Menerbes, Bonnieux, etc. St. Remy is #1 in my book and I've stayed there 8 years running! Wouldn't stay anywhere else.

sssteve

Cynthia -

We like small towns too, but enjoyed staying near Avignon and Aix as our main bases in provence.
Check out my web page about that trip - it's from 2000, but it's got lots of useful information which may help you.
http://www.travel.stv77.com/provence/provence.html

roamer

Vaison-la-Romaine is our Provence home base. We can get to all those places mentioned. I also recommend--pick one base and stay there.

sandi

St. Remy - is a great base for trips in any direction and probably the easiest town to get into/out of for your daily adventures.

From St. Remy the Luberon is about an hour if using local roads - you can spend an entire day in/around this area... maybe even two regardless the fact you may have to do the trip twice... the scenery is beautiful.

We rarely use the Autoroute for any of our day trips and from St. Remy averaged between 30-45 minutes 45-minutes to get to the furthest point.

Reminder - by November a number of hotels and restaurants in the Provence area close until mid-December. Therefore, I would suggest you confirm hotel accommodations ahead of time.

While Nice could be considered a big city, it really isn't and is centrally located for easy train travel East towards Italy and West to Cannes. You can actually rent car only for the trip to/from Provence back to Nice and save on car rental costs, gas (USD$4+/gallon), tolls, insurance, second driver fee, airport tax, etc. What you pay for taking the train and some short taxi rides from train stations won't amount to two days of car rental while in Nice. Another advantage - no car parking fee if the hotel you select here doesn't have it's own parking facility and if it does, some charges can run $25 overnight.

Most hotels in Provence have on-site parking without fees attached.

The weather in November will likely be cool; downright cold to freezing especially overnight and mornings, so dress appropriately in layers.

Happy travels.