Hi, we will travel to Avignon and Nice in two months for a total of 6 days. I am still deciding if I should rent a car in Avignon and visit the area or just book tours in Avignon.Our group is comprised of three adults and two older children.Is it easy to follow the directions? Are the tours good? What would be best?, <BR>thanks for the advice.

Mary- I would rent a car just so that you would be able to get to all of the neat little towns around the area. Rousillion, Gordes,Bonnieux are lovely north of avignon and Les Baux and St. Remy to the south. The roads are well marked for the ost part and easy to drive.Make sure you have the 245 michelin map.If you have a car you can go where you want and when you want and not be under someone else's schedule. I would recommend getting to Nice via the Grand Canyon du Verdon if you like absolutely splendid scenery. email if you have more questions.

PErsonally, given you will be there such a short time and have apparently not been there before, I would not bother renting a car as there is plenty to see in Avignon and other town very easily accessible by train from there (ie, Arles or Nimes). Ditto Nice. If your heart is set on some particular attraction that cannot be reached by train or in the country, then you would need a car. YOu could visit Aix from Avignon, also, fairly easily. I would not book a tour except perhaps to Les Baux if you don't have a car as that is not easy to get to (if you want to go there) but I think you have to go out of Arles. I would just get a good guidebook and visit the sites/sights myself, which is what I did do when I stayed in Avignon sans car. I use Cadogan guide to Provence/Cote d'Azur and a Green Michelin. There is plenty to see in Nice, also, and you can easily go to Antibes or Monaco from there by train, if you want a change. It really depends what you want to see and do as to whether you need a car.

Thanks for the advice given so far. We will be staying in the Avignon area for three days.i would like to visit Arles and Nimes but also Les Baux and the other favored sites. Wonder what would be best given the allowed time? <BR>Last year we went to Tours and visited all The castles with an excellent small tour operator we found about at the tourist office.Do not know if this would be similar in the Provence. <BR>Thanks

IMO, it's fairly different. In the Loire Valley, you main goal is to visit the castles. When you're at Chambord, you don't have to wonder what you should visit. Once you're finished with the visit, of course you can decide to stay longer in some place. But the most usual decision is to head to another castle. And two persons visiting the region will probably visit more or less the same places. <BR> <BR> In provence, you have much more options. You could want to visit a town (Avignon, Aigues-Mortes,...) an area (Camargue, Verdon,...) a little village (Gordes, Les Baux,...). Your choices won't be obviously the same than someone else. You could also want to stay longer in some place to enjoy the scenery, eat at a restaurant,hike, horse ride,...depending on your tastes. <BR> <BR>If you're visiting a town you'll have also a lot of options : visiting a castle, seeing roman ruins, buying candied fruit, shopping at the market, visiting a museum, attending a bull fight... <BR> <BR>So being on a tour with a fixed schedule will limit your choices much more in Provence than in the Loire Valley. Though I agree that tours are very convenient in the latter case, I would certainly advise to rent a car in Provence. <BR> <BR>However, if you already knows what you intend to visit and if it includes mainly the towns plus perhaps a daytrip to some village, using public transportations would be perfectly fine. I don't think you really need a tour to visit Arles from Avignon, for instance. Jumping on a train will be perfectly fine, you'll have no time constraint and you'll be able to do whatever you want once there. <BR>