OK- giving up on small villages since we would compromise restaurants and activities at night. We will just visit them during the day. I will investigate more on Avignon.

Any comments on our route from Colmar to the South this is our biggest stumbling block at this point(see my above respons to original comments) Still torn whether we go to Chamonix or not and what best route to take as we head south from Colamr. If we do not go to Chamonix- where is best to stop on our route as we head to Avignon - either for one night stopover or just a short visit to break up the day?

Welcome to Fodors, Jenny

My wife & I have vacationed for 40 weeks on the Cote d/Azur & Provence. I developed a 33 page itinerary that describes our favorite villages, cities, scenic drives, markets, etc. It has a section on Provence fabric also. I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors. I also have a shorter one on Alsace and stuff on Annecy and the Alps. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail.

I would probably drive from Chamonix to Provence - but if you don't want to drive, there is a train that departs Annecy at 11:53 and arrives at the Avignon TGV station at 15:15. It has a 44 min connection in Lyon. There is an earlier departure also.

IMO, there really are not any "stops" along the drive between Chamonix and Provence that are close to the autoroute. We've spent 6 weeks vacationing in Burgundy, Beaujolais, and the Ardeche.

We've also spent 4 weeks in a Gite just outside of Cabrieres d'Avignon. This was in 1999 and 2003. Cabrieres is small - but has a bakery, usually 1 nice restaurant, and an adequate grocery & a boucherie - unless they have closed since 2003. It is a very good location to stay in - close to Gordes & other Luberon villages, and also l'Isle sur la Sorgue for their Sunday market, and access north to Pernes, Carpentras, and Vaison.

I usually advise people to not stay in Avignon. It is one of our favorite cities - but you'll need to pass through lots of ugly urban sprawl as you go & come from your day trips elsewhere (except west). The ugly sprawl is not the type of scenery you'll want to "remember" about Provence. If you are looking for someplace with lots of shops, restaurants, and other English speaking people (this can be a plus or a minus) - St Remy is a good choice.

Stu Dudley

Traveller- just saw your response after I said I am giving up on small villages. You have made some great points and I think a small town is exactly what we are looking for.
We do want the choices of some activities and restaurants but do not want a city atmosphere- we are going after charm. We can schedule the larger places- like Strasbourg etc. for day visits.
Giving it further thought and continuing the research!

What I would do (and have actually done in a similar way):

I would drive via Bern, Geneve, Annecy. You may stay overnight in Annecy - a beautiful town on a lake in the mountains. From there I would drive via Chambery, Briancon to Guillestre and stay overnight there. From there, you can drive to the Côte d'Azur, stay there a couple of nights, then drive to Provence, spend several nights there and take the TGV back to Paris.

Then you will see Alsace, the Alps, the Côte d'Azur and Provence. It will be a gorgeous trip.

In Alsace, Riquewihr and Eguisheim are villages, but they have lots of restaurants since they are so favoured by tourists. Ottrott has at least four good hotels and restaurants, including one with a Bib Gourmand (excellent cuisine at moderate prices - the Ami Fritz).

BTW, whereever you stay in Alsace, you can visit every place including Strasbourg. The road network is excellent.

In Provence, Arles and St. Remy would meet your preferences, maybe a couple of other towns too. But Arles and St. Remy are excellent bases for daytrips into all directions (Nîmes, Pont du Gard, Avignon, Aigues-Mortes, Camargue, Orange, Les Baux...).

" If we do not go to Chamonix- where is best to stop on our route as we head to Avignon"

Saline Royale d'Arc et Senans (the visit needs about 1 hr);
a place in Southern Burgundy (detour!) like Beaune, Cluny, Tournus;
Pérouges (small medieval city);
Lyon (a somewhat decent visit needs at least a full day).

Jenny

I was writing my response while you posted about maybe not visiting Chamonix. Personally, I would pass on Chamonix in May also. We'll spend a week there in mid-July this year. We last visited Mt Blanc in about 2006 during a major heatwave in late June & it was clear & fabulous.

Colmar to Provence.

Train
-Lv Colmar at 7:23 & arrive at the Avignon TGV station at 12:15 - 12 min train change in Mulhouse
- Lv Colmar at 11:23 arrive at 16:46 23 min train change

Car
If you drive from Colmar to St Remy it's a 7 1/2 - 8 1/2 hr drive with stops for pottie, lunch, "deviations" etc. Almost all autoroute.

You nmight instead drive 3 - 3 1/2 hrs to Beaune, stay in Beaune & visit. Then drive 4 1/2 to 5 hrs to St Remy. You could also drive to Dijon (close to Beaune) which (along with Toulouse) is our second favorite city in France (after Paris). There is a lot more stuff to do in Dijon than in Beaune. There is a current thread about activities in Dijon. Add about 1/2 to 1 hr for visiting Dijon instead of Beaune.

Stu Dudley

Kayserburg is also a good place to base in Annecy.

We did the Grande Route des Alpes in 2006 during the heatwave I mentioned above. This was in mid June. We did not make hotel reservations in advance and we had some difficulties landing accommodations - some of the hotels were not even open yet. We had the same difficulties with a few restaurants when we stayed near Briancon in 2010 for a week. This was in early July. I would be "leery" of traveling through the Alps in early May because of the weather & accommodations/restaurants not being open yet. But you can certainly reserve ahead for hotels & restaurants to make sure they are open.

Stu Dudley

>>>Kayserburg is also a good place to base in Annecy<<

in Alsace.

Stu- I have sent a request for your itinerary and favorite things to do - love to see it!

I have re-worked our itinerary and it is as follows:

Arrive Paris and take a flight to Nice-stay somewhere in French Riviera- 3 nights (should I add a night here and take away from Provence?)
Rent car and drive to Moustier-Sainte-Marie to visit Verdon Gorge- 1 night
Drive to Provence and stay- 6 nights (St. Remy, Arles or other?)
Drive to Dijon- 2 nights
Dijon to Alsace- stay in Colmar or Eguisheim- 4 nights
Drop car off and return Paris by train - stay 3 nights

Your comments if I need to modify number of nights and any references for accommodations

Thank you

Bookmarking

Hey Jenny - what happened to the Alps in the last 12 hours? Completely washed away?

It still a good itinerary. Besides, I would not stay in Dijon. IMO, Beaune is the nicer town or one of the wine villages between Dijon and Beaune. Bourgogne requires a rental car to explore all the famous vinyards. Or you stay in Beaune.

IMO, Dijon & Beaune are two different "experiences". They are within 45 mins of each other - so you could stay in one & visit the other. There is a lot more stuff to do & see in Dijon - so if this was my trip & I wanted to stay for 2 nights in the region - I would stay in Dijon. Dijon is in my "top 5" large cities list, and Beaune in my "top 5" medium-sized cities list - along with Colmar. We spent 2 weeks in a gite just a tad south of Beaune (and visited Dijon 3 time plus 1 dinner there) and also stayed overnight in both Dijon and Beaune on two other trips.

Your itinerary is fine. However if you are flying in from far away - I would add an extra day to Nice to recover from jet lag and get oriented.

Also, if you visited the Gorges du Tarn on your "eastern" France visit - you might be disappointed with the Gorges du Verdon. If you have visited the Grand Canyon in the US - you might be disappointed with the Verdon Gorge also.

Stu Dudley

>>Also, if you visited the Gorges du Tarn on your "eastern" France visit <<

Western France

Traveller- yes, after reading all of the comments and checking the weather pattern we decided it was not the best time to go. I then added our stay in the Dijon area. Love the idea of staying in a vineyard there- nice change of pace I would think. Any names?
Stu- we did not visit any canyons on our Western France trip, but here, after giving up the Alps I wanted a little outdoor
adventure. I guess we can add the night in Nice and just tour from there to the Canyon so we don't pack and unpack so much. I did look up Moustier and looked gorgeous- and it seems like a more convenient stop as we go into the Verdon Gorge.
Your thoughts

<i> I guess we can add the night in Nice and just tour from there to the Canyon so we don't pack and unpack so much. I did look up Moustier and looked gorgeous- and it seems like a more convenient stop as we go into the Verdon Gorge.
Your thoughts</i>

It will be a long day of driving.

As Michael states - that's too much driving. It's 3 hrs from Nice to Moustiers, and then 2 3/4 hrs from Moustiers to St Remy. That's without visiting the Gorges du Verdon.

Instead visit the equally interesting Gorges de l'Ardeche. In addition to the Ardeche Gorge - the close-by Aven d'Orgnac cave is one of the best caves in France with stalactites & Mites. It is 3 stars in the Michelin Green Guide (their top rating). Also close to the Gorge is the newly opened Grotte Chauvet
http://archeologie.culture.fr/chauvet/fr
Lots of interesting villages in that region also.

The Gorges de l'Ardeche is 1 1/2 hrs from St Remy.

Plenty of vineyards in Provence.

Stu Dudley

Thank you all for sharing your expertise- it has helped us narrow down our itinerary and we are now ready to begin the next phase- our accommodations.
Stu- I had sent a request for your list of itineraries and activities- not sure if you got my request? Would love to see it- sounds packed with info!
What a great wealth of knowledge is shared here!!!
Thanks again and hope I can pay this forward

I sent it to you yesterday. I'll send it again.

Stu Dudley

Jenny

We both have aol. When I checked the "status" of the e-mail I sent you yesterday, it says "currently unavailable" directly under your e-mail address. I don't know what that means.

Stu Dudley