Driving from Nice to Avignon area
 

Thanks in advance for any help!

My DH, myself, and teen granddaughter fly from Rome to Nice and arrive late afternoon. We have a car rented and will drive west, but really don't know where to spend the night. Our reservations for the next three nights are in Graveson, not too far from St. Remy. I know that's a fairly long drive, so was hoping to spend that first night after our arrival in Nice (to pick up the car) in a cute village or town somewhere on the way to Aix en Provence. If we can make it to Aix the next morning from wherever we stop, we can introduce our granddaughter to the fun of a French market, as well as enjoying the ambiance of that lovely town. ...then continue on to our B and B.

We could drive all the way to Aix that first night, but we won't get out of Nice until after 6:30 and hate to arrive so late if we went that far.

Any ideas of a place to spend the night that would be reasonably priced (like under 100 Euros), and on the way? I know we won't have much time to appreciate wherever we do stop, but even a couple of hours that evening or the next morning would be fun. Maybe I am wrong about the distances.....and we could make Aix. I just don't know.

As always, I appreciate the knowledge and gracious help these forums offer!!

Polly

I would try to make it all the way to Aix. The Nice airport is at the west end of Nice. The drive is around 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hrs.

Stu Dudley

Bookings.com lets you peruse hotels along the A8 motorway - - the pop-ups on the map list the hotels, and you can decide how much you feel comfortable driving that evening. Their rating system is really nice, because everybody who books for them is asked to give comments on the hotel:
http://www.booking.com/region/fr/aut...france.en.html

It's under 2 hours, not such a big deal.

Thanks everyone for the quick responses! I didn't realize it was that close to Aix. And the idea of using the pop ups on bookings.com to search hotels is a great one. That will give us choices.

Polly

>>And the idea of using the pop ups on bookings.com to search hotels is a great one. That will give us choices.>>

Look for a place IN Aix. We've vacationed for 9 weeks in places close to the A8 between Nice & Aix - so we're pretty familiar with the territory. There really isn't any place I would recommend withinn 10 mins of the A8 for your situation - except for Aix.

Stu Dudley

does the train from nice to avignon go direct or does it first go to marsielles then change trains and then onward to avignon?

I agree you can easily drive to Aix from the Nice airport , since we did so last fall and will do it again in April. However, even though we are experienced drivers in Europe, and my husband especially has a good sense of direction, we got quite lost when we arrived in Aix. It will definitely be dark when you arrive, so just be aware of that. Hopefully you will have a navigation system, and a pre-arranged place to park.

Another option, if you arrive late: just spend the night at the Ibis hotel at the Nice airport. It was a good, clean modern hotel, and it served a good breakfast, and it has a free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel (about a five minute drive). It seems to be popular with business travelers. We got into Nice late, spent the night, and got a good early and fresh start to Aix the next morning. If you have time, you could also take a shuttle bus from the airport into Nice to do some sightseeing.

Good luck. You will love Aix!