Eight nights in Provence in May
 

Hello friends! I need your valuable advice on an upcoming trip to Provence. My husband and I just made a last-minute decision to spend our five year anniversary in Provence. We hope to leave Austin on Friday, April 29 and return home on Sunday, May 8. We are active, energetic, and in our early 30's. We enjoy wandering, wine, food, charming villages, and boutique shopping. We generally travel at a slower pace. Also, we are restoring an old bungalow in Austin, and we're hoping to find some treasures for our new home in the French markets. I'm thinking (based on your advice on other forums) that we fly into and out of Paris and use the train to go straight to Avignon and rent a car there. Id be open to flying into one of the southern airports if you felt that would be better and may save travel time, but that seems doubtful based on what I've read. We have spent much time in Paris and aren't planning to spend much time there this trip, as our focus is the south. I would love help with our itinerary in general, and specifically with deciding where to stay (perhaps one or two home bases with day trips), places not to be missed, and any recommendations on inns/hotels. Thank you in advance!

It kind of depends where you want to be in Provence, but if it is around Avignon, I agree, with the fast train, you probably won't save time by flying into Marseille and renting a car there. Because you'd have to wait for the next flight and you'd want to schedule enough time in case of problems -- so minimum 2 hours layover, then about an hour flight. The train is about 3:20. Of course you may have to wait for the train, also, so it really depends. If you have to wait four hours for the train you want, I probably would just book a ticket into Marseille if there isn't a long connection time there. That is a fairly small and easy airport to get out of with a rental car. I have done that actually when going to Aix-en-Provence (flew into Marseille rather than ending at CDG).

I suppose you will want to see the antiques market in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, but maybe not. I'm not clear on what you are thinking you will buy for your house, maybe you just mean decorative items. Still, they have a big market for other things, also.

My favorite "inn" in that area is this one in Pernes-les-Fontaines. A very central location for day trips (just up the road from Isle-sur-la-Sorgue) and on a main road, but not in one of the real touristy villages. I love this place. http://www.hotel-lhermitage.com/

It doesn't have a restaurant but plenty of places to go within a short drive, and the town itself (which it is just outside of) has at least one very good restaurants, several other routine ones.

I also really liked the Mas d'Entremont to the NW side of Aix-en-PRovence, very good with a car and on a major N road so good for day trips. It's a bit far for the typical Luberon villages, though, I didn't stay there for those type of excursions. http://www.masdentremont.com/en/

It does have an excellent restaurant. I stayed there when it was fairly new and didn't cost nearly as much as now, depends on your budget or where you want to go. But it was convenient for touring around that area, south of the Durance river.

Highly recommend this gite. It's in a great location for going in all directions with most of your desired site in an hour or less

http://www.accommodationinprovence.com/what-to-do/

I believe they have availability in May.

We fly into Marseille from NYC and usually home from CDG.

All good recommendations above. Also, I think you will find better prices on things for your Austin place further west and south toward Languedoc than is what folks think of as "postcard Provence" Closer to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Uzes. And if you have time you might find good prices in the more southwestern part near Albi and that area away from tbe sea. But of curse it depends on what kind of stuff you are interested in I guess.

I assume if you are coming from Austin you will tired from your flight, so you will need to think about getting from Paris to Avignon. One other thing you could consider would be to fly in Paris out Barcelona or the reverse and drop the car in Perpignan to avoid the cross border charge. It is only an hour and it would at least help you avoid CDG.....

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm thinking of flying into Marseilles (and possibly out of Nice?) rather than the train from Paris. What would you think of splitting my time between St. Remy (or Arles?) and Aix with day trips from there. Another consideration would be three nights St Remy, two in Aix, and three in Nice. Adding the Riviera to this trip may not make sense with only an eight night trip but would like your input on this since it seems so lovely. Maybe the way to add it would be to make Aix a day trip en route but I have a feeling I'll want more time in Aix and surrounding. Day trips I've read about so far that interest me include Cassis, Les Baux, Uzes. The L'isle Sur la Sorgue Sunday market is something I'd like to experience on May 1 and would love input on how logistically to work this (where best to stay, is it reasonable if staying in St. Remy/Arles to drive there morning of?) as we are arriving on Saturday morning.

Moving around so much wastes time; most of what you want to see is easily reached from a good central location.

I kind of agree-I would choose 2 bases at most. If it were me I would choose Aix and Uzes as base. I prefer them to St. Remy. If you could fly into Marseille and maybe back from Montpellier to Paris (of the reverse)that would be easier IMO.

Really it will come down to you exact dates. Bu I would avoid trying to connect to the train from Paris-i is kind of a hassle compared to transferring to a flight closer to where you want to be since you only have 8 nights.

I would choose two bases at most, also, in 8 days. In fact, I've done that a couple times. I have stayed in AIx and then moved up to Pernes-les-Fontaines, for example. So two rather different areas (Aix is a bit far for days trips to the LUberon or farther, as there are mountains north of Durance). But I wouldn't move if it were a matter of St Remy (which I rather dislike personally, although it is fairly central and lots of people do like it) versus Aix, as they are both south of Avignon and the Durance. St Remy is farther west so you could use it for Arles and Uzes or Nimes, though, as well as Les Baux, of course.

Actually, St Remy, then Aix then Nice is moving in the right direction, so that isn't really that bad now that I think of it. I really don't spend that much time moving hotels myself, it isn't a big burden to me. But I don't unpack every thing I take with me when just in a hotel for a couple days, I leave a lot in my suitcase as a "dresser" so to speak. And I travel fairly lightly in summer. And I like staying in a place for a few days rather than just visiting as a day trip. I also always go to dinner around where I stay, so I like to experience a couple different places in that regard (not to mention hotels).

So I don't really think staying in 3 places on your trip is that bad (St Remy, Aix, Nice). If you do want to go to Uzes, not sure on your time, it is a bit far from Aix, for example (about a 2 hour drive).

It would be fairly easy to take the train back to Paris from Montpellier. You can do it from Nice, but it's longer. But if you really want to see Nice, frankly, I think it would make more sense to fly into Nice, then go West and you can easily take the train to Paris from Avignon, for example. Going into Avignon first doesn't really make sense to me if you want to go to Nice.

"It would be fairly easy to take the train back to Paris from Montpellier. You can do it from Nice, but it's longer. But if you really want to see Nice, frankly, I think it would make more sense to fly into Nice, then go West and you can easily take the train to Paris from Avignon, for example. Going into Avignon first doesn't really make sense to me if you want to go to Nice."

I would agree with this. I think it is getting more and more painful to have to make the trip into and out CDG so if you could avoid it once it would be nice. You could also consider arriving and departing CDG but fly to Nice or Montpellier or something. At least the air transfer would be easier than the air to train IMO

One more vote for Uzes, it's magic. Check out Albiousse in Uzes for a classy B&B.

Uzes is on the western side of Provence but nearby you also have, as a draw, the magnificent Pont du Gard, a marvel of Roman engineering in a beautiful river valley. Very good museum too.