I would like to plan a trip to Provence, Paris and Amsterdam in May. Any advice? 3 days each.

When you say three days in each place,
1. Have you accounted for travel time between places and excluded arrival or departure days, so you actually are spending 4 nights (three full days) on the ground, each place? Need to be sure of the exact number of full days (without travel) to get best advice.
2. Provence covers quite a large area? What specifically are you planning to see? Will you rent a car in Provence?
3. How many people traveling? Any children? Ages of children?
4. Are you arriving in Provence and departing from Amsterdam or visa versa.
5. Have you already visited in these places or other countries in Europe?
5. Have you created a rough list of things you most wish to see and do in each place and how much time that might take?
6. You might want to create a tentative itinerary outline, starting with departure from home or arrival in France or Amsterdam.

example
Day 1, Depart from home
Day 2, Arrive Amsterdam
Days 3, 4, 5, Amsterdam
Day 6, Travel to Paris by train
Days 7, 8, 9, Paris
Day 10, Travel to Provence by train
Days 11, 12, 13, Provence, TBD?
Day 14, Depart for home

Welcome to Fodors. How long is the entire trip home to home?

To have three full days in a place requires four nights - plus another night flying to Europe and a full day flying home so -- is your trip 14 days??

(OOPS -- just noticed Sassafrass came up with the same calculation. )

If on the other hand you have nine days total home to home, that will net you 6.5 free days on the ground. Enough time for 4 or 5 days in Paris and a couple of days in Amsterdam . . . or . . . JUST Paris,

ps: To manage Paris + Amsterdam in a 9 or 10 day trip, one would have to fly open jaw in to one city and home from the other

I think you have time for Paris and Amsterdam, or Paris or possibly just parts of Provence depending on how much time you actually have.

any special interests we need to be aware of, caving, lavender sniffing, historical women places of safety, donkey inspired travel? A clue?

Thanks everyone!!
My daughter is spending a semester in Provence. I would love to pick her up and spend a couple of days also then travel to Paris for 4 days and Amesterdam for 4 days. I have been to Paris last year but my son is coming along and has never been. So I would like to show him around a bot . My daughter would have seen it already.

What you might do is rely on her to choose a couple side trips in Provence. She will have been there long enough to see a few things, but might want to explore something specific - - a great opportunity to explore her area with her. The major issue is whether to rent a car to tool around in, or to do things by train. It will be much easier if you all train together, because with jet lag and car rental hassles train (or even bus) can make things so very easy and relaxing together.

As you travel on to Paris and Amsterdam, train is also the perfect choice to visit these active city centers. You can start to list the things you want to see and do in each city, then once you have an idea of that this forum is good at helping choose areas of each city to stay. Sounds like great fun and a wonderful reunion with your daughter!