what's the best way to fly from the states to provence - arles or avignon. philadelphia to paris then take a train or philly to paris and connect with flight down to airport in provence. i'll have 1-2 weeks worth of luggage as well.

Your message is not very clear...you mention departing from Philadelphia, so you live in the Philadelphia area? If you wish to fly near Avignon or Arles, you would leave from CDG to Marseille. As far as luggage for 1-2 weeks, you should only need one suitcase.

I agree that if you want to fly down there, Marseille would probably be your best choice for connections and prices. There is a small regional airport at Avignon (don't know about Arles), and you can get some flights there, but I don't think it's a great option.

I've flown to Marseilles as an addon when going to Provence from the US, and I've also taken the fast train (TGV) from CDG airport, which is another option. The flight was a little quicker, of course. I wouldn't fly if I had to change airports in Paris or there weren't several other scheduled flights that day in case of flight delays from the US. That happened to me, actually, but I got on a later flight as I was flying Air France which has quite a few.

We just did the trip and I agree with Marseilles. Arles, Avingion Aix etc. are all within 60-90 mins. by car. Philly means US Air so direct to CDG then CDG to MRS.

If you fly to Marseilles and Aix is your first stop and you're not renting a car, or at least not right away, there is a shuttle bus from the airport to Aix.

Info can be found here:

http://www.mrsairport.com/eng/acces/acces_bus.jsp

Dont forget that many airlines codeshare with the SNCF so you can actually get your train ticket included for one price. You can change at CDG and take the train to Avignon TGV which is a nice ride in a bullet train.

I thought AirFrance now offers non-stop from Philly to Nice...

yes, i live in philadelphia so that would be departure airport. I have not definitively set dates or itinerary yet. I'm just trying to find the most economical and direct way to get to chosen town. I cautious because i've never traveled to europe before and do not speak french. Philly to CDG to MRS and Aix via shuttle may work and then I can take train from Aix to Arles the second week.

If your going to Aix I would go Philly to CDG then take the train from CDG to Aix. Since the train station is in terminal 2 at CDG its an easy connection.