My husband and I are planning a trip to Marseille and Provence for this coming September. We could really use some help with our itinerary. We travel a lot and our best trips involve a lot of walking vs. driving. So I am hoping to plan the Provence part of the trip with a lot of time exploring towns on foot and not a lot of time in the car. We also love fine dinning but I have not yet focused at that aspect of this trip! Here is what I have come up with – please send me any and all suggestions/revisions. And as you can see, I have questions in the draft itinerary as well.
We are interested in exploring towns and the countryside and seeing Roman ruins as well.

Day 1 - Thursday
Flight to Marseille in the evening

Day 2 - Friday
Arrive Marseille and sleep Marseille

Day 4 - Saturday
Marseille – My husband will be visiting Toulon that day.
Sleep Marseille

Day 5 - Sunday
Marseille
Sleep Marseille

Day 6 – Monday
Early AM drive to St. Remy and check in
Sleep St. Remy
Arles
Les Baux

Day 7 – Tuesday
Avignon
Pont du Gard
Orange? Or is this too much? Or Nimes?
Sleep St. Remy

Day 8 – Wednesday
AM Market in St. Remy
Drive to hotel – not sure if we should stay in either Bonnieux, Roussillon, or Gordes?
I could use some help with where to go on this afternoon, I guess it depends on where we end up staying overnight. Could use this day to visit the three town listed above

Day 9 - Thursday
Lourmarin or Isle-sur-la-sorgue market in am
Again, would appreciate some help with planning this afternoon, possibly Lacoste, Menerbes?


Day 10 – Friday
Drive to Aix-en-Provence and check in to hotel
Sleep Aix-en-Provence
Cassis for the day
Or something else in area?

Day 11 Saturday
Aix en Provence market in am and tour town for the rest of the day
Sleep Aix en Provence

Day 12 - Sunday
Drive to Marseille and fly home

I might do Cassis from Marseille rather than backtracking. I haven't been that route though my son said it was a nice trip on the regional railroad so your plan might work well. I find Aix endlessly fascinating. Are you interested in Cezanne? There are a number of local sites.

The countryside and weather in this area remind me a lot of Southern California. it will be quite warm, especially if you are from a cool place like Portland. Your tour does not try to pack too much in, wisely.

May we join you?

One small comment--tha Lourmarin market is on Friday, not Thursday.

Thank you!
Any suggestions on where to stay in the Luberon area? Bonnieux or Roussillon or Gordes? And also I would appreciate any help with the day to day itineray, do you think it works? I made some minor revisions and corrections:

Day 1 - Friday
Arrive Marseille in the morning and sleep Marseille

Day 2 - Saturday
Marseille – Richard goes to see ships
Sleep Marseille

Day 3 - Sunday
Marseille
Sleep Marseille

Day 4 – Monday
Early AM drive to St. Remy and check in
Sleep St. Remy
Arles
Les Baux

Day 5 – Tuesday
Avignon
Pont du Gard
Orange? Or is this too much? Or Nimes?
Sleep St. Remy

Day 8 – Wednesday
AM Market in St. Remy
Drive to either Bonnieux, or Roussillon and check in (which?)
Sleep Bonnieux or Roussillon
Gordes, Roussillon & Bonnieux

Day 9 - Thursday
Isle-sur-la-sorgue market in AM
Lourmarin & Isle-sur-la-sorgue in pm along – Goult, Menerbes?


Day 10 – Friday
Drive to Aix-en-Provence and check in to hotel
Cassis for the day?
Or something else in area?

Day 11 Saturday
Aix en Provence market in am
Wander town
Sleep Aix en Provence

Day 12 – Sunday
Drive to Marseille and fly home

Susan

Hi Susan,
In the Luberon I would stay in Gordes (my preference) or Roussillon. Bonnieux doesn't have a city center, so it is beautiful to look at but no center to stroll through.

Day 4 looks good. The arles amphitheater is worth a visit. not as big as nimes but i enjoyed it more). I have to say that st remy is one of my favorite places, but if I were staying in that area for 4 nights i would stay in Les Baux. There are only a couple places to stay in the actual village, but when all the tourists leave in the evening it's a magical place. We stayed at 'Le Price Noir' and it was one of our favorite experience to date. We actually ended up doing a lot our st remy activities while staying in les Baux. (Of course you can't go wrong staying in st remy!)

Day 5 - we did Avignon (which deserves a fair amount of time) first, pont du gard second (which will close at 7pm in September), which is a bit of a walk from he car park and takes a bit of time to go on both sides and explore. I would choose orange or nimes. Too much to do both. We did nimes after pont du gard and were there for sunset. It's a large and beautiful (for the most part) city so plan ahead and choose your favorite sites.

(Sorry typing on my iPad and hit submit by mistake! And in les Baux, the B&B is 'le prince noir').

Day 8-9 going to the markets are great. Isle-sur-la-sourge is my favorite. Lots of great antiques as well as the normal Provencal fare.
The Luberon is relatively small and you can visit many of the hill towns in a day. Lourmarin is one of my absolute favorite places in France. It's really lovely. I'd visit Lacoste too. It's small but worth a quick look around at the village itself (beautiful narrow cobblestone streets).

Day 10-11 i' m with the first reviewer, i'd visit Cassis while staying in marseille (just over a half hour away). Aix is an amazingly beautiful city with lots to see and explore. I'd spend your time there.

Hope that helps. You're going to have an amazing time!