Is 4 nights stay OK in Provence
 

I wanted Fodorites opinions on this itinerary.

5 nights in Paris
4 nights in Provence
4 nights in the Riviera (Villefranche)

Just wondered if it would be better to do 3 nights in Provence and 5 nights on the Riviera. When I read the tour books Provence seems charming with all its little villages and markets but how much can you visit those. Seems like there's more to do on the Riviera but I might be totally off base here, that's why I'm asking.

My opinion?

You're totally off base.

I'd spend 8 nights in Provence and 0 nights on the Riviera...

How 'bout 7 and 6 and 0 in Paris....

-Kevin

Sounds pretty good to me but I agree with Tuck...I found much more to see in Provence than Riviera but what we did see on Riviera was lovely. Personally I would add a day to Provence and take one away from Villefranche. But based on what you've proposed here's what I would suggest.
(I'm guessing 4 nights in Provence really means 3 full days.) So...

I'd stay in a central location where you can visit several of the villages in the Luberon. My favorites were Les Baux, Roussillon, Gordes, Apt, Cucuron, Lourmarin, Joucas. If you wish to add a larger town you could go to St. Remy, Sur la Sorgue or Aix. Make sure you go to one or two of them on their market day. A great book to read is "Markets of Provence" by Patricia Wells. It is a beautiful book covering several of the village markets in Provence.

We stayed in Villefranche as well and from there visited Ez and La Turbie. There are several other places in the area that you would have time to visit - we just used the time in Villefranche to chill out and play some golf before heading home.

Our first time in Provence we stayed 7 nights and it was not anywhere near enough time. This September we're staying for 13 nights and could easily stay longer if our budget allowed. It's not only about "seeing" the villages, etc but it's about "feeling" them and experiencing the rythem of life there.

Amen Wannago!

We spent one week in Provence last year and we are returning this October - but only for one more week...lucky you to get to spend two!!

There's plenty to see on the Côte d'Azur, including perched villages, Roman monuments and ruins, fine museums, pretty mountain villages, and beaches. With 4 nights in western Provence you can see the main sights and then move across to the area around Nice.

For me you can never get enough of Provence and once in love with it, you see why all the painters settled and stayed here. And to appreciate the famous locals who never left starting with Mistral, the Nobel Poet.
The other Mistral, that wild wind that attacks usually for three days, but leaves us with the clearest, bluest sky and air you want to take home.Provence, a photographer's dream because of it's Perché villages, it's lavender fiels or poppy field and when the almond treees are in bloom and the ancient twisted olive trees that get there odd beauty by way of the mistral.. The mountains, the trails for walkers and hikers like Kevin. Driving in your car from village to village, you'll pass the garrigue and inhale the wild herbs that grow everywhere. Living in the east of the US, I never get to see such amazing tall bushes of my favorite herb, rosemary
Where else can you see the beautiful campeniles, those wrought iron steeples with their lacy construction, desigened to let the Mistral pass through without harming the building. Let us not forget my folks, the cigales=cicada.
You know when they stop singing, summer is over.
Provence, like Colette, is for me an earthly paradise.

suze 1, try my favorite apero, SUZE.
If you like Campari, you'll like Suze=both gentian based.