NellyC

Hi,
Would love any advice on an itinerary for my 13-year old daughter and I. We will be In South of France for 9 nights, first week of August. We have been to Paris multiple times, we love it, but never explored this region.

What we like: shop/love markets, people watch, picnic in parks, gorgeous churches/buildings, eat/food, flowers, local culture.
What we don't like: outdoor adventure, crowds, touristy areas, spending day in car.

My daughter's request is to dip her toes in the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, so definitely need to incorporate beach in plan.
I plan to rent a car. Ideally 2 night min per stop.

Current plan (not set in stone)
Monday 8/31: fly into Marseille via SFO
2 nights: Cassis. Rest/recover/boat trip/market
3 nights: Aix-en Provence. explore city/day trip to lavendar fields/villages.
sat am drive to Grasse
1 night: Grasse. Jasmin festival 8/5. perfume factory/workshop. parade and festival.

Next 3 nights???? We can fly out of either Marseille or Nice (heading to London.)
Nice? - beach day trip to Paloma?
Skip cassis in beginning, spend more time in Provence and end trip in cassis? Skip Cassis altogether?
Other ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thx,
N

NellyC

Or what about St Tropez after Grasse? I heard the market is absolutely amazing and beaches great.
Will August crowds be too insane?

FTOttawa

You did mean Monday July 31st, right?

And you’ll have to accept that that is too late to see lavender in bloom. But, much else to enjoy,

With your tastes, you really should consider a bit of time in Marseille. Fish and other markets, gorgeous churches, window shopping on the Canebière and in the Panier district, fine food, people watching…. And Aix will suit you just fine. Did you know it has lovely flower markets?

Don’t need to rent the car until you are travelling from Aix to Grasse.

You might enjoy brief stops in some of the “plus beaux villages” of the Luberon on your way to/from Grasse. With a bit of research on timing, you might hit another quaint market.

I wouldn’t go any further east than Grasse and St Tropez. If the latter turns out not to be recommended by our Côte d’Azur experts, consider Le Lavandou or Bandol.

StuDudley

""Will August crowds be too insane?

All of Provence & the Cote d'Azur is quite touristy - and you will be there at the very peak of tourist season. So your wish to avoid the insane touristy stuff will be hard to do. Especially in St Tropez.

Comments:
- You won't have much time in France, and Grasse is one of our least favorite villages in the Cote/Provence area. We've found many of the French festivals to be quite disappointing. It will consume most of one entire day to get to Grasse, visit, & return. I would skip it.

- Most of the lavendin (hybrid of lavender) near Aix in the Valensole plateau will probably have already been harvested by early August. Regular lavender might still be going strong near Sault - but you will be a long way from Sault. There also might still be some blooming in the upper Luberon near Bonnieux/Gordes/Roussillon. We've spent 23 weeks in Provence - and none of them have been in August. Usually June. So my August predictions are just educated guesses.

- You will have difficulty finding accommodations for early August. We'll be in Provence for 4 weeks this June, and we booked our gites in May o last year.

Stu Dudley

NellyC

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, August is not ideal..I know everywhere will be crowded. Only time off my daughter has, and we are meeting rest of family in London, so it is what it is.
By avoid touristy I mean avoid the vibe of pier 39/fisherman's wharf etc.

I do have reservations (refundable) at multiple places, and good point to that, things do fill up!

I will remove lavender fields from list. That is fine. Will plan another trip around that.

I will also remove Grasse from list. Thanks for the input, as was on the fence, that will save us a couple days.
Staying in Provence area makes the most sense.

I do have hotel reservations in St Tropez, but clearly not worth driving there at this time of year. Any other beach town suggestions, or overnight trips near Aix?

StuDudley

For a beach experience - your idea of Cassis is fine. Maybe just a day trip from Aix. I would skip the Calenques near Cassis. They are beautiful, but I suspect that you are from the SF Bay Area, and have visited the Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, San Mateo, and Big Sur coast - which are superior to the Calenques, IMO.

Nothing in France is as tacky as the Wharf & Pier 39.

You didn't ask - but I would spend 3 nights in Aix, 3 nights in the Luberon near Gordes, and 3 nights in St Remy.

Do you have my 35 page itinerary for Provence & the Cote d'Azur?? If not - e-mail me at my Fodors name at AOL & I'll attach it to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley
48 year SF Bay Area resident

NellyC

Thanks Stu. I will email you now.

Yes, you are correct. I am a Bay Area native. We live in Marin. We live in such a gorgeous area!

I look forward to reading your travel notes. Thanks for offereing it.

KarenWoo

I agree with Stu's itinerary (post #6). We have been visiting the Provence area for about 10 years now because our oldest daughter lives there. She used to live in Aix! I love, love Aix! There are quite a few markets in Aix. Here is a link.
https://www.lelongweekend.com/aix-en...ce-market-days

Aix is a great place for shopping, strolling, eating, enjoying the pretty architecture, etc. Aix is filled with plazas and fountains! You will see bottles of wine cooling in the fountains! There are some interesting churches, and art museums, such as the Musee Granet and Cezanne's studio.

And St. Remy is another wonderful place to stay for 3 nights. There are an abundance of restaurants, cafes, shops, etc. You can visit the asylum where Van Gogh was a patient for a year and where he painted many of his famous paintings. The archaeological site of Glanum is nearby. I think we walked there. You can also visit Les Baux, a pretty village on a hill with castle ruins. And the Carriers et Lumieres show in the quarry. For some beach time, you could also visit the Parc Naturel regional de Camarque on the Mediterranean. And see pink flamingoes, black bulls and white horses!

We visited Bonnieux in the Luberon this past December for the first time, and fell in love with it. That could be a nice place to stay in the Luberon for 3 nights. Lourmarin, Menerbes and St. Saturnin les Apt are other nice villages to consider.

If you wish, you can click on my name to read my trip report from this past December titled Provence in December. I included lots of photos. Of course, keep in mind this was December so the crowds are missing!

FTOttawa

Please do give Marseille a chance. It meets so many of your interests, and is a fine day trip by bus or train from Aix.

Beaches — as suggested by Karen, in the Camargue at Saintes Maries de la Mer, Plage Napoléon or even a little further to Grau du Roi, by way of the adorable medieval walled town of Aigues-Mortes, picking up some fleur de sel de Camargue along the way. To visit while you have a car.

The Abbaye de Notre Dame de Senanque is worth a visit even if lavender is already harvested, for its picturesque cloisters and lavender-themed gift shop .

KarenWoo

I agree with FTOttawa to give Marseille a chance if you have the time. It's about 30 minutes by car or bus, and I think about 45 minutes by train. You can drive to Marseille and check google maps for parking garage locations. That's what we did last December. The Panier district is fascinating with lots of colorful graffiti. And it's fun to walk around the port and have lunch by the water. And there is now a wonderful museum that houses a reproduction of underwater caves. I have tons of photos of Marseille in my photo trip report from December.

NellyC

Thank you!!!! Yes, will look into and visit Marseille for sure. It does sound cool and definitely our style. (you had me at colorful graffiti, lol.)

I really appreciate the feedback. I need all the help I can get. I am a seasoned traveler, but for some reason planning this trip has been hard. Mix of busy time of year we are visiting + balancing the needs of a teenage girl.

laurie_ann

You don't mention this topic in your interests but there are a number of places in Provence you can see Roman ruins and their related museums. For example Glanum near St Remy which was an entire city. https://www.site-glanum.fr/en/ There is also a small museum in St Remy where many of the artifacts from Glanum are displayed. https://www.hotel-de-sade.fr/en/ There are others such as in Arles and Nimes including larger related museums but those are farther west.

I can also recommend an excellent guide in Aix whose tours you can find on AirBnB experiences Eduoard. He does a great "treasure hunt" tour and we also had him for a market tour and an afternoon of lessons in petanque (the traditional game in the south of France similar to bacci). https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1707021

And we did like Marseille. Here is my photo of cool grafitti. We enjoyed just walking around the center including the African-style market.

dreamon

fwiw, some years ago my 14 year old daughter and I had almost a week in Nice and we did a day trip on the local bus to Grasse (took about 1.5hrs each way which is my normal max travel time for a day trip). It was a lovely girly day, exploring, sampling, shopping, and we both really enjoyed it. We also both enjoyed Nice and used it as a base to explore the area by bus and train. We visited in September which wouldn't be as busy as August.

NellyC

Thanks again all, planning coming together well. We staying 3/4 nights in Aix & 3/4 in St Remy.
Trip had to be cut short a day due to family events in London.

?- Can we see Luberon as we drive from Aix to St Remy. On paper it look doable, but not sure of roads. If so, which villages should we focus on. Or is it better to spend 1 night there.

FTOttawa

Yes, you absolutely can visit the Luberon on the way to St Rémy and no, I would not bother overnighting.

Although Viamichelin.fr will no longer let us plug in “discovery” route as an option, booooooo, it does still tell me that Aix - Lourmarin - Gordes - Saint Rémy, for example, is only two hours and 100 km of driving, leaving plenty of time for a nice lunch someplace. You can detour to Apt, especially if it is a market day, or to Roussillon if you’d like a short hike around the ochre trail.

Bonus, you’ll be approaching St Rémy along the D99, one of my favourite roads. How can something so straight be so scenic?

Underhill

Yes, August crowds will be insane. Book hotels ASAP. Be aware that September 1 begins "la rentrée," the time when everyone in France on vacation during August returns to work and kids go back to school. That means considerable traffic during late August. The logical place to go after Grasse would be Nice. Lots to de/see there as well as in neighboring towns.

shelemm

Most places that you will be directed to are touristy - for good reason. Places that are wonderful and not touristy don't have shops and do require some time in the car to get to. So you will have to pick and choose. I am not clear what you mean by outdoor adventure.
Is walking uphill to the Chateau des eveques de cavaillon in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse an adventure? Is descending into the ochre quarry in Roussillon an adventure?

If you want to avoid crowds, then maybe you should consider visiting Auvergne instead of Provence.

AJPeabody

You can get road information at https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/traff...on,langen.html

Underhill

For a REAL adventure, visit the amazing Aven d'Orgnac, not far off the autoroute.

NellyC

Thanks again to everyone for all the suggestions. Based on my research, I decided to alter my itinerary. Aix, St Remy etc. sounds amazing, but since my teenage daughter is really only interested in the beach, people watching, fashion and shopping, I thought Cote D'azur would be better fit for a trip with her. She will be happy, and I can still mix in some history and art. I am ok with crowds and level of 'touristy' vibe in locations selected.

fly into Nice
3 nights: Nice. Booked Airbnb near Hotel Negresco. (area Stu suggested in another thread) Blue beach. Nice walking tour. Museum (s) Day trip to St Paul de vence. Rent car last day.
2 nights: St Tropez. Leaving Nice via rental car at 7:30am to try beat traffic. Room booked at Hotel Des Lices. Visit beaches. Lunch at Dior Des Lices. Tuesday AM market.
1/2 night: Cassis. Drive via coastal route. Does anyone have suggestions on must-see places to stop (beach, villages, restaurants) along this drive? Meeting up with friend here to kayak along Calanques.
fly out of Marseille