Personally, I would think very hard about renting a car just for the days you are in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It's a great jumping-off point for the Luberon, which is IMO the most delectable place in Provence, but the Luberon is not really possible by public transportation unless you take a bus day-tour from Avignon, and that means only seeing the most touristy of the villages. I found the driving very easy, almost no roundabouts, no need for road signs other than STOP and the signs indicating the route to a village, and one lane each way and not driven at a high speed (others may want to go faster, but you just don't let them hurry you). I managed fine and I was solo, so no navigator and other person to spot the signs. I did not find it stressful at all. If you have a car, you might consider staying in one of the villages or one of the little places in the countryside between villages where parking for the night is simple.

We spent a week in Provence last July and we are definitely happy that we had a car. The villages are what made it for us...you can see our pics here

https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]

We also spent a week in the Alps with two nights in Annecy, it was worth the day but I think any longer without a car would have been too much. Our pics are here:

https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]

Like Paris, there is no need for a car in or around Nice. However, the rest of Provence is very different.

After some more research defining exactly where you want to go and what you want to see, I would plan with a car. You might take a look at the Michelin Green series which has driving itineraries. I would also use the Michelin Red Series for hotels and restaurants. For car rentals check Autoeurope:

www.autoeurope.com

For rental insurance, the best I have seen is American Express which has a $25 primary coverage plan. If you have an AmEx card, check into this plan.

Driving in Provence should not be a problem at all. The signs are all of international standard; the speed limit is generally 90kms (55 mph) or 50kms (31 mph) in towns. Use a GPS and a good map of the area. You´ll be fine.

I would definitely not characterize Avignon as a big city. What´s important to tourists is the old walled city, the rest has no interest and the old walled city is not that big at all.

However, with a car, I would not necessarily stay in Avignon. If I were to spend a month in Provence, and I have almost every year for many years, I would find a gîte somewhere in the Luberon or Alpilles and stay there a couple of weeks, making day trips to anywhere of interest. You could easily reach Nîmes, Uzès, Pont du Gard to the west; the Carmague and Arles to the south; Aix en Provence, even Cassis to the east; and a great many fascinating locations in between. Two to three weeks here would be easy to fill.

In the May/June timeframe, you will need to reserve hotels in advance, particularly those found in the Michelin Red guide if you do not stay in a fixed location. Don´t underestimate how difficult it can be in June to find accommodations on the fly.

I am sure you will come back with more questions. There are plenty of people here who can help.

Your "travel club person" is full of nonsense. There is nothing stressful about driving in Provence. The signs aren't "in a foreign language." They aren't in any language - they're pictures. They are typical international road signs. You can browse through an atlas in a bookstore or the library and learn them in 5 minutes. Most of them are entirely intuitive.

That said, you do not need a car for Nice. Public transportation along that stretch of the Med is more than adequate. For Avignon and Les Alpilles, a car is mandatory, as it is for the Lubéron.

I meant to say, in shaving Marseille days, to add time to Lyon. As you said, photos can give one a false sense of an entire venue. Also, many (including my) opinions are often based upon one stay. The opinions of people who have visited often or who live there should carry more weight, yes?

My "Paris Sandwich" TR describes our daytrips from Aix which may be helpful. DH and I used public transport almost all the time but took a van tour* a couple of times and hired a driver once in Italy. In Sicily, we were adopted by a taxi driver who had some time off and drove us around.


*That included the Luberon. I'm with StCirq about that. However, we did fine with train for Avignon (that was a trip based in Montpellier).

I am overwhelmed with all of your very thoughtful and helpful suggestions! I need time to do all the searches that have evolved, but will try to get back before too long.

I am wondering if it would be best to start in Paris then head south so the weather will be better (into about 10 days of June.). Would that help or make crowds more of a problem?

Ok! OK! We need a car! Many of you have been so helpful in helping me to overcome the fear of driving. We really will do so where designated, and NOT in Nice area.

Is there a particlar site you all use for finding apartments/gites? I usually use VRBO but don't think I want to in France. Opinions? I want to start looking. Need to solidify my plans soon, for air and now for reservations, since you all agree that it would be to chancy to find lodging on arrival as we normally do. It worked in Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Budapest, Portugal,etc. Maybe France is just busier?? I'll take you word for it. So long as we are in one place for a week or even more, we will have a lot of freedom to choose our day trips. That's fine.

Photos are WONDERFUL! Thank you!

I LOVE you all! I'll try not to be so wordy...too much for you to read!

>> Maybe France is just busier??<<

More tourists visit France each year than anyplace else in the world.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-web-site.cfm

Stu Dudley

There are people who love to drive but for me, who drives every day at home, I love NOT to drive when I'm on holiday. I have absolutely no doubt that there are many villages in Provence which are difficult to reach by bus and that it is much easier to visit several places in a day with a car. However, we have visited places like Isle sur la Sorgue, St Remy, Les Baux, Vaison la Romaine, Buis les Baronnies and from Nice: Eze, Grasse, St Paul de Vence, Entrevaux; and others by public transport. Services are not always frequent but we generally are quite happy to visit only one place each day. I am sure that had we had a car we would have visited more places but I doubt that we would have enjoyed it more as we had a fabulous time.

We haven't done this, but if I'm not mistaken, Avignon tourist centre will organise day tours of the area if you wish.

One thing about arriving in Annecy by train - we've only done this once but were disappointed when we arrived. However, after walking into town we had an entirely different impression of the town. I won't say it was my favourite place but it's nicer than our first impressions. Perhaps we were just tired - who can say?

Bus and train timetables are all available online if you want to check things out before you decide where you want to go and how.

By all means hire a car, especially if you are comfortable driving there, but don't feel that you must.

StuDudley, I much appreciate your link on how to choose a gite. I am soon to try it out. Plan to order an AMEX card today, in case we rent a car (always from autoeurope).

Dreamon, I appreciate that you understand and support my attitude on driving...see less, enjoy plenty. Some of us just prefer slow and easy enjoyment of what is in our midst and not worry about what we are missing. I'm back on the fence.

I have house guests at present, so little time to search and plan, but will do a bit at a time. Many of you have named villages and bases that I need to check out, and I am in the process, as able.

<i>Plan to order an AMEX card today, in case we rent a car </i>

Here is the link to the AmEx rental insurance coverage. I strongly recommend it:

https://www295.americanexpress.com/p...do?source=CCSG

___

For finding gîtes, I use these sites:

http://www.fleursdesoleil.fr/
http://www.cheznous.com/
http://www.vacationfrance.com/
http://www.gites-de-france.fr/
http://gitelink.com/
http://www.maisonsdhotesdefrance.fr/

>> prefer slow and easy enjoyment of what is in our midst and not worry about what we are missing. I'm back on the fence.<<

That's the way we travel also - but we do it by car if we need to be flexible and efficient - which is almost all of the time.

For example, dreamon visited Entrevaux from Nice. We spent a week in a gite just outside of Entrevaux several years ago. Dreamon probably took the Train de Pignes there. Unless he departed Nice around 7am, he probably took the train that departs Nice Ville at 9:25 and arrives in Entrevaux at 10:46. As I recall, the train station is a bit away from the entrance to the village - so it might take him 10 mins to walk to town and 10 mins back. The train returns to Nice at 12:38 - which is too soon to allow lunch in Entrevaux - so he perhaps got some nibbles in Entrevaux or brought his own (that's what we do). So dreamon has 1 1/2 hrs to visit Entrevaux - which is probably enough time if you don't have a sit-down lunch and perhaps not climb up to the small church perched high above the village. My wife climbed to this church - so we spent over 2 1/2 hrs exploring the village. The train after the 12:38 departure, departs at 16:19 and arrives in Nice at 17:45. So you have the choice of 1 1/2 hrs in Entrevaux, or 5 1/4 hrs in Entrevaux.

My itinerary by car would be:
- Leave Nice at 9:00 and arrive in Touet sur Var around 10:15.
- Explore Touret - a very interesting village 10:15-11:00
- Drive to Entrevaux 11:00-11:30
- Instead of parking & visiting Entrevaux, take the D911 a few Ks south of the N202 to get a fabulous view of Entrevaux.
- View above, visit Entrevaux, lunch, and walk-off lunch by visiting the church 11:30-2:30
- Next, visit one of the most spectacular canyons in southeast France. The canyon walls are brick red. From Entrevaux, drive north through the Gorges de Daluis, east to Beuil, then south through the (Michelin 3 star) Gorges du Cains to the N202. This is a 1 1/4 hr loop. 2:30-3:45
- Drive 15 mins to Villars-sur-Var and visit the many interesting passages in this village. 3:45-4:30
- Drive back to Nice 4:30-5:30

I returned to Nice at about the same time dreamon probably did (unless he was only in Entrevaux for 1 1/2 hrs), saw a lot more diverse & interesting things, and spent more time stopping where I wanted to stop.

dreamon - your itinerary was probably different - I just used you as an example. Sorry if this sounded harsh - it wasn't intended to be - I just wanted to compare two different scenarios.

Stu Dudley

No problem, Stu. Just a different approach and one isn't better than the other. I don't remember what time train we took in the morning but we had morning coffee, spend ages wandering around town and exploring up through the castle and had a leisurely lunch. I remember getting back late in the day (can't remember the time as it didn't matter). There was a storm on the way back and we got chatting with some local people on the train. Apart from our day at Entrevaux we didn't do anything else except wander the streets of Nice and have dinner. It was two years ago and I was travelling with my teenage daughter and we had a great day. Like I say, not better, just different.

Actually, we did the train thing on the Cuneo line - stopping & visiting Saorge then Tende, then back to Nice.

Stu Dudley

My company is gone for a few days. Now will return to my planning. Don't go away!

I enjoy Avignon. I was alone there for two weeks, I don't drive but buses and the train took me to many places. Twice I stayed in Ile sur la Sorge. Parts of it are charming. With a car you can visit the Camargue and the Gorge of Verdon. A small car if you want to visit the perche villages.

OK. I am finally back, almost 3 weeks later. Do I continue here with your helping me to refine my itinerary, or start a new thread? I don't know quite how you all pick up on these things. Sorry!

Continue here so everyone can see all that has been discussed on one thread.

Just carry on. We're here.

I just spent over an hour writing my entire itinerary and comments, pushed a wrong key and it all vanished! My morning GONE! Here it goes, in a much more concise version.

May 15: Fly to CDG

May 16: Jet lag day. I NEED HELP WITH WHERE AND HOW! Could not drive or even do a train without some rest and sleep. Perhaps an airport hotel for a night would be best? If you know a short bus or train destination, do tell, but after a 14 hour flight and loads of flight related time and energy, we will be pretty worthless.

May 17,18,19 Bayeux (rent car there) Driving not an option for arrival there.

May 20-25: Paris

May 26: Somehow get to Avignon to rent car and go to Uzes. Train sounds best. (A BETTER IDEA?)

May 26-June 4: Uzes (Gite) Explore area and enjoy being in Uzes.

June 5-11: Aix-en-Pr0vence (gite)

June 12-15: Cassis (Our vacation from our vacation.)

June 16: Return car in Marseille and fly home.

As you see, we gave in regarding driving. I think it will be fine if we manage to stay off highways and steep, narrow, scary roads!

One more thing. TGV is having a special of 19 euros from Paris to most major cities, including Avignon I think, but I have been unable to find how to get this rate. When I put in the information, it NEVER acknowledges the special rate. Anyone know how to do this?

Also, Part of what got cut from the above entry was a thank you and a vote of confidence in your collective wisdom...even though I may not always follow it!