Itinerary information 11 days in Provence
 

Good morning everyone!
we are planning me and my boyfriend a trip to Provence for 10 days at the end of September.
We have already booked airbnb refundable and our plan is as following.We are landing in Marseille the afternoon and we are going to stay there for 2 nights.Basically we will have one full day there and 2 nights.The third day we will rent a car and we are planning to spend the day in cassis ( visit the town and make a boat trip to Calanques or some swim if the weather permits) and the afternoon drive to Aix where we are going to stay 3 nights. The third day my boyfrind turns 40 and I was thinking to arrange sth for his birthday in the evining in Aix ( a dinner or sth else). Please if you have any suggestion or expleriene to tell me!!. Fourth day will be full in Aix, exploring the city. 5th day we are thinking to do a day trip to Gorge du Verdon, moustiers-sainte-marie. 6th day we will do a road trip from Aix to Lourmarin, Rousillon, Gordes,L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue ending up in Avingon, where we will be in the next three nights.7th day, we will explore the city of Avignon. 8th day we are planning to do a day trip to Nimes and Pont du Guard. 9th, we will do a road trip to St Remy and Baux ending up in Arles, where we will stay 2 nights.10th day visit Arles and if there is time Aigues Mortes. 11th day, we will do a day trip to Camargue and in the evening we will return the car to Marseill where we will saty at night because our flight is early in the morning. I have already search , in which cities we can visit the markets.
Please, tell me what do you think about the schedule and if is possible to do it.Propose any ideas or changes, things we shouldn't miss or restaurants and which wine tour is best to do!
We like to explore and be almost all the day out discovering new places!

thank you in advance!

1. The Camarague might be a stretch
2. Your itinerary reads much like our first trip to that area. We did NOT find it too much packing/unpacking, too much moving. It gave us a taste of everything in a few days.
3. You may well find you discover some towns/areas so pleasant you might wish to go back, and skip the later towns/areas. So decide which are musts, and which are deferable.

Thanks for the reply! Yes it is true, the day trip was selected by what I read and thought that we would like the most, but for sure when we will be there, the schedule may be change depending of what we see there or like more!
if you have any tips and suggestions for the places there, please be free to share! 🙂

I will be there in March. fearlessfemaletravels.com is great. Google market in Provence and lots of dates and places will come up Towns to consider: Apt, Orange, Uze.

When in Marseille, I highly recommend exploring the Le Panier neighborhood. It's very interesting with lots of intriguing graffitti.

When you visit L'isle Sur la Sorgue, I suggest going on a Thursday for the Thursday market. It's not as crowded as the Sunday market. On Sunday it will be next to impossible to find a parking space.
Here is the link to markets in Provence.
https://curiousprovence.com/a-list-o...s-in-provence/

Here is the link to my trip report from last December which might be of interest to you. There are lots of photos to whet your appetite and help you decide.
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...ember-1711910/

I've personally not found it too efficient to day trip to the Gorge due Verdon and the Luberon (Roussilon to Isle sur la Sorgue) on consecutive days from Aix. One of those days you might consider just ending up in the one of the towns. I just find it more time consuming to get in/out and around of Aix and around the hills/mountain surrounding the valley. You could just add a day to Avignon or end up there after your tour of the Luberon --- of course luggage is a problem.

What date (or day of the week) are you landing in Marseille. It makes a difference in what itinerary suggestions I might make.

Thank you , I will read the site to find more information!!

Hello, I have already read your report and I found it very interesting and helpfull and I have kept notes! We will be in L'isle Sur la Sorgue on Sunday but in the afternoon unfortunately, because it will be our last stop before ending up in Avignon..

Thank you for your suggestion! when we will stay in Aix, one day trip we are thinking to be around Gorge du Verdon and return to Aix for the night ( this one you think it will be not efficient?) and then the next day when we will visit the luberon area ( Roussilon to Isle sur la Sorgue) we will end up to Avignon for the night!

I will be more detailed about our schedule, to be more easy for you!
We are landing in Marseille on Tuesday afternoon, we will be at the room around 8 and maybe we will take a short walk and eat sth to have a first taste of Marseille by night. we will stay near the the marseille soap museem. Any suggestion for food near?
Wednesday will explore Marseille town (Panier district, Cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde, MuCEM, old port, Vallon des Auffes, maybe take the little tourist train,..). ( night in Marseille)
Thursday in the morning will take the rental car and start exploring Cassis area, visit the town, swimm depending the weather and make a boat trip to Calanques. In the afternoon we will head towards Aix.I would like to be there around 6 so we can have some time to do sth for his birthday! if you have any idea please share. I would like to do sth special! ( night in Aix)
Friday we will explore the town of Aix ( cezanne;s studio, cours mirabeau, fontaines,hotel de caumont,..). Propose if it is worth it to visit a chateau there ( night in Aix)
Saturday will make a day trip to Gorge du Verdon ( I don t know if that time of the year is it still possible to rent sth and make a tour in gorge. I saw that there are different options like from lake quinson,lake Saint-Croix, or from Galettas bridge. which one is better? we are not canoe types :) ) and visit Moustiers Saint Marie. There is some other suggestion for that day to see sth else or do sth different? ( night in Aix)
Sunday we will leave Aix and explore Luberon region. Roussillon, Lourmarin,Gordes, Abbaye and L'Isle la Gorge but I think at the time of our arrival in L'isle market will be already closed. in the evening or night we will arrive in Avignon where we will stay for the next days. ( night in villeneuve d'avignon)
Monday we will explore the town of Avignon (palais des Papes les Halles d'Avignon, place d' horloge,pont d'Avignon,..) - ( night in villeneuve d'avignon)
Tuesday we are planning to do a day trip to Nimes and pont du gard. I don't know if in this day we can see sth more like Orange maybe ( night in villeneuve d'avignon)
Wednesday we will explore St Remy (asylum van Gogh,Glanum, ST REMY MARKET, Musee des Alpilles, chateau des alpilles?,..) and le Baux (Carrieres des Lumieres, chateau des Baux,..) ending up the day to Arles where we will stay the next days (night in Arles)
Thursday we will explore the city of Arles (Les Arenes de Arles, the Baths of Constantin, and the Theater of Arles, walk by the river ..). (night in Arles)
Friday morning we will visit Camargues region to see the ornithologic parc, flamingos and horses and in the afternoon we will return in Marseille to leave the car. Spend the night in Marseille (near the airport ) because the flight is Saturday morning.

Please be free to add or change things among your experiences from the region!! also if you can propose places to eat will be nice or a wine tour.
For the day of his birthday I found some things but many of them was a lot above the budget ( like a dinner in hotel Gallici or a spa ot a balloon ride.. :p).
I found this restaurant vintrepide. Do you have any experience from there or to propose sth else?

Thank you again!!

Not normally a fan of one-night hotel stays, but the Gorges du Verdon are a long day trip from Aix, and the next day you want to be driving through the Luberon. What about spending the night near the Gorges? Then the drive along the D900 is a very pleasant day.

Or, skip the gorge and hike Mont St Victoire (very gentle hike) or spend extra time exploring the Luberon.

Building on your itinerary:

Provence is the Luberon.I would add at least one night in the Luberon.
For me this comes at the expense of Marseille. While I like Marseille, I like waking up in Peter Mayles Provence better. Also I would replace visiting Nimes and Pont du Gard with Uzes and Pont du Gard.
Also no need to visit a destination twice.Your itinerary has visiting Marseille twice.
Here is how I would make those changes: ARLES- 3 nights,AVIGNON (Villeneuve d'Avignon)-3nights, a LUBERON VILLAGE-1 night, AIX en Provence 4 nights.

DAY 1. TUE ARLES
Land in Marseille on Tuesday afternoon. Rent a car. Drive one hour to Arles.

Day 2 WED ARLES
Day trip to Camargue region to see the ornithologic parc, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Aigues-Mortes, and even Nimes, seeing flamingos and horses enroute, and in the late afternoon return to Arles.

Day 3 THU ARLES
Explore the city of Arles (Les Arenes de Arles, the Baths of Constantin, and the Theater of Arles, walk by the river) .

Day 4 FRI AVIGNON (Villeneuve d'Avignon)
Les Baux (Carrieres des Lumieres, chateau des Baux),..St.Remy-de-Provence (Van Gogh sights,Glanum ruins) ,..) enroute to Avignon.

Day 5 SAT AVIGNON (Villeneuve d'Avignon)
Day trip Uzes on market day in the morning and Pont du Gard in the afternoon.

DAY 6 SUN AVIGNON (Villeneuve d'Avignon)
Day trip to Isle sur la Sorgue market in the early morning.
Explore the city of Avignon in the afternoon. (palais des Papes les Halles d'Avignon, place d' horloge,pont d'Avignon,..)
OR
DAY 6 SUN AVIGNON (Villeneuve d'Avignon)
Explore the city of Avignon (What you have not seen on days 4 and 5) in the morning. (palais des Papes les Halles d'Avignon, place d' horloge,pont d'Avignon,..)
Day trip to Cotes du Rhone wine villages in the afternoon.

DAY 7 MON LUBERON VILLAGE(Gordes,Roussillon,Bonnieux,Menerbes,Oppede-le-Viex,Saignon,St-Saturnin-les-Apt, etc.)
My favorate is Le Mas Perreal https://masperreal.com/
Day trip the Luberon region.

DAY 8 TUE AIX
More Luberon. Arrive Aix in afternoon or early evening. Explore the city of Aix ( cezanne;s studio, cours mirabeau, fontaines,hotel de caumont,..)

DAY 9 WED AIX

Explore the city of Aix on market day ( cezanne;s studio, cours mirabeau, fontaines,hotel de caumont,..)

DAY 10 THU AIX
Day trip to Gorge du Verdon or skip the long Day trip to the Gorge and Day trip to Marseille.

DAY 11 FRI AIX
Day trip to Cassis

Day 12 Fly Home Have a great vacation

Nice idea, if it is long drive and we are not in a mood for that to explore more the luberon area!

Wooow thank you very much for your time writing your suggestions! I will look if it is possible to replan our accommodation and find something that have normal price. My thought was to return in Marseille the evening before of our flight because we have to leave the car since our flight is early in the morning and we will not have time.
I have another question, if you know anything about the wisecars rental car or another good company because maybe we will have to change our booking because of a problem.

Marseille airport (MRS) is closer to Aix(city), than it is to Marseille(city).
So my proposed itinerary spends your last night (Fri) in Aix, actually your last 4 nights in Aix. Just return the car some time Fri.
Book a cab for early Sat to get to MRS for your flight home.

If you feel more comfortable with staying the last night (Fri)at an airport hotel that's perfectly fine.

I would stay away from wise car rentals, a broker with mixed reviews. I question their ability to solve problems.

On one trip to France, I used Costco Travel for car rental. I got a great discount and excellent service.
Costco uses Alamo, Avis, Budget, and Enterprise.

We have rented cars many times in France at the Marseille Airport. I have used Kemwel/Auto Europe for years, and I have no complaints. They are a broker. Typically your choices would be Hertz, Budget, Avis, Enterprise and Thrifty, I think.