Luberon Itinerary help
 

I have 5 nights booked in the Luberon in early June. We are based in Bonnieux during our stay.

We are spending a few nights prior in the area of St. Remy taking in that region...Les Baux, Nimes, Pont de Gard and Uzes. We visited Avignon on a previous trip.

Saturday we are driving up from Cassis after a one night stay stopping in Lourmarin for lunch. We'll arrive in Bonnieux late afternoon.

Sunday we plan to do the Morning Market in Isle Sur la Sorgue. The remainder of the day we were thinking Oppede le Vieux, Menerbes and Lacoste.

Monday is open for touring the area. From what I heard, we can expect most shops close on Sunday/Monday except tourist towns like Gordes.

Tuesday I would like to check out the market in Apt....open for suggestions for the remainder of the day.

Wednesday we plan to spend the day exploring the wine area "The Necklace" northwest of the Luberon.

I am hoping to narrow down a list of must see towns in the region with a logical grouping. I have Stu Dudley's notes which are very helpful. We won't be there during lavender season so we want to make sure we make the best of our short stay.

Your help with suggestions would be greatly appreciated as always. Thank you in advance.

Not sure what's meant by "The Necklace" - but a logical grouping would be around the Dentelles with Séguret, Crestet and Vaison-la-Romaine being 'must sees'. Other favorite villages of mine are Joucas, Venasque and Brantes.

tuck, I'm almost sure you are right. the Op means Les Dentelles de Montmiral.
It includes Beaumes-de-Venice, a sweet muscat so fine over a Cavaillon mellon. There's the wine of Vacqueyras, and my favorite Gigondas on to Sablet, Séguret< Vaison-La-Romaine, Crest, and so on, a wine lovers excursion! Several have fine restos.

Don't miss the market day in Apt...it was my favorite!

Hi Cigalechanta...exactly right about the area they refer to as the "Necklace" as the towns form an oblong circle that look like a necklace on the map. That day is pretty much set with those lovely villages in the Dentelles.

I am less sure in the Luberon as there are so many towns that I am having a hard time crossing some off my wish list....It's a long list. Too long for the amount of days. I don't want to race from place to place, so I am willing to narrow it down to a select few. Out of the following list, which one really should not be missed.

Oppede le Vieux
Menerbes
Lacoste
Roussillon
Joucas
Simiane La Rotonde
Sault
Apt
Saignon
Goult
St Pentaleon
Fontaine de Vaucluse
Cucuron

and there are likely others I'm not familar with that should be added.

Thanks again

Thanks for the feedback caroltis...I had heard that Apt was a nice market and not quite as touistic, so I think I'll plan to go for sure.

for me who loves Provence it is like picking a favorite child when they are all so different. Oppede was fun climbing on the terraces,
Menerbes is where Mayle use to live. An enjoyable visit. La Coste is where th Marquis de Sade lived. His place was bought by a famous French desighner so don't know if you can still make the walk up there. Roussillon. no matter how many tourists is still a special place with the houses all colored with the ochre of the fields there. Should you pay to visit wear old shoes or they will be covered with ochre powder.The next three are great when Lavender is in season(it's harvested mid August usually)
Apt is the home of Peter Mayle'last book on a baker there. The town is not much but we bought the bread, went to a fab cheese shop, bought wine, fruit, dessert and took it all up the road that goes up a hill where a chapel is and you can view the whole town below. What a picnic that was!!! Saignon is a favorite of mine stayed there twice. Lunch by the fountain across from the lavoir at the Auberge de Presbytere.
The next two ???
Fontaine de Vaucluse . The Source of the sorgue River. there's a paper mill beside the river which has handmade parer produced since the 14th century and there's a museum of the resistance. I tasted my first Langustines(sp?) ther overlooking the falls at CHEZ PHILLIP.
Cucuron. If you saw the film, A good Year with Russell Crowe, the scene where they were watching a film outdoors by a body of water that is in the village. The Market day is held there. There really are too many places to see in one visit. Enjoy what you like and linger. There's always another year :)

ttt

Rouissillon is stunning and interesting because of the ochre. Definitely heed the advice to wear old shoes

For me, the Cistercian Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque just north of Gordes is a must see.

Regarding your list...

Since you have limited time, right away I'd omit Simiane and La Rotonde
Sault as being too far. Cucuron is nice, but not convenient to the others. The swarm of tourists turned us off of Roussillon. You have Oppede le Vieux, Menerbes and Lacoste planned and that's fine. Saignon is certainly a good one. I'd skip Goult and St Pentaleon.
Fontaine de Vaucluse was a disappointment. Joucas is a favorite - did a watercolor there (Saignon and Cucuron too).

Correction:
Simiane-la-Rotonde and Sault

Thank you for your replies.

TuckH..your feedback has been helpful to narrow down our list. I've dropped Simiane la Rotonde, Sault and Cucuron from the plan.

If we have time, we might be able to see Cucuron on the way from Cassis before we visit Lourmarin. We'll have to play it by ear based on what time we leave Cassis.

We do a rough itinerary but never try and follow it to the letter. If we're charmed by a place, we linger and move on when we feel ready...in some cases right away if we don't get a good vibe.

Thanks again everyone.

Rough Plan

Saturday
Drive from Cassis to Luberon
Stops in Cucuron and Lourmarin

Sunday
Isle Sur la Sorgue Market - Early departure by 10:30
Abbey Senanque
Gordes
Oppede le Vieux
Menerbes
La Coste

Monday
Roussillon
Joucas
Lunch at la Gare in Bonnieux
Saignon

Tuesday
Market in Apt
Saint Saturin les Apt
Viens..I hear this is pretty countryside and somewhat untouristy
Castellet
Buoux?

Wednesday
Full day in the Dentelles

Sunday looks rather busy but the Abbey, Menerbes and La Coste will be rather short stops from what I gather.

Are there any towns listed that you feel time wasted?

The market in Apt is on Saturday, not Tuesday. Gordes has a market on Tuesday.

If you have 5 nights in the Luberon, you should be able to enjoy all the villages there. We often visit them on the way to dinner. Visit Gordes on the way to the Dentelles - get there early to avoid th crowds. Visit Roussillon on the way back from one of your day trips elsewhere, if you return a little ahead of schedule.

I agree with most of Tuck's recommendations - except Goult & Roussillon. Goult is much less touristy than many of the others, but the "bones" are just as nice. If you don't like crowds visit Roussillon & Gordes first or last thing in the day when the day trippers are not there.

Stu Dudley

>> Are there any towns listed that you feel time wasted? <<

YES: "Saint Saturin les Apt
Viens..I hear this is pretty countryside and somewhat untouristy
Castellet Buoux?"

I've been to all the above and there are certainly more attractive towns and countrysides to visit. So - in lieu of that for Tuesday afternoon, I suggest a loop, going to Sault and then to Brantes (not to be missed IMO) and back by way of Venasque.

Actually, you have all Tuesday free, since there is not market in Apt that day - and I agree with Tuck that there are better plans than what you have that afternoon (hope Kevin doesn't pick this up). The suggested itinerary that Tuck mentioned is roughly my Lavender Route in the itinerary of mine that you have. Follow it - including Montbrun & Simiane la Rotunde, but not the "high" lavender fields past Montbrun. Brantes is quite cute and the view from the approach road above it is excellent - but it's a teensy/weensy village & won't take long to visit.

Regarding Goult. Have dinner at Bartaville in the middle of Goult, and walk around town before and/or after dinner. The way the houses are built into a giant rock is quite interesting. Try to find the various lookouts that I mentioned in my itinerary.

Stu Dudley

According to this website there is a market in Apt on Tuesday mornings May-November, but it is a farmers market, foodstuffs only. The Saturday market is a bigger one. (I have been to both but don't remember much about them.)

http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/m...t-provence.htm
(I hope that URL isn't too long!)

And crazyfortravel, if you go to the home page of that website, you'll find lots of other good info on this area.

The Tuesday market in Apt is a Brocante market - not food or Provence Fabric, soap, crafts, etc. It's not in my "France" magazine list of markets in France - since the list is "traditional markets" - not brocante. Here is info from Russ Collins' site about Apt & the market.

http://www.beyond.fr/villages/apt.html

I think the brocante & antique market in l'Isle sur la Sorgue would fill your need for brocante - use Tuesday to see something different.

Stu Dudley

There a nice small flea market on Saturday at Villeneuve-lez-Avignon.

I'd like to mention here that Stu's Itineraries were our guidelines as we ventured out on our daytrips to explore Provence. So - this thread presents a good opportunity for me to offer a Thank You Stu!

Wow....great info. I'm back to the drawing board to give it more thought.

I saw the Tuesday market listing for Apt and thought it was perhaps a smaller version of the Saturday Market. I guess we can give that a miss and that will open the whole day Tuesday to explore something different.

Stu...I had originally thought of stopping in Pernes les Fontaines on the way back from the Dentelles. Do you think there would be enough time in that day to do Gordes justice if we skipped Pernes?

Thanks again everyone. The info here has been invaluable. My Dordogne trip last year was a resounding success due to all the generous people on Fodor's.

Far be it from me to argue with Stu as I am sure his experience in this area far exceeds mine. And his memory is likely better as well. But we do seem to have a "battle of the websites" going here. The Office du Tourisme du Pays d'Apt site says there is a farmers market on Tuesdays as well.
http://www.ot-apt.fr/us/terroir/marc...ches_hebdo.htm

Maybe there are two smaller ones, a brocante and a farmers market?

Doesn't really matter for crazytotravel since she (he?) has decided (wisely, I agree) to do something else on Tuesday.

Apt, the food market was on Saturday mornings,

I am going to jump in on this thread sorry but it is about the markets. Isle Sur la Sorgue is a town that we go to frequently since we always stay in Menerbes. This June will be the first visit for my daughter but we are arriving on Sunday from Paris and she will leaving us on Friday, which in your opinion will be the best substitute for this miss. I thought perhaps it would be St Remy...

Thanks Betty1...I think in any case we'll skip the Tuesday market in Apt since we'll have already hit the ones in Saint Remy (Wednesday) and Isle Sur La Sorgue(Sunday). I remember reading some favorable comments about the Apt market but I'm sure it was in reference to the one on Saturday.

I'm going to sit down tonight with Stu's notes and try to work out a better plan for our time in the Luberon.

Don't be too strict with your plan. You may not like a place as others did or may want to linger someplace unexpected you find along the way Those things make your trip memorable. All my trips, it is always the serindipity that remains constant.

Thanks for the kind words Tuck.

Betty - I've been to the Sat market in Apt several times - but never the Tues one because I had never heard about it. I was just going by what's on Russ Collins's site. There may very well be a food & Brocante market on the same day.

Crazy - how much you can pack into a day depends on how early you get a start, and what you do for lunch. If you have to seek out a sit-down restaurant in a town, that will kill 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. I usually get some pistachios, jambon buerre, or a pizza slice at a market and sit on a bench or even have lunch in the car. Sliced cheese works great also.

On Tuesday, you could get to Gordes at 8:30 and have an expensive cafe creme & croissants there. Then walk around the market a tad. It's small, so it won't take much time. Then do the suggested walk in my itinerary down to the lavoire. Return to the market, pick up some picnic goodies, and head out to Sault. There is a large park in the middle of Sault where you could sit on a bench & have a picnic. Sault also has several outdoor cafes that would probably be fast. There is a pizza truk there too. You might make it farther than Sault by lunch time - perhaps to Brantes, where there is a bench just outside of town where you can picnic. There is also a great small covered area in the middle of Simiane with a great view. You could picnic there if it's not reserved by the small cafe that will serve salads or sandwiches there.

On my Lavender Route, if you want to visit Brantes - after Sault, Simiane, and Montbrun - head west from Montbrun on the D72 then the D41. Drop down to Brantes, then take the D40 back to Montbrun then Sault.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu...we are usually early to rise and love those morning hours when it feels like you have a place to yourself.

We don't tend to do a sit down lunch unless it is something special or on a rainy day. We want to eat at La Gare near Bonnieux as we hear you dine as the locals do for very good value.

We would like to avoid market day in Gordes as I'm sure it's quite crazy.

Our new plan is shaping up something like this. Of course, we will likely only use it as a guideline as we often wander off track or linger in places that we adore.

Sunday
Market Isle Sur la Sorgue
Oppede le Vieux
Menerbes
Lacoste
Roussillon early evening prior to sunset

Monday
Gordes
Abbey Senanque
Village des Bories?..not sure
Lunch at La Gare outside of Bonnieux
Saignon

Tuesday
Joucas
Simiane la Rotande
Sault
Brantes
Montbrun les Bains

Wednesday
Full day in the Dentelles

Time permitting we may plan a dinner in Goult on one of these days

I think Vesasque will be a little out of our way since we are staying in Bonnieux and are heading back there at the end of our day.

Again, I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.

On the Sault/Simiane/Montbrun/Brantes day, follow the latter half of my Lavender Route through the Gorges de la Nesque & then to Venaque. This is a beautiful drive and a good way to return to the Luberon. We've driven this Lavender Route may times in just a half day.


Stu Dudley

I hope you don't skip Goult.
The guide books don't give it much mention. We thought it was a special find.

Hi Stu...I'll add Gorges de la Nesque & Venaque to the list with time pending. If we run short on time, we can always take the more direct route back to Bonnieux. Hopefully if we get an early start, we can fit it all in. Thank you so much for your feedback.

We'll definately make an effort to get to Goult at some point Brit...perhaps for dinner one night.

bookmarking

crazyfortravel - how was the trip?

bookmarking,

Monica ((F))