I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're proposing here. Are you planning to just drive through the villages, or do you expect to get out and walk around anywhere? I've been to every place on your list, and I truly don't understand what your itinerary. I also don't understand why you're including a place like Murs, where I rented a house for a couple of weeks a few years ago. It's tiny and has no commerce, just a group of houses. Or are you including on your list places you'll drive through on your way to someplace else but don't plan to really visit?

How much time do you expect to spend in each village? Do you realize that in Roussillon, you have to park outside the village; cars can't penetrate to the main place and the small streets that run off it? Ditto for Moustiers and Seguret. You also can't drive into Oppede le Vieux, Simiane, Crestet, and others on your list.

Vaison is a fairly large place, at least in comparison to the others on your list; are you planning to visit the medieval section on one side of the Ouveze and the Roman ruins on the other side? You simply can't visit Vaison for ten minutes and say you've seen it. Crestet is at the top of a hill; the only way to see it is to get out of the car and climb up the steps and pathways to the top, from which there is a beautiful view of the valley below. For your Luberon day, you're allowing eight hours to see eight villages. They are pretty close together, but you'll still lose several hours overall to driving time, leaving you precious little time to wander the villages, stop for coffee, or take in the view.

I suspect that you're going to zip past a lot of stone houses that you'll see from a moving car and remember exactly nothing of the places you've been. If that's what you're looking for, you've got it. If you want to find the small street and fountains and perspectives that you don't get from driving around, you'll be missing a lot.

I could go on, but I think you get my drift. If I'm misunderstanding what you're suggesting, I apologize. I understand the desire to see as much as possible in the limited time available--but I'm afraid you won't see anything but the road.

Of course, if someplace is interesting enough to walk around linger, we should do that. Other places like Murs we just can drive past. What do you suggest we cut out?

I would leave St Saturnin earlier than 10:00 if you plan on visiting the market in Roussillon. Although that's probably the only market in the Luberon that I have not visited - other markets get mobbed by 11:00 or sooner. Markets start around 9 - but I like to get there at 8-8:30 to watch the vendors set up their stalls.

Your itinerary seems fine. The Michelin Green Guide describes each of these villages and you should visit all the "starred" villages. My itinerary includes these stars - plus any that I recommend that you visit on foot . Like frenchaucour mentioned - most have parking outside of the villages where you will need to park.

I wrote a time schedule for visiting the villages in the Luberon several years ago - here it is:

8:00 or 8:30 - Get to Gordes, pull the car over at the view "spot" & take a picture. Park the car in the lot, and visit Gordes. Have a cafe creme & croissants for breakfast at one of the outdoor cafes. Walk down to the Lavoire & back. Explore Gordes.

10:00 leave Gordes.
10:30 arrive in Oppede le Vieux & explore a bit
11:30 leave Oppede, drive to Menerbes
11:45 arrive in Menerbes & explore. Grab a sandwich for lunch & sit on a bench with a view & have lunch.
12:45 leave Menerbes
1:00 arrive in Lacoste, drive up towards the village & view Bonnieux across the valley. No visit of Lacoste. Drive to Bonnieux.
1:45 Visit Bonnieux (sandwich, if you didn't have one in Menerbes)
3:15 leave Bonnieux & head to Roussillon.
3:45 arrive in Roussillon, park the car, and explore Roussillon. Visit the Ocre fields. Have an afternoon coffee at a cafe.
5:45 Leave Roussillon. If you still have some energy left, visit Goult - otherwise, call it a day.

Stu Dudley

Stu Dudley

Stu has proposed an itinerary and schedule for you. Ultimately, it's up to you how you want to do things. It sounds like you might be on his wavelength, in which case you're all set. It's not how I prefer to travel, but I recognize that not everyone in the world is like me. We spent a half day in Menerbes, which some people consider a rather boring place but I thought was simply beautiful; we just wandered around, out the small winding streets and out to the small 16th-century church near the village hall, from which there are gorgeous views. We had a light lunch in a lovely restaurant and enjoyed the atmosphere, then moved on. To spend only an hour there, including lunch on the run, is, IMO, shortchanging the village.

I don't think my way is the only way; nor do I think Stu's is. You've said you travel fast and don't want to see the same thing over and over again, so I suspect you'll be very happy doing things Stu's way.

I travel fast when I am on the road, but I don't really make any itinerary plan. I use Michelin maps and I just suddenly stop somewhere that strikes my fancy. I'm sure I have missed lots of great things nearby (particularly since those brown tourist signs rarely convince me to turn off the road I am on), but I have never been disappointed by my travels through such regions. My only horror last year was when I stopped for the night in Bollène, which is a very nice looking place, but when I saw that the city hall did not fly the European flag, I understood the politics of the residents immediately.

>>doing things Stu's way.<<

Actually, I travel very slow myself. In 2014 we stayed in the Luberon for 2 weeks & rarely departed the Luberon. We had been there for 6 weeks on prior trips. Since we are retired - we don't have to be back at work in 2 weeks. Our typical June trip is 2 weeks in one location followed by 2 weeks in another nearby location. Then we do the same thing in September in 2 different locations. We stay in Gites - 70 gites so far for 110 weeks in France. Very few "advice seekers" on Fodors have time for a 4-5 week vacation twice a year. So my advice is always aimed at someone with only 2-3 weeks to spend in France or elsewhere. That's how we traveled before we retired.

Someone in 2011 asked me if my Luberon itinerary could be done in one day. So I put together a time schedule for "someone" who wanted to try to do this in just 1 day. Many people can't get started by 7:30 in the morning - and many don't want to stay on the road past 4PM (we are in the latter group). The OP doesn't seem to have any problems with sightseeing for 8-10 hours on 3 successive days. He also seems to have done his "homework - so he knows what he is getting into.

Stu Dudley

In commenting on "Stu's way," which seems to have raised some hackles, I was referring to the idea of having a schedule that allows you to cram in what I consider an excessive number of places in a single day. That was what he proposed to the OP. Maybe I should have worded it differently: "As Stu proposes"? Is that better?

I just rebel at the idea of setting a stop watch when I arrive somewhere and scurrying to be ready to move on to the next place in an hour or an hour and a half. That's what this schedule looks like to me. YMMV.

And FWIW, I'd rather wander around Lacoste's small streets than Oppede. To each his own.

If we'd like to devise a "plan b" to the "plan a" above that involves fewer destinations and less driving, what would you suggest?

If we need to decrease driving time, then geographically speaking, it looks to me like we could skip the loop around Dentelles entirely and redistribute some of the Luberon stuff between Wednesday and Friday instead? Maybe then we'll also have time to add Lourmarin and its market on Friday. What's in the Dentelles region that's "prettier" or "more interesting" than what we'll already see in the Alpilles or Luberon or Valensole? And if we cut out this loop what stops could we make between St Remy and the Luberon instead - maybe a smaller detour that involves Venasque? or a stop at L'Isle (but on a non-market day...)?

Unless it's abnormally cold and the plants aren't flowering, we'll definitely try for Valensole on Thursday. A question since this is the longest day involved - if we wanted to reduce the length of this part of the itinerary, what should we eliminate first? Perhaps a village that isn't as pretty as those in the Luberon or remarkably similar?

Except for Moustiers, none of the villages on your Valensole day are as pretty or interesting as those in the Luberon, IMO. I've never visited Viens, however.

Dentelles is all about vineyards, mountains, wineries, and some interesting wine villages. You'll encounter more vineyards there than in other regions. Alpilles is more arid & rocky than other regions. I prefer the rolling landscape of the Luberon & Cote du Rhone over the more rocky & dry landscape of the Alpilles - but others may prefer just the opposite - it's a matter of "what kind of landscape you prefer". I also prefer the mountains in the Dentelles over the Alpilles.

Stu Dudley

On your Valensole day, you can absolutely drop Forcalquier--it's out of the way and not that interesting--lots of modern sprawl. You can substitute Viens, which is small but quite lovely and unspoiled--we saw virtually no tourists there. It's a lovely town to stroll through. I do encourage you to visit the Valensole, even though the villages nearby aren't that interesting; your timing is so good for the experience of standing in the lavender fields, with the Alps in the distance, and taking in the beauty and the scent--it's worth the drive. The village of Valensole has a couple of restaurants where you can get an inexpensive lunch (and buy sachets to bring home a bit of your day). We didn't think much of Riez, and I'm not even sure whether we got to Greoux--which says something.

As for the Dentelles, I find them much prettier and greener than the rocky Alpilles. If youo need to trim your day, given the distance from Apt, you can visit Seguret and Gigondas, hit Vaison for lunch, and then take the five-minute drive to Crestet. If it were me, I'd follow up with the drive through the Dentelles, starting in nearby Malaucene and following the D90 through Suzette and Lafare down to Beaumes de Venise and then back through the Luberon to Apt. I've never been to St. Didier or Mazan, at least that I recall, but I think this would give you an enjoyable day and a mix of village and countryside.

This is a lot of driving, but the days will be long and you'll get to see some different scenery. A day in the Luberon should round out a wonderful experience.

There are lots of other ways to arrange your trip; it's also what you most want to see--villages, scenery, larger towns--what's your primary goal in planning your days?

We're splitting our time between Provence (5 nights) and Paris (6 nights) on this trip, so for the Provence part we're interested in the scenery, lavender, villages, and towns instead of larger cities. I've spent considerable time in northern California - how do the vineyards and towns of the Dentelles compare (....in terms of scenery, not wine)?

For the Valensole day - we're thinking of timing our visit to the lavender fields to be closer to sunset for the best views and photography. But sunset is at 9:22pm, meaning ideal lighting would be between 8pm and 9pm. We would have to find dinner either before or after that - what would be open that early or late? And then drive back 1.5 hours to the Luberon partially in the dark. Good idea or not?

So if the choice in getting to the Valensole is between D900 / D4100 via Saignon and Cereste versus the D51 / D950 via Simiane-la-Rotonde and Forcalquier / Lurs, you'd choose the former over the latter?

>> I've spent considerable time in northern California - how do the vineyards and towns of the Dentelles compare (....in terms of scenery, not wine)?<<

Far fewer medieval villages in Northern California. Many of the vineyards in the Dentelles are in the mountains. In Northern California most are on the valley floor like in the Dry Creek area in Sonoma and between the Silverado Trail and Hwy 29 in the Napa Valley. Although there is almost 100% vineyards west of the Dentelles mountains around Seguret, Rastau, Cairanne, Gigondas, and Vacueyras. The wineries are quainter/less commercial in the Dentelles than they are in Sonoma and especially in the Napa Valley. Dentelles have fewer limos lining up outside popular wineries - like they do in the Napa & Sonoma area. No bumper-to-bumper traffic in the Dentelles like you often encounter on Hwy 29 getting into St Helena from the south. Dentelles is probably what the Napa Valley was like 50 years ago before it became one of the top tourist spots in California. We have lived in Northern California since 1975.

>>For the Valensole day - we're thinking of timing our visit to the lavender fields to be closer to sunset for the best views and photography. But sunset is at 9:22pm, meaning ideal lighting would be between 8pm and 9pm. We would have to find dinner either before or after that - what would be open that early or late? And then drive back 1.5 hours to the Luberon partially in the dark. Good idea or not?<<

Some of the best lavender field exposures are in the morning. However, the best pictures of the Alps are probably in the last afternoon - if it is not too hazy. Riez has lots of cafes which might be open early - like 7PM.

>>So if the choice in getting to the Valensole is between D900 / D4100 via Saignon and Cereste<<

If you are staying in the Luberon - Saignon is easily visited whenever you are in the Luberon region with 30-60 mins to spare - before or after one of your day trips. Cereste the same - but I would not go too far out of the way to visit Cereste. Simiane and perhaps Lurs are much more interesting than Cereste, & I think Simiane is more interesting than Saignon.

Stu Dudley

The current plan is 2 nights in St Remy followed by 3 nights in St Saturnin les Apt. All our B&B bookings are cancellable, so to throw a wrench into the plans, would you suggest skipping the Alpilles altogether to stay in the Dentelles instead? or do the Alpilles provide better contrast to the Luberon/Valensole areas even if less scenic than the Dentelles?

Current plans (please feel free to comment if it makes sense):

Monday - arrive Avignon TGV around noon; visit St Remy, St Paul de Mausole, Maussane, Eygalieres, Les Baux
Tuesday - Uzes, Pont du Gard, Castillon (?) or Tarascon, maybe Arles
Wednesday - St Remy market, then everything else further east

If staying in Vaison la Romaine....

Monday - arrive Avignon TGV around noon; maybe head to the western parts of the mountain such as Seguet? and Roman ruins in Vaison. what's still open in these parts on a Monday? or poke around Avignon first?
Tuesday - Vaison la Romaine market, plus a day trip to Pont du Gard and Uzes
Wednesday - down the eastern half of the mountain and towards the Luberon. now we skipped St Remy and Les Baux but have more time in the Luberon.

Personally, I like the Dentelles & Cote du Rhone area more than the Alpilles & St Remy. But - I'm guessing that perhaps a majority of people who visit the area often would prefer just the opposite. St Remy, however, will get you closer to Arles (I'm not a fan of Nimes - I prefer the big cities of Arles, Avignon, Aix, and Montpellier in the region). But - I prefer Uzes over St Remy for a medium sized city.

Perhaps the Alpilles (rocky/more arid) would provide a better contrast with the greener Luberon.

Stu Dudley

I think it's a good idea to have a general plan or itinerary for yoru driving routes, instead of not even thinking about it until the start of the day.

I don't travel that way either, a big day for me is planning to visit maybe 3 places. But it sounds like the OP really just wants to drive a lot, not do anything else, in which case it's fine. But the villages are generally off the road, of course, so you are not often driving THROUGH them but by them nearby. I don't understand these plans at all, either. Vaison la Romaine is a place I spent a lot part of the day, it isn't really a place you just whiz by on the autoroute as it's too large to be that cute or convenient but too small to be a super big city. Ditto for Arles and I stayed in Uzes several days as a base, but spent at least a day total in it.

<<Monday - arrive Avignon TGV around noon; visit St Remy, St Paul de Mausole, Maussane, Eygalieres, Les Baux>>

okay, I am also lost at this point as to how you are doing all this or why even go to some of these towns. St Remy is also too large to be a place you just whiz by on the autoroute. Well, you can drive through it (it's not really on a major autoroute, anyway), even if crowded if that's your goal, to just drive through it. I guess if you only spent a couple hours there (presuming you stop to see the Van Gogh asylum which is on your list or do SOMETHING) and then go to Les Baux, I guess you could do that. Maybe, but if you don't even arrive until noon, getting a car etc will take some time. I gather the others are just drive-bys, you wouldn't stop. Not sure what the attraction of Maussane is supposed to be, since you mention you would visit it. I did just drive through or by Eyegalieres, though, I presume those are not in the order you intend to drive to them as it doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks everyone for your help. Here's a revised itinerary - what do you think? Instead of St Remy we will stay the first two nights in Gigondas, spending more time in the Dentelles and skipping the Alpilles entirely.

Monday: Avignon TGV around 1pm - Bedoin (picking this because the market is open in the mornings so assuming more shops will be open...any other suggestions?) - Suzette (winery visit) - Beaumes-de-Venise (muscat tasting) - Gigondas (dinner) [Seguret if it is still early - anything open on Monday?] https://goo.gl/maps/G7bvzmgwDwH2 1h49m driving time

Tuesday: Gigondas - market in Vaison-la-Romaine - Pont du Gard - (lunch on the way) - Uzes - Gigondas (dinner) https://goo.gl/maps/HrczjXhUWWs 2h53m driving time

Wednesday: Gigondas - Seguret (if didn't visit on Monday) - Vaison-la-Romaine (lunch + medieval section only) - Crestet - Brantes - Montbrun-les-Bains (drive past) - Sault (drive past) - St-Saturnin-les-Apt [Roussillon if there's time] https://goo.gl/maps/X1f4y2njS642 2h15m driving time

Thursday: St-Saturnin-les-Apt - Lourmarin - Ansouis or Mirabeau (lunch) - Moustiers-St-Marie - Valensole lavender fields (intentionally timing later in the day for better sunlight) - St-Saturnin-les-Apt OR St-Saturnin-les-Apt - Simiane-la-Rotonde - Forcalquier - Lurs - Moustiers-St-Marie - Valensole lavender fields (intentionally timing later in the day for better sunlight) - St-Saturnin-les-Apt [which route is better? both involve around 4h of driving time]

Friday: St-Saturnin-les-Apt - Bonnieux (market) - Lacoste - Menerbes - Oppede le Vieux - Gordes - Roussillon (if not visited earlier) - St-Saturnin-les-Apt

Saturday: enough time for a stop at one Luberon village (Goult?) on the way back to Avignon TGV

We're back from our trip. And yes, it's impossible to do all that and also have a leisurely 2-hour lunch each day, which we made a point of doing each day. But it's not necessary to visit that many villages within the space of those few days. You can visit only so many before you get villaged out like on the third day at Angkor Wat, and not all villages are created equal.

Thanks for everyone's help in the planning. In case someone decides to read this thread for future planning, some of our impressions and feedback are below:

1. We spent two nights near the Dentelles de Montmirail and three nights in the Luberon. We loved the wine villages near the Dentelles de Montmirail region and the scenery behind Mt Ventoux more than in the Luberon. The Dentelles area seemed to feel more rustic with no suburban sprawl, better and cheaper restaurants, lots of cute little villages with fewer tourists (and a higher proportion of picturesque bright blue window shutters). The Luberon seemed overdeveloped to us - everywhere we drove we seemed to be running into waist high green chainlink fences of private homes instead of the pretty vineyards found in the Dentelles. The Luberon villages seemed larger (more impressive according to others) but places like Lacoste has most of their shutters painted in hues of brown and therefore less pretty if you ask me. Our most memorable drives on the trip: along D19 and up some narrow roads to the winery Domaine St Amant: https://goo.gl/maps/RZXtfGSXDDE2 & from along D72 to Brantes and then onwards to Montbrun les Bains, especially the approach to Brantes from north to south along D136 with the wild broom: https://goo.gl/maps/9Mb7kqrexGs.

2. We should have spent one less night in the Luberon and at least one night near Moustiers St Marie. Moustiers was quite special in the late afternoon. But more importantly, the largest most impressive lavender fields are in the Valensole area. Those were simply magical around 8-10pm in the third week of June this year. I'd imagine they would be just as magical around dawn too. Stu has offered some wonderful advice but if you listen to him and do the lavender here as a day trip, you are missing out - they were still pretty on our first approach around 4pm, but try 9pm for something special. Do yourself a favor, skip dinner and take a picnic for once, and just admire the lavandin (and wheat) along the D8 for one evening. For us, the drive back to the Luberon in the dark on mountain roads was rather unpleasant. (We also passed by the fields of Sault. They are large as well but not quite as large as along the D8 where they seem to run into the horizon. When we visited in the third week of June, the fields in Valensole were close to full bloom but near Sault they were mostly green with a slight tinge of purple. The fields in the Luberon were also very purple, if not more purple than Valensole's, but there are nowhere as many of them.) Location of Valensole fields: https://goo.gl/maps/8cQqsiPiRwt & best field we found in the Luberon: https://goo.gl/maps/U3aKXnvc74L2

3. We did Uzes and Pont du Gard as a day trip from Gigondas after visiting Vaison's Tuesday market (loved this market, btw). In hindsight we would have skipped Uzes and the Pont du Gard. They're nice destinations, but not nice enough to endure a 1 hour drive each way over flat terrain that wasn't particularly enjoyable.

4. Unfortunately in June there is such thing as the days being too long. You can't be both into photography and food at the same time. The best lighting coincides with dinner. If you need to picnic, do that at dinner, and eat a long lunch when the lighting is intense and the heat is sometimes unbearable. Perhaps if it weren't for the lavender, a good time to visit southern France would be September.

Thank you for your follow-up report. Not enough people bother to come back and do this, so it is greatly appreciated, even if I have my own circuits that I like to do in the region. And I never allow myself a leisurely lunch, which I know is a major moral failure on my part.

We’re in Paris for the last two days of our almost 4 week vacation, flying back home tomorrow afternoon.

We spent 10 days from June 12-23 at Sarrians in the Vaucluse, very close to the Dentelles wine villages and loved it there. That area is simply beautiful, we definitely want to go back, probably in 2020.

Huge thanks to Stu and the others for your tips and suggestions. We did the lavender route, both Sault as well as Valensole, the latter was definitely better, though it was still early in the season.

Made a long day trip to Camargue, but it was well worth it. Day trips to St Remy, Avignon, plus of course Gigondas, Seguret, Vaison and some other villages on that loop. A day in and around Chateauneuf du Pape, which I found quite lovely, despite what many said on these boards.

We did only one market, l’Isle sur la Sorgue, got there by 8am as they were setting up the stalls and stayed till about 11 when the crowds started coming in. Undoubtedly one of the best markets I’ve been to in recent years...

We didn’t have time for the Luberon, nor Pont du Gard, Uzes, Arles, Orange, etc. We’re saving these for the next time. Drank lots of good wine and generally had a wonderful time...😉

Thanks again to my fellow Fodorites, you’re all just great!