Would love thoughts about how to do our short stay, since we like to be active, but will likely have a car. Should we base in Aix or in Avignon or maybe stay in two different places? Are there some special places to bike or walk/hike in late September. We end up in NIce at the beginning of October for 2 days. Do we need a car at all there?

I would stay in the Luberon (near Gordes), if you want to bike & hike. Lots of bike routes & GR hiking routes near there. See
http://www.beyond.fr/
For bike & other info.

Avignon is a big city & the urban sprawl there is pretty awful.

Perhaps a good itinerary would be:
- 4 days in the Luberon
- 1 night in Aix - just not a Sunday or Monday (when shops close)
- 2 nights in Nice.

Do you have my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary? I've sent it to over 1,500 people on Fodors. E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach it to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley

You don't rent cars in huge cities like Nice. absolutely not

you don't need a car in Nice, its a very walkable place and
public transport in Nice is excellent and cheap

Bus journeys are one euro apart from the airport shuttles [4 euros], a one euro ticket can go from nice to menton or nice to the mountains.
train is a bit more expnsive but still cvery reasonable

Next decision: should we leave the car in Avignon or Aix and train to Nice or drive to NIce and ditch the car. We are doing most of our time in Luberon. Looking to find interesting B&B's or hotels. Any particular towns worth staying in...I know we'll do Les Baux, Arles and St. Remy. We were also recommended to catch Pont du Gard. HOping we can do some by bike or by foot. Would love a central spot form which to do some loops.

>>should we leave the car in Avignon or Aix and train to Nice or drive to NIce and ditch the car.<<

Drive to Nice & ditch it there !!!

>>We are doing most of our time in Luberon. Looking to find interesting B&B's or hotels. Any particular towns worth staying in<<

We stay in Gites (houses) while there - but a good choice would be Kevin's place in the Luberon.
http://www.masperreal.com/index.html

Do you have my Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary? I've sent it to well over 1,500 people on Fodors. E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu. I did get your itinerary and it's immensely helpful and thorough. I will take it with me when we go! Appreciate all the time and effort you put into it for the sake of the rest of us. What a time saver.