Rocket79

As for other towns in that area, I enjoyed Vaison La Romaine. I guess if It were me I’d stay in Arles the whole time and day trip from there; but if you really want to go elsewhere figure out where you plan to drop off your car and make a plan that makes sense from that perspective. I also like the idea of flying perhaps into Nice, getting a car and working your way back to Paris. Having just returned from three weeks driving in Italy, time goes so quickly and given the amount of time you have, for me anyway, that’s a lot of wasted time in transit. Will you spend the night in Paris at the end before you fly home? That’s another day lost. Hope this helps a little.

kerouac

It would be wise to take a look at the school holiday calendars for France, Germany, England and Belgium because when the dates for Easter holidays converge, it can get extremely crowded. France has three different zones for holiday schedules exactly for this reason. One group will be on holiday 6-23 April, the next one is 13-29 April and the third group is 20 April-6 May. The third group is the most important for a trip to southern France, because that group includes the entire Paris metropolitan area, and a huge number of them will be heading south.

The dates can also have a major influence on train fares and rental car availability, particularly the starting dates for each period.

PalenQ

Arles was a sweet base for me with a car - Pont du Gard, Uzes, the Camargue. St Remy-de-Provence (venue of the asylum van Gogh checked himself into after slicing an ear off in Arles - and where he put many bucolic scenes on canvass and copies are set up where he did them), Les Baux-de-Provence - the 'dead city' topping a rocky plateau - ruins of a medieval fortified city and views for miles and miles; Avignon - certainly worth a day - Palace of the Popes is one of most imposing buildings in France IMO - where some would-be popes resided after a schism with the Vatican in Rome meant there were two popes and just neat old city inside walls and on and on.. And of course Arles - its famous market and Roman Arena.

RubyTwins

oh boy Kerouac... well we were going to head South on April 22nd. We have to go over Spring Break because i have high school kids and we have to go during their vacation. We were NOT going to go along the coast. Not sure that will help though. Arrghh. Until my kids graduate from high school and college... we are STUCK with school holidays. From being in a neighborhood that is tourist tourist tourist in Paris and now going South where all of Europe will be. Dang, this vacation is sounding worse by the day!