milaedg

After reading few trip reports and numerous posts and sifting through valuable ideas and suggestions from faithful Fodorites who have visited Southern France countless times, I have put together my first stab at our itinerary. We have never been to France, and we are not seasoned travelers- but with your help last year, our 15-day trip to Venice-Varenna-Wengen-Montreux this past summer was a great success. Our plane barely touched down on the day we came home, and I was hatching out a plan to take another trip to Europe next summer!

Day 1 Arrive Nice in the evening. We plan on staying in Nice for just a day.
Day 2 Nice - walk around town - do I dare say follow RS guide (LOL)?
Day 3 Pick up car early, drive to Saturnin-les-Apt (planning to stay at Mas Perreal for 3 nights if available) via Grasse, Gorges du Verdon, Valensole (best lavender fields?)
Day 4 Drive to Aix-en-Provence for the day, drive back via Apt, Bonnieux, Lourmarin.
Day 5 Drive to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (if day 5 does not fall on market day, is it still worth visiting this town?) Rousillion, Gordes
Day 6 Drive to St. Remy (base for the next 3 nights) - quick stop at Chateauneaf du Pape on way.
Day 7 Drive to La Beaux, Arles
Day 8 Drive to Avignon, Pont du Gard
Day 9 Return car in Avignon, take train to Paris - unless we can return car in St. Remy. Is there a train from St. Remy to Paris?

Is this itinerary realistic? Is it too much driving, and not enough looking & appreciating? Topping my must-see list is the lavender fields - from what I've read, they are in full bloom in July. We like historical sites and buildings, a little bit of art, local cuisines and wine, and we enjoy walking through quaint little towns, etc. We'd like to fit in a little hike somewhere if possible. Are there towns or villages I should add or remove from the list? Is there time for the Calanques in Cassis?
I eagerly await your feedback. Thank you!

jpie

We just got back from 10 days in Provence in August but have spent a lot of time there on other trips over 30 years. You should plan on seeing Uzes as it is really lovely. Others will probably be more able to help you plan the driving route of where to fit it in.

IMO the best place to drop a car will be at the Avignon TGV station. It is set up to have a very large rental car lot and it is outside of town. It is super easy-you drop the car and just go to your TGV-much easier than the in-town station.

Again others can probably tell you best about pickup and drop off fees in different cities-I am not sure about that since we typically lease a car for 4-6 months in France. They may not even have fees if it is the same country. But that is something to look for as you search for a rental.

My gut is that your schedule is a bit aggressive especially to drive the gorges-the roads around Provence are pretty slow, and if you will be there in July it is quite crowded since that is when everyone wants to go for the lavender visits-so take that into account. We try to go off season in April and October so I am not a great person to advise you on that. We were there this year in August and I found the prices really high at restaurants compared to off season. I would be interested in others' experience of that.

TPAYT

After 2 trips to the area here are my comments:

If in Grasse-GorgesDuV area, go to Tourtettes-Sur-Loup. Excellent hill town, cute shops, & oustanding views, & Tom' ice cream shop--lavender ice cream, the best I've had.

L'Isle-Sur-Sorgue---yes visit. Get away from the river to the inland pedestrian streets. Wonderful cafes and shops. I bought some lovley Provencal napkins there. On our 1st visit we missed it as we thought all was along the river.

Also, in Aix--get into the pedestrian streets away from Cours Mirabeau. Again we missed it the first time around.

Lourmarin is on our list for next time so I'll be interested in your take on it.

isabel

I think it's a bit ambitious, but probably doable. It's just things take a bit longer than you think they will based just on distances. Finding your way into towns, parking, traffic - it just slows you down. But if you only want a short time in each place, if you don't need long lunches, etc. you can probably do it. I did many of the places you are considering on my last trip, from my trip report maybe you can get a sense of how long we spent in each place.

Here's my trip report and photo link: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...swiss-alps.cfm

cigalechanta

Arles is closer to the Pont du Gard, you should look at a map
because you will be wasting time not finding what is closer to what. The gorge is beautiful but takes a lot of time so 7 days has you not a lot of time to just relax and soak in the beauty.

DebitNM

You'll love Mas Perreal!mi It is so charming and Kevin and Elisabeth are so nice.

We are heading to St. Sat in a couple of weeks. We love it there and all the area is wonderful. It is hard to judge how much time it takes to get to places since the (local) roads are 1 lane of traffic in each direction and can become quite pokey if someone is lolling about. We've never been in summer but with the crowds, you will be pressed to hit all the spots you list.

One of the nicest things is to just slow down a bit and enjoy. Our first trip we were 2 weeks in St. Sat and were busy almost every day, thinking we had to get it all in since it was probably our only trip there; this trip will be #3 in 2 years!
My unfinished TR -
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ugh-france.cfm

StuDudley

The countryside of Provence is what keeps us returning there. If you are visiting Nice and plan to spend some time in Paris also - I would only visit one of the big cities in Provence - either Avignon or Aix. I like them equally, but my wife prefers Aix because of the better shopping. Spend more time in the countryside.

I assume you have my 33 page Cote d'Azur/Provence itinerary because you are pretty much following my recommendations for where to stay. If not - e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll send you a copy. I did a major update this past July after our 4 week visit to these regions.

Stu Dudley

milaedg

Thank you all! The consensus appear to be that the itiinerary is too ambitious. Thank you Isabel and DebitNM for sharing your trip reports. And Isabel your pictures are stunning! I made sure to note your tip on where to pick up the car in Nice.
Stu Dudley, yes I have your itinerary (thank you and how nice to learn that you're from the Bay Area!!). I am following your recommendations, as I dream about someday taking subsequent trips to Provence/Cote d' Azur.

I think I will remove Aix (from Day 4) and don't even think there is any time for Cassis on this trip.
As for Day 3, we'll just drive straight to Tom's ice cream! Then on to the lavender fields.

Cigalechanta, I did map St. Remy, Arles and Pont du Gard and if you connect the three points, it appears to be an isosceles triangle - the two equal sides are St. Remy to Pont du Gard, and Arles to Pont du Gard. Distance between Avignon and PDG is actually shorter than between Arles and PDG, so I am thinking Day 7 and Day 8 are just fine