Please review April 2006 France Itinerary
 

Hi again--

I'd like some opinions on my tentative plan. We are 2 single women. Our goals/ideas for our Provence portion is to do some sight seeing, hiking/biking, and maybe some wine tastings. We'll have 6 nights in Provence before 3 nights in Paris. We've both been to Paris before. I'm very flexible, if you have better ideas than what I've come up with.

Tues. 11 April-fly Dublin-Marseille. Pick up rental car. Stay in Marseille or Cassis.

Wed. 12 April--not sure where we want to stay

Thurs. 13 April--Bonnieux

Fri. 14 April--Bonnieux

Sat/Sun 15-16 April (Easter weekend)--would like to stay in same place these nights. Avignon, St. Remy? I can't decide...

Mon. 17 April-- TGV to Paris

17-19 April--Paris

20 April--Fly back to Dublin from CDG

ttt

ttt

Nothing wrong with that plan. The only thing I would do is to swap Avignon/St Remy with Bonnieux. On Easter Sunday, I suspect Avignon will be dead, and I think St Remy might be dead also. If you stay Sat & Sun in Bonnieux, you could go to the market in l'Isle sur la Sorgue on Easter Sunday, and then wander in the Luberon or take a drive north of there in the Dentilles or towards Sault to see the beautiful countryside & mountains up there. You could even rent some bikes in Apt (on Sat, of course) and bike the many "no-car" trails that lace the Luberon.

If you choose to stay in St Remy, and do the swap I recommended, you could visit the market there on Wed - if you really like markets.

If you have already visited Paris, why don't you just skip-it? The day before your departure, take the TGV from Avignon to Dijon, stay overnight, then take the 6:30am TGV to CDG which gets you there at 8:20am. This would allow you to spend more time down south, and you'be able to see a very lovely "new" city.

Stu Dudley

For sure stay in Cassis. it's a wonderful harbor town with lots of atmosphere. One of our 6 or 7 favorite towns anywhere.

I had considered (briefly) skipping Paris, but I was there for such a short time last year, that I'd like to go back. I'd planned on visiting Giverny on one of our days there.

I like the idea of possibly switching our time in Avignon/St. Remy with Bonnieux. Do you know how long it would take to drive from Bonnieux to catch the TGV outside of Avignon (we'll drop the car off there, as well)?

Has anyone ever done the canoe trip on the Sorgue? I thought that sounded like it might be fun to do.

Only 2 1/2 days in Paris and you are going to Giverny one of those days??? That's not a real efficient use of time, IMO.

I thinks it's about 45 mins from Bonnieux to the TGV station, if you don't make any wrong turns.

Stu Dudley

Actually, we'll have 2 half days and 2 full days. Our flight from CDG isn't until 3:20 in the afternoon. So I figure we'll have until around noon on our last day to wander a bit.