hellokittie

We are staying in Villefranche next week. If we had to pick Eze or St P, which would you chose? After, we will be in Villeneuve Lez Avignon. How easy would it be both in terms of traffic and directions to go from Villeneuve to Pont De Gard and Uzes? Thanks.

ejb5

Not open Monday, and I don't think they are open for lunch. While their website suggests you can reserve online, you actually have to call. Reservations are a must, so I would advise calling ASAP. -If/when you go, do post how your meal was. Would love to compare with my experience from last week.

evvlabs

Re St Paul de Venz or Ez, it depends on what your interests are. St Paul de Venz has lots of art galleries but the view is nothing compared to Ez. Ez has more natural beauty and you must be in descent shape to climb up the garden at the top of Ez. I would choose Ez, just for the greater beauty

hellokittie

Lets say you are in so so shape and don't want to drag yourself to the garden.
Is it still worth the trip?
Thanks.

StephenG

We had the same day in mind for L'Atelier.
They are closed Monday and tuesday. We had to change plans and made reservation by e-mail from the site and they confirmed.

abqdeb

Thanks for the info on L'Atelier. Stephen, how far in advance did you have to reserve? We're running out of time and now I'm reshuffling our plans to be there on a day they are open.

Geez... what we'll do for food!

sandi

abgdeb -

Arriving Nice, you are aware that the drive to St. Remy is about 4/hrs if not stopping along the way.

abqdeb

Yes sandi, we know that. It was an error in judgement made many months ago when I booked the flight. Can't do anything about it. Actually, I think it'll be closer to 3 hours.

StephenG

Only made reservation 2 days ago for sunday lunch 9/24.

dwilliams25

I took a look at your planned itinerary and it definitely looks full. We spent 3 weeks in Provence and visited many of the places you are planning to see. I think the areas you want to see look great. My suggestion is when you get there you can adjust as you go. Some drives are longer than others as you are driving through the mountains. Others just get a bit slower depending on traffic. When we were there we liked to travel in the morning, have a nice leisurely lunch in a local cafe or picnic with foods from one of the local markets. The market in Apt as well as L'Iles sur.. are wonderful. Bonnieux and Lacoste we liked even better than Lourmarin and Menerbes. Cavaillon was not particularly interesting although we didnt see the synagogue. If you like markets, I would try to time your visits to some extent to the days of the local markets as they are great fun.

Enjoy

4totravel

Don't worry about the drive from Nice it is so EASY to get on the autoroute from the airport and only about 2.5 hours drive. Enjoy - your trip it sounds perfect!

abqdeb

Thanks to dwilliams,stephen,4totravel,etc..... Yep, I know we packed a lot in and may not do it all, but that's ok. Here is the revised plan, if you're interested, based on openings of restaurants, etc:

Sat and Sun stay the same with the Apt market and Isle market and seeing some of the Luberon towns.

Monday: St. Remy, Glanum, Les Baux (stay close to home- not much driving). Dinner at La Riboto

Tuesday: Pont du Gard; possibly Uzes (lunch at Les Fontaines)depending on time; Chat du Pape

Wed: St. Remy market morning. 1:00 res at L'Atelier in Arles. Afternoon and evening in Arles

Thurs: Maillane market early; drive to Aix with possible stop in Cavaillon if we don't get to do that earlier. Stay overnight in Aix.

We leave Thursday, so last chance for comments or advise! I appreciate all the help I've gotten on this forum and will report back when we return.

kevin_widrow

Sounds like a great plan - enjoy !

-Kevin

dwilliams25

Have a wonderful time. I am sure you will. If you want to try a really nice red wine while you are there, go to Chateau La Verrerie. They have a wonderful 2001 that we really liked for about 12 euros. Chateau La Verrerie is about 20k or so on the route from Cavaillon to Lourmarin on the D973. It is off the highway about 2 or 3 km. Also, the rose wines in general in Provence are fabulous and very reasonable.

abqdeb

Thanks dwilliams! We are packed and ready to go, but I jotted that winery down and will add it to my already exploding notebook. Did you need to make an appt. to go there or can you just stop in?

Thanks everybody. We're leaving in the morning and I'll report back when we get home.

dwilliams25

You can just stop in. They only have 4 or 5 wines to sample but we really liked them. We bought a 2003 as well but didn't get a chance to sample that one.