Provence - Budgeting Time
 

We are not really museum goers (although we have been known to make some stops).

Mostly, we like to spend our time wandering the towns viewing the sights. Of course, my wife will make her obligatory store stops when something catches her eye.

I'm trying to get a feel for how much time we should expect to spend in a few places:

Arles - will this take most of a day or do we have time to bus to Les Baux and back if we haven't grouped it with Saint-Remy.

Orange - If it makes the cut.

Saint-Remy if it's included following reading the many slightly negative comments here.

L'Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue. The photos look beautiful. Will it disappoint?

Uzes - as part of an Uzes and Pont du Gard grouping.

Carpentras and/or Cavaillon - should they even be considered?

Thanks for any guidance.

I think we need to know how much time you have to work with - for instance, a week or a month. But considering the question about Arles, "will this take most of a day" I suspect it's just a few days altogether. But you need to give us a better idea. "How much time" to spend in a given place is subjective and I think many would say weeks rather than hours. Please give us a hint.

And, IIRC, you're using public transportation. The convenience of the bus and train schedules should at least partially determine your time in any one place. Ot even if you visit a place.

In regards to Orange the only thing worth seeing there is the Roman theater. If you've seen Arles and perhaps also Nimes then you could probably cancel Orange and use that time elsewhere.

"In regards to Orange the only thing worth seeing there is the Roman theater". frenchmystiquetours

I think one must certainly consider not only what's "worth seeing" but if the place is "worth being" in. For instance I'm told regularly that Aix is one of the best places to be, as far as quality of life, although I don't seem to find any of the big tourist sites there.

As Mimar points out one must consider ease of transport which a place the size of Aix might have. Myer, instead of hopping from place to place and getting no particular feel for anywhere you might consider choosing one central place and doing day trips from there. That would also then help you to narrow down the field logistically while improving your chances of having more of a provencal experience.

Ok. I tried to keep this question isolated from any other. But. . .

After flying into Marseilles we'll be in Aix for a day and a half. I'm trying to change hotel reservations to reduce that by one night but so far that hasn't worked.

Then we'll be based in Avignon for 6 days before training to Paris for a few days.

We'll be using public transportation except for one day to visit the Luberon villages. I haven't decided whether we'll take a canned tour or a private one to include Gordes, Roussillon, Bennieux and possibly Lacoste or other but omit the Abbey (a bit too early for lavender) and the Lavender Museum.

Does this tell you enough?

Myer - where are all the "cute little villages" and "pretty countryside" in your list?
Brantes
Simiane la Rotonde
Montbrun les Bains (outside view only)
Buis les Baronnais
Seguret
Venasque
Saignon
Goult

Plus the popular/touristy villages of
Gordes
Roussillon
Bonnieux
Vaison - medieval part
Lourmarin

We try to drive through Cavaillon as quickly as possible. Also, Carpentras is OK - but I would rathar visit Pernes instead - do the fountain walking tour.

Agree with FrenchMistiqueTours about Orange - plus every time we've visited Orange, the theater has been covered with stage props or netting.

As far a shopping - a lot depends on what time you get to these cities. If you roll in at noon, the shops will have just closed for lunch and won't open again till 2 or 3PM. Shops in all the cities you mentioned will be closed on Sunday - except for St Remy, l'Isle sur la Sorgue (market day), & Les Baux. Many will be closed on Monday morning also. My wife's favorite shopping city is Aix - followed by Uzes, & St Remy.

Stu Dudley

Stu,

I only asked about the questions I had.

I'm not asking for an itinerary to be built.

I was interested in how long we should allow for various places. Or opinions about whether some should be considered.

I have some definites that I din't ask about.

Well, Stu, I guess he told you!

joannay,

Please go back and look at my first post in this thread.

I tried to make things simple and get opinions on how nuch time to spend in several destinations.

I've read your 1st post several times, Myer, not especially articulate or clear in intent but no matter. I always figure it's a good thing to get any response at all and if the occasional suggestion helps move plans along so much the better. But giving someone a hard time when their intent was to help, even if you don't value it, is simply badly brought up.

joannay,
No need to insult my parents.

All too often people answer the question they would have liked asked rather than what was actually asked.

I'm sure they're perfectly nice people. My son is certainly badly brought up.

I'm glad I trusted my instincts and didn't bother answering, though I might have, had the OP made some sense. Good way to make sure people skip right over your questions in the future.

It must be the destination as I do perfectly well everywhere else.

joannay, just because you admit you don't know how to bring up your son it doesn't mean others are the same. You may believe my parents failed but at least my children have been brought up to be quite successful.

And if you look up some of the other forums you'd see the trips I've been on with my wife, children and grandchildren.

I always post trip reports and photos so that others can benefit from what we have experienced.

I guess my original post made no sense.

I described what we like to do, then named a few places and asked how much time I should plan on being in each place to satisfy our style.

I guess that didn't make sense.

Actually, I did get a few responses.

If Arles is on our itinerary we should skip Orange and if we take a pass on Cavaillon and Carpentras we won't miss much.

Thanks for all of the useful responses.

StCirq, Help! Humor injection required!