This Spring my husband and l will be driving from Nice to Provence and have 11 nights and want to stay in Remy, Bonnieux and Vaison-la-romaine. We'll be leaving the area by train from Avignon, so need to end there and drop off our car. Is there a best order in which to see these places? The most scenic route? I appreciate your suggestions. It's our first trip to Provence!

Depends on your priorities--markets, ancient roman or medieval sites, wine, olive oil, restaurants, pure scenery or whatever else. On our first trips we would have ordered them as you've listed, St. Remy, Bonnieux and Vaison la Romaine. St. Remy has its market on Wednesday and VLR has its on Tuesday-both are terrific. We enjoy the Alpilles near St. Remy as well as the Luberon villages and driving about in search of a market or town will provide plenty of scenery (and poppies). There's plenty to do from any of your locations--and you are always within reach of Avignon. Have fun.

The order doesn't matter too much but since you intend to leave by Avignon station, I'd probably stay in ST Remy at the end, as it is closest. I'd probably do Bonnieux (see the Luberon), then go up to Vaison la Romaine and see stuff around there (Gigondas, Dentelles, definitely go to le Drome to see Nyons and Grignan, perhaps Bedoin and Le Barrous, etc.) and then go south to stay in St Remy at the end. I don't think you have that many choices as to how to get between those places. To get to Vaison from Bonnieux, you'd go west on D900 then up through Isle sur la Sorgue and Carpentras on D938, and then probably through Le Barroux, although you could go west and up D997 through Sablet. But if you stay there a while, you'll probably be on those roads some anyway.

Use www.viamichelin.com choosing the scenic option.

Do you have my Provence/Cote d'Azur itinerary? We've vacationed for 18 weeks in Provence. The itinerary has lots of info about scenic drives, our favorite villages, markets, sites, etc. I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail.

St Remy, l'Isle sur la Sorgue, and Vaison will allow you quick access to most of the popular sites in Provence - with the exception of Aix, perhaps.

Stu Dudley

Thanks All! I really appreciate your suggestions and expertise.

We've booked hotels in St Remy (for last portion) and before that Vaison la romaine, now we are considering our first stop. We will be driving from Nice…does Bonnieux still sound like a good choice? Can we choose a town upon arrival in April? How flexible can we be? Thanks for any ideas! Annealex

Bonnieux is fine - but allow at least an entire day to visit all the villages in the Luberon. Many shops in Bonnieux will be closed on Sunday & Monday morning.

If you received my 27 page itinerary, follow the Luberon drive/visit in there.

Stu Dudley

Just a note, I was able to get my old Fodors screen name back and I will continue posting on those topics as Annealex (not Annealex5). I plan on writing a trip report when I return.