Provence/Cote d'Azur
 

I'm trying to plan my trip.I'll be staying in Saint Paul de Vence for 4 nights.I need help picking another base .Maybe Aix-en Provence or closer towards Avignon for the other 3 nights.I'll be driving in between the 2 areas.Can anyone help by giving advice or suggestions on day trips,other towns ,restaurants,inns or hotels.Also, how long does it take to drive from Nice to Aix or Avignon?I know this is alot to ask but it seems many people on this forum have given great responses to other questions and I would appreciate your help. <BR> <BR>Thank You, Marsh

Hi Marsh <BR> <BR>We went by bus from the Nice airport <BR>to Aix a couple of years ago, and I <BR>believe it took about 3 hours with lots of stops. A car would of course be much <BR>faster, as it was a large highway between the two cities. Aix is lovely. <BR>We plan to return this fall,we just couldn't get enough of it! Emjoy!

Thanks Danni.Anybody else?

Plenty of good choices, Marsh - - and you're on the right track. I made Arles a base on a trip in 98; 20-30 minutes south of Avignon. We enjoyed immensely a concert in Orange at the Theatre Antique (roman-style amphitheatre from B.C.); Orange is another 20-30 miinutes north of Avignon. <BR> <BR>In Aix-en-Pce, a place that might be worth a look (I have never actually stayed there, but looks interesting) is http://www.campagne-jeanne.com - - you will need a car if you stay there. <BR> <BR>And for driving distance/time planning, the three best web resources usually cited here are: <BR> <BR>www.michelin-travel.com (works well, fast) <BR> <BR>www.mappy.com (tells you tolls) <BR> <BR>and <BR> <BR>www.euroshell.com (better maps, zoomable, shows Shell stations, but somewhat cluttered) <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex

Marsh, St Paul de Vence is a lovely town, although it can get very crowded. From there I suggest you visit Nice, Villefranche, and St. Jean Cap Ferrat. Most towns along the Mediterranean are wonderful. Once you go to the sea I predict you will want to stay there, therefore, I recommend that you book a hotel in Cassis. It is south of Provence on the water.. It is a beautiful town. It is an easy day trip to St. Remy etc., if you have a car. <BR> <BR>linda

Marsh.... <BR>You'll LOVE St. Paul de Vence...We stayed at Hotel St. Paul and it was fabulous. If you're not staying there...definitely eat there...the best food in town. Another place to base? I would pick St. Remy..we did that the year before and it's a great locale. You could take the train to Avignon and pick up a car...you'll need a car..or if you have one already...it's a few hours drive. Have fun!! Any more questions on St. Paul/St. Remy..just e mail me!

I'll be in Nice during The Grand Prix in Monaco.I need to escape the weekend crowds and want to take an overnight trip towards Avignon, St-Remy or Aix? I'm driving and need to know what town you would suggest and how long it will take me? thanks marco

It's hard to know what to recommend without knowing your preferences as I think of locations as sort of two opposites: cities vs small towns. If you want a hotel you will have to stay in a city; conversely, there are not great or many hotels in the smaller and rural areas, but lots of B&Bs. If you want a city atmosphere, I guess that would leave Aix, Avignon or Arles (Aix and Avignon are largest, around 100K pop, I think)--given you are coming from St Paul, I'd go farther than Aix; some smaller cities/towns with still some hotels are Isle sur la Sorgue or Pernes-les-Fontaines (there are others like Cavaillon but I don't think they are probably as appealing). Real small places (mainly for tourists now, I think) with some small hotels and inns are Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux, etx (in Luberon); oh and St-Remy of course, many like it there and it has lots of accommodation possibilities. There are tons of small B&Bs all over that area. So I might have more recommendations if you were more specific on what you wanted. For example, I'm staying in Pernes-les-Fontaines this July, after a few days in Aix and I'm booking inns and hotels because I dislike B&Bs and do not want to stay in very small towns--I want some restaurants, cafes, etc, and a place to get out to because I'm traveling alone (I don't like staying in people's homes usually and a lot of B&Bs in that area are in the middle of nowhere so you either have to go a distance to go out to dinner are must eat at the B&B, I don't like that--BTW, I will warn you a lot of these B&Bs/small inns force you to eat in their place by insisting on demi-pension pricing, which I've heard is illegal on this forum, but what can you do. Sometimes the room rates are reasonable but the meal rates are robbery, which is another reason why I would not stay in them. Also, air conditioning is rare in many places in that area so that really affects your options if you want it.

Marsh, I'm planning a trip to The CoteD'Azur in June.Most of the guidebooks favorite restaurants are Jacques Maximin, Les Terraillers, La Colombe D'Or,La Meranda, De Bacon,La Table Yves.Have you or anybody else have information or reports that you can share? <BR>Thank You,Charles

You asked about driving times between Nice and Aix-en-Provence or Avignon. I did the reverse two years ago travelling from Avignon to Nice. There are several ways of making the trip -- taking the old side roads, or taking the toll road that goes over the top of Nice and all the way up to Avignon. I chose the toll road because it is a divided highway and I was told it would chop hours off my trip time -- something I needed because I had to be in Nice by 6. I left Avignon just after 2 and, with a break was in Nice in dense Friday afternoon traffic by about quarter to six. A few things about the toll road: it is quite expensive compared to toll roads in places like North America, but it is beautifully built. And the speed limit is 130 kph but I was the only one normally going that speed, despite some quite scarcy turns in the road as you entered the mountain area around Aix. Most cars seemed to be whizzing past me at 140 or 150 kph, so if you aren't comfortable with travel at that speed take the side roads. Aix was about half way in the trip. <BR> <BR>As to which to stay in for two or three days, I recommend you spend at least one night in Aix exploring the amazing area around there on your way up from Saint Paul de Vence and then spend your final day or two in Avignon visiting le pont, the Palais des Papes etc. and taking in what is really quite a charming little village. Avignon also puts you within spitting distance of Arles, not to be missed, and the Camarague, which is another site not to be missed. <BR> <BR>

This site will help you for future reference: www.indo.com/distance. Type in any two places and it will tell you how far apart they are! Also check out www.festpass.com. Has over 1,300 festival details in and around Europe - everything from the Finnish wife-carrying world championships to the No-sex-before-marriage art festival(Czech Rep.).

Dear Marsh, <BR> <BR> No offense, but I wouldn't stay in St. Paul de Vence for four nights- there's just not that much to do there! I would pick one of the cities like Nice to stay in, and take daytrips ( all easy from Nice by bus or train) to St. Paul de Vence, St. Jean Cap ( a taxi or bus ride) and Monaco ( by train). Aix is really wonderful. We stayed there a couple of years ago at the Villa Gallici, which by now, I'm sure is ridiculously expensive. Nice is about a three-four hour drive from Aix. A restaurant that we recommend over and over again is "La Chaumiere", Rue d'Observatoire, 9 miles east of NIce. Well worth the money- excellent food and quite a scene. Good luck! Have a great time!

Marsh, I spent three nights in April in the middle of the walled town of St. Paul de Vence. It was lovely waking up in the medieval town, BEFORE the tourists hit! We used it as a base for Vence, Monaco, La Turbie (near Eze), Grasse and the towns along the Loup River like Tourretes-sur-Loup. If you take the small road from St. Paul to Grasse, you will find Tourretes. <BR>We loved all these places. Well, maybe not Grasse but the rest were wonderful...each in their own special way. <BR>If you are into Roman ruins you should go up to the top of La Turbie to see Augustus Caesar's triumphal arch he had built to commemorate his victories over the Swiss Alpine Gauls. And the views down from there to Monaco are fantastic. I also second your seeing in Orange the Roman ampitheatre, which is stupendously impressive and still used for concerts. Enjoy!