Hi guys. Just working out details for my trip in October.
My current plan is hitting a few towns on my way from Avignon to Nice. We'll have a car and i'm thinking of seeing St Remy, Roussillon (and surrounds) and Aix. Any ideas for specific things i should see in these places or adjustments i should make?

Are you planning to do this in one day or a couple of days? The road from Roussillon to Aix is slow, going over the Lubéron range. I suspect that you will have to choose between St. Rémy and Roussillon. Aix is a large town, which means that parking and then orienting yourself will burn up more time than expected. I think that you will have to use the autoroute between Aix and Nice if doing this trip in one day.

https://flic.kr/p/8jBfhT https://flic.kr/p/cNhUYL

There is something funny with the reply function today.

Anyway, sounds like you are planning on doing all the in one day while transferring between Avignon and Nice. That drive on the main highway will take about 3 hrs, probably. So you cannot do all that in one day if you mean to stop and actually do some siughtseeing in those places--and I rpesume you do mean that, or why even mention them. I'd probably drop Aix as it is much larger and will take a lot longer, as noted above. You could stop a bit in the other two, Roussillon is fairly small for sure. St Remy can get pretty crowded also and it can be difficult to find a place to park near the center, although there is a public lot not too far away. So go to St Remy first, then the drive from St Remy to Roussillon is about an hour. Then from there to Nice will take up the whole day (driving plus stopping in each place maybe only an hour or so, plus eating lunch somewhere). If you truly had more time, you could stop off in Bonnieux or Lourmarin in-between Roussillon and going south to hit the A8 to Nice. Or you could avoid going south that soon and just go east on D roads, which is a pleasant drive and if you want to stop, Apt is right on that route. it isn't teensy like Roussillon and Bonnieux and Menerbes, but it's much smaller than Aix and more do-able. It has a population of about 11K, for example, Aix is close to 150K, it isn't really a town but a city. Or going that D roads east, you'd go through Manosque probably and even that is a whole lot smaller than Aix. You could even drop the whole St Remy idea and just do some of these other places in the Luberon area. There are even more you could add to toy with, like Gordes or Goult (which isn't much, really but is an easy stop because it's so small).

It depends on day, also. St Remy is very crowded during its market days and parking may be far out. Apt is a very popular local market also and you may have to park a bit away from center but it's not as bad in my experience as St Remy.

I just don't know what you are expecting from some of these places and what you will do and how easy to just stop a bit. In St Remy, for example, I know once I had to park way east on the D99A which was maybe 1 km from sort of the center.

Lots of things to choose from, but if you really want to see Aix, I think you'd have to drop most everything else.

We enjoyed Roussillon very much, seeing it on Market day. We had stayed in Aix for several days and, rare for us, took a half-day Viator tour of the region with a well educated and articulate guide. We were not driving, however, so can't help you there. An aside, you might enjoy a three-part series "Murder in Provence," with Roger Allam and Nancy Carol.

I would make a stop in pretty Ile-sur-la-Sorgue instead of going to St. Remy. Not real far from Roussillon.

OP MC,
Lourmarin takes on a whole new quality on market day. To give you an indication, we deliberately delayed our departure from that town after our week stay, in order to re-experience its marvelous market a second time. We bought foodstuffs then, to take with us onwards to Uzes. A special place to take lunch could be Cucuron, with a number of worthy restaurants located right beside its iconic 'etang' pool-tank.
As for Aix, stay tuned if you want some more visual imagery. Tomorrow I plan to post our Aix Photo Essay here, one that was meant to be included with our original 'Provencal Echo' TR a few years ago but has been delayed.
Aix has a most Aix-cellent market too, but we preferred Lourmarin's. Personal tastes et comme ca, oui?
Bon chance.
I am done. the end.

I would make Roussillon a priority, how many times in your life will you get to descend into an ochre quarry? Also not far, I love Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, which is quite dramatic.

What days are market days? We'll be travelling on a Monday.

Some market days:
Lourmarin: Fri
Uzes: Wed and esp *Sat.
Aix: Sat

I am done. the cheese and the olives and the

On a Paris trip, we sandwiched a few days in Aix. We did two van tours with Rendez-vous; one to Cassis, and one to the Luberon (Rousillon, Lourmarin, Gordes and some stops). Scroll down to Sept. 6th for details/ideas:

Trip Report: A Provence Sandwich