It will be my first trip to Provence, and actually my first time in France as well. I'm a German major and will be studying in Stuttgart for part of the summer and my parents are meeting up with me afterwards to do some traveling. We'd like to go to the Provence area. I'm curious about what we shouldn't miss, what we should, etc. Good places to stay, eat... Also driving tips would be helpful! Never driven in Europe. I just know I've decided to rent a manual car and will be driving instead of relying solely on public transit in Provence.

My french is very rusty, I took four years in high school but since then haven't ever used it...and you know if you don't use it you lose it... So I plan to try to brush up a bit. I am a language person so hopefully I can brush up quick enough... I'm not big on not at least speaking a bit of a language in another country...I try to speak it as much as possible. So I think that will help.

Any tips, anything really that would be of good knowledge/use for our trip would be helpful. My parents have never been either, are in their 50s, and speak no language other than english. They want me to kind of plan everything. I'm 23 and a college student, and love to travel when I can (which isn't much...again...college student).

Thanks all!!! I'm looking forward to this summer so much!

Do you have my 27 page itinerary for Provence & Cote d'Azur?? I've sent it to over 1,000 people on Fodors. E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach it to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley

Hi Studentgirl,
I went to Provence in May of 2007. It was wonderful. I posted a trip report but I don't know how to give the "address" of it. You can click on my name and go all the way to July, 2007. I did follow a lot of Stu's advice. Happy travels!

Reead Stu's itineray but first read a guide book to decides which area fits the things you are interested in seeing and then follow his advice. Each area is different and we all have our favorites. I've been so many times and have not seen everything. A car is really a good to be able to get to remote villages. The smaller the car the better. I hope you will love Provence, an true earthly paradise.

Pick up a copy of the Michelin Green Guide to France and look at the recommended itineraries; that will get you off to a very good start at picking and choosing what interests you.