Provence, French Riveria (& maybe Venice?!) in 14 days?
 

Hi,

My husband & I are planning a trip to the South of France in May & would like to cover Provence, the French Riveria & perhaps add a leg to Venice if possible.

We've got about 14 days & will be flying from Singapore. We would like to cover the following places:
- Arles
- Avignon
- Aix-en-Provence
- Marseille
- St Tropez
- Cannes
- Nice
- St Paul de Vence
- Monaco
- & then if time permits, a trip to Venice

I'd greatly appreciate any advice about this itinerary. Am I being too ambitious? Have I missed out anything? Should I skip anything? Since we're flying a long way to Europe, we'd love to see Venice if possible.

Thanks in advance! =)

There is tons of stuff to do in Provence & the Riveria. You won't be able to do even a small fraction of it in 14 days. The Nice to Venice leg is a difficult one - it will take most of a day - so I would skip it. Also, getting back home from Venice is more diffidult than from Provence or Cote d'Azur.

May is when there are many events occurring in Cannes. Hotels may be difficult to book if you plan to be there during these events. I would nail down your itinerary, and start reserving hotels ASAP.

Instead of listing the many other things to do & see in Provence & the Cote d'Azur on this thread, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach a copy of my 27 page itinerary to the reply e-mail. The itinerary describes my favorite things in this region. I've sent it to over 2,000 people on Fodors.

Stu Dudley

You are talking about an 8-9 hour train ride from Nice to Venice, and probably at least a half day if you fly. Only you know if its worth it to you to take that time to get to Venice. Can you fly home from there? Then you only lose one day in transit instead of two. Based on what you want to see, I'd take a week in Provence and a week on the Riviera, but if you really want to do Vencie, I'd do 5 days each and then go to Venice for the last few days.

I don't know what kind of things you like to do, but what I see missing from your iten are small towns and villages, which is my favorite part of Provence. But that is what we like, it might not be what you like.

Do you expect to return to this area? Do you have 14 nights and two travel days or is it a total of 14 days?? If you don't expect to return to this area and have a total of 16 days, that includes travel days, Venice works. A thought would be open jaw, into Venice and out of Nice. There is a non-stop to Marseille from Venice that takes two hours, perhaps another three hours at airports. www.kayak.com So, perhaps a little more information and many will try to help. Richard

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the replies!

I guess I should've been more specific as to my dates. I've yet to make my bookings, but I'm looking at flying into Nice from Singapore on 11/5 arriving at 11am & I can fly out from Venice on 24/5 at 850pm, so that effectively gives us about 13 days? I know we've got a lot to cover but since we've got limited time, we'd like to cover the essential stuff. Of course we'd love to re-visit, but that won't be for a long long LONG time! We'd love to see the beautiful countryside scenery as well as visit quaint & charming villages the area is well-known for. We appreciate architecture as well, but are not huge museum fans (but of course we'll visit renowned ones!). We'd also like to be able to sample great French food!

I checked out www.flybaboo.com & found a direct flight from Nice to Venice which we can take, but my concern is now to find out what's the best way to navigate our way around from Nice all the way to Arles (with stops along the way) without wasting too much time back-tracking.

Would it be advisable to make overnight stops at each place, or would it be better to have a base point & make day trips from there? Also, would you recommend a self-drive? Or would taking the train be easier? Would appreciate if someone can advise on the best route to take (starting from Nice) to cover all the places & return to Nice where we can take our flight to Venice (that would be on 22/5 at 1315hrs....would arriving at 1435hrs & then departing back to Singapore on 24/5 at 2050hrs give us sifficient time to cover Venice?)

Thanks again!

Consider flying open jaw, Air France, to Marseille and leave from Venice. You would then be very close to Provence and then after your visit there, head to Nice. Would eliminate much backtracking. You have found the one way flight, Nice to Venice. Renting a car and driving is very easy. I think, 5 days in one central place works in each area. Then 3 days in Venice.

P.S. I should have said, would eliminate 'some' backtracking. Marseille to Avignon, just under one hour. Nice to Avignon, just under three hours. But after a long flight, driving one hour would be reasonable.

All of my suggestions for things to do & see in the Riviera/Provence region are in the itinerary I just sent you (I think - there were about 5 other people requesting the same itinerary this morning).

The drive from Provence to the Nice airport is actually a scenic drive for parts of the way. Backtracking is not that bad if you need to take a flight from Nice after visiting Provence. The Nice airport is on the western edge of Nice - in the direction of Provence. So it is 2 hr 20 min from St Remy or Avignon to the airport.

Stu Dudley

Here is some historical information on both areas. You will be able to open links to many of the towns you want to visit. Have a great trip. Richard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Rivera and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provence

Hi again,
I've fine-tuned my itinerary & hope to get some advice if it looks okay. We'll be flying in to Marseille.

Day 01: Singapore-Marseille
Day 02: Marseille-Arles-Les Baux-St Remy
Day 03: St Remy-Avignon-Pont du Gard-St Remy
Day 04: St Remy-L'Isle Sur La Sorgne-Gordes-Aix en Provence
Day 05: Aix en Provence
Day 06: Aix-Ste Maximin la St Baume-Les Arcs-St Tropez
Day 07: St Tropez-Frejus-St Raphael-Cannes
Day 08: Cannes-Antibes-St Paul de Vence-Vence-Nice
Day 09: Nice-Cap Ferrat-Villefranche-Nice
Day 10: Nice-Eze-Monaco-Nice
Day 11: Nice-Venice
Day 12: Venice
Day 13: Venice
Day 14: Venice-Singapore

Have I packed in too many places? Should I need to drop any of them? Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks again =)

My Cadogan Guide does not have nice things to say about Ste Maximin. They call it a "miserable hole", and "the general atmosphere of bricks and litter is reminiscent of some burnt-out inner-city in the midlands (UK) or midwest (USA)". Therefore, I've never had any desire to visit Ste Maximin, although we've driven by it maybe 20 times.

Why Les Arcs?? We've visited it - nothing special for a first-timer. Does not have any Michelin stars.

I would try to squeeze in 2 nights in St Tropez. Visit St Tropez in the late afternoon and early morning. Mid-day, set out to visit Gassin, Ramatouelle, and also Bormes la Mimosa - all interesting villages. Or if you want to spend a day sunning yourself - my favorite place to do that in all of Europe is along the beautiful Plage de Pampelonne, at one of the private beaches (there are public sections also). I like Tahiti plage. If you want to visit the villages outside of St Tropez (the countryside in that direction is quite scenic), AND sun yourself - stay for 3 nights.

To get an additional night in St Tropez, I would stay one less night in Aix. Visit Aix most of the day on day 5, and then leave Aix arond 4PM and plan to arrive in St Tropez in the late afternoon around 6PM of day 5.

Unless you like changing hotels and venues - there is no need to stay in both Cannes and Nice. There is a train between the two. I prefer Nice. When is the Cannes film festival and the Monaco road race??

You will be in Aix on market day - Saturday. It is my wife's favorite shopping town - I understand that people from Singapore love to shop. St Tropez is a nice place to visit on a Sunday because all the shops are open - which is unusual in France. Many close in Nice & Cannes (Mon am also in Old Nice).

Stu Dudley

Hi again Stu,

Thank you SO MUCH for the advice =)

I was looking at the DK Witness Guidebook at thought the Basilica Ste-Marie-Madeleine looked like it was worth a visit, thus the stop to Ste Maximin since it is along the way
to St Tropez.

The stop at Les Arcs was also because the guide book said it's the "wine center for Cotes de Provence" so I thought since we're skipping Bordeaux this trip, we could visit some vineyards there.

But of course if you don't think either of those are that interesting & from what you said, St Tropez sounds a lot more exciting, I'll just drop those 2 places off my list!

I'll definitely take your suggestion to drop a night in Aix as well for an extra night in St Tropez.

I just checked that the Cannes Film Festival is 11-22 May & Grand Prix is 29 May. Is that a bad time to coincide our trip??? Or would it be a good time to see some stars?!(We might have to bring forward our trip to April though, coz of my husband's work committments) I just thought that since Cannes was on the way to Nice, we could stay there overnight then drive on to Nice, instead of backtracking.

Any idea if parking in Provence & the French Riveria would be costly? Especially what about overnight? Do most hotels provide parking?

You've been awfully helpful, Stu & I really appreciate all your tips & pointers!

My only thought about the Cannes film festival is hotel & car availability. I would get busy & see what is available as soon as possible. I would definately skip Cannes itself - it is VERY close to Nice. Take the train from Nice if you want to visit Cannes.

Parking is difficult in St Tropez - but some hotels have parking lots. We stayed there for a total of 4 weeks in an apt that did not have parking, and always managed to find a free place to park - sometimes 4-5 blocks away, however. Same situation in Nice, but there are "metered" areas that are somewhat reasonably priced. No problems in Provence/St Remy. All of the places where we stayed in Aix had parking facilities.

Stu Dudley

Hi again Stu,

Since I'll be using Nice as a base for quite a few places, do you think then I ought to return my rental car & just take the public transport to visit Cannes & Eze/Monaco/Monte Carlo?

Will we be missing out on anything without the flexibility of a car, or would parking problems make having a car more of a liability?

Thanks again!

>>do you think then I ought to return my rental car & just take the public transport to visit Cannes & Eze/Monaco/Monte Carlo?<<

definately, for thses sites. Eze is a little more difficult.


>>Will we be missing out on anything without the flexibility of a car<<<

Only if you plan on visiting some of the small villages - St Paul, Vence, Tourrettes, Luceram, Eze, Gorbio, Peille, Peillon, etc. You can get to some of these villages by bus - but for more flexibility, a car would work better

>>or would parking problems make having a car more of a liability?<<

Yep - Parking AND driving - especially into Cannes & Monaco.

Stu Dudley