My 20-year-old daughter and I are driving from Barcenlona to Provence on Christmas day. We'll spend 5 days/4 nights in the area and plan to use either Avignon or Aix en Provence as a home base for day trips. We're both experienced travelers, but I haven't been to Provence since I was my daughter's age. Many questions: Which city is the best to stay during these cold, short winter days? Suggestions on hotels or B&B's? Fancy is not required, but we appreciate comfort (I love a good bed!) and charm. Should I be worried about finding an open restaurant on Christmas (and a Sunday) night?

Hi jan, I prefer Avignon as a base to see alot of villages in the different areas. Alot of the smaller places close by the end of October but I know that The Hotel d'Europe, Hotel de la Mirande and the Hotel du Palais des Papes(the smaller of the three has 23rooms) are open all year.

The Europe is a good suggestion, and its restaurant should be open over the holidays. Otherwise you might consider basing yourselves near St-Rémy, and a nice place is the Domaine de Valmouriane--very Provençal in feel and with a good restaurant.

In St remy, I highly recommend L'Hotel it is right in town. www.hotelphoto.com

So no one thinks Aix is a good home base? Although it's farthest east, seems like everything is relatively close driving distance, but that may be an incorrect assumption. I have a French friend who says it has evening activities and is safe. Her daughter went to school there, so that may be her bias.

Nothing wrong with Aix, a great place especially in the summer time to visit the Lavender routes, Aix is a lively student town.
Recommend books to read and get the flavor of Aix is,
MFK Fisher's "Two Towns In Provence," and "The Boss Dog."

I like Aix, but when we stayed in Aix last May, there was lots of road construction going on in the center of town. And they have parking garages with electronic signs reporting the number of empty spaces, a bad sign. It looked like using Aix as a base for driving excursions would be awkward. At least central Aix, which is where I'd want to stay.

We picked up our car there, drove out of town without difficulty, and went to St. Remy, where we based ourselves for a week. St. Remy is a good location for a driving tour of Provence. Avignon has a fair amount of traffic also and, if you stayed in the center, you'd have to deal with that.

In Aix, we stayed at Le Manoir that is right in town and most important it's own car park.