We are planning a trip to France in mid-April to see our 23 year old daughter who is working in Nantes. She gets a week vacation and wants to visit Provence. We will probably fly into Paris, take the TGV to Nantes for a couple of days, then TGV to Provence (Avignon ???) and rent a car. Can anyone suggest a good "base" for our trip and suggest a possible itinerary for 1 week. Thank you!

I haven't been to Provence in April, so I think there are folks better suited to give you a daily itinerary. A lot of people like St Remy for a base, and if you have a car, I think that makes a good idea. Perhaps you know this, but Nantes is not the most convenient place in France to get to Provence by train, so you'll have to go back through Paris. That effectively cuts out about 6 hours of two of your days (assuming she needs to get back to Nantes).

I'd visit Avignon, St Remy, Les Baux, and some perched village small towns (Roussillon, Gordes, etc.), maybe Bonnieux, and see some of the Luberon area. that should be enough for 5 days or so.

If you take the TGV to Avignon you can base at nearby St-Rémy, either the whole week or a portion. From there you can visit the ruins at Les Baux, the city of Arles (Roman ruins and a bautiful cathedral and folk museum), the not-to-be-missed Pont du Gard (Roman aqueduct), and Avignon itself. From St-Rémy you could also hop over to the Lubéron villages, although you might want to consider staying in one for a few nights--we like La Ferme de la Huppe, a very pleasant small inn on one of the roads below Gordes.

Actually, you don't have to get back to Paris to take the TGV to the Avignon TGV station. There is a no-train-change TGV that leaves Nantes at 7:35am & arrives 5 1/2 hrs later. It goes through Lyon, but there is not train change. There are probably other schedules that go through Lyon with a train change. If you go through Paris, you need to change stations too (not something I would want to do).

I agree that St Remy would probably be the best base. I have a 27 page itinerary for Provence & the Cote d'Azur. I've sent it to hundreds of Fodors people. E-mail me at [email protected] if you want a copy. It's free.

Stu Dudley

If you go to NANTES, be sure to dine at the beautiful La Cigale
on La Place Graslin.

Agree with cigalechanta - the interior of that restaurant is a feast for the eyes.

Stu Dudley

St Remy is in the south west corner of Provence and less central to Provence. If you are interested in visiting wineries from the Southern Rhone ( villages such as Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas)you should base yourself in Avignon. Let me know if you are interested in visiting some wineries - we saw quite a few last August and I can recommend several to you that speak English (and have great wines!)

They is also more to do in Avignon than St Remy which can easily be visited from Avignon.

hi erg45,

here is a link to my recent 1 week trip to provence ...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35162199

we really liked being based out by carpentras - it was very central for everything we wanted to do.

enjoy.

Stu, are you sure that TGV train from nantes to Lyon doesn't go through Paris? I know there is one without a train change, but as far as I know, there are no TGV lines more directly from Nantes to Lyon, there is only one that goes through Paris, or close to it, anyway (maybe CDG). My point was that it will take a lot of time because there is no direct line as you'd draw with a straight edge between those points, although a train without changes saves time also, but even that train is about 6 hours, I think.

I could be wrong, but I've never seen a TGV rail route line with any lines between Nantes and Lyon more directly.

Station/Stop Date Time
Nantes Tu, 07.04.09 dep 07:35
Angers St Laud dep 08:13
Le Mans dep 08:54
Massy dep 09:49
Lyon Part Dieu dep 12:07
Avignon TGV Tu, 07.04.09 arr 13:09

Stu Dudley

The Massy station is near to the Orly airport, making it also close to Paris. The train route is, unfortunately, somewhat roundabout, as it goes up toward Paris before going down to Provence.

Thanks everyone! We are going direct on TGV from Nantes to Avignon like Stu Dudley said. We enjoy train trips. We have been in Nantes 2 years ago and went to Le Cigale then. We also love the crepe restaurants in Nantes. Anyway, we are going to base in Arles and then go to Aix for a few days too (my daughters roommate did her study abroad there) and then go back to Paris on TGV for a day before we fly home.
I will e-mail you, Stu for your trip suggestions. We moved our trip up and are now leaving next week. Still in low season and may find some things closed but we are excited!