I have a 3 day conference in Paris first week of December. My husband and I have been to Paris at least 3 times and have spent at least a week there. We have visited the Loire valley and parts of the Riviera.We're thinking of spending 1 week in Provence. I know it is not the ideal time but since we're in France we thought we might as well visit. We are from Chicago so we're used to really cold weather.

I received Stu's Provence guides and based on this we are thinking of spending 2 nights in Avignon then the rest of the time in St. Remy. Would this be a good base for first visit to Provence. btw, we plan to rent a car after our 2 days in Avignon. We plan to visit Les Baux, Luberon. Any suggestions where else to base or any hotels or lodging? thanks.

topping... any takers? thanks.

Well, it's a bit of a risky plan, even if you've been to France a number of times. I think I'd been to France more than 50 times before I really hit the sticks in winter and was comfortable handling it. Lots of places will be closed. Les Baux will be a ghost town. Hill towns in the Luberon will be insanely quiet, with sparse activity. You won't have many of those interesting moments that allow for interaction with the locals unless you work hard at it.

I'd be fine with it, but I'm not sure how appealing it would be to most people. For lodgings, start now to figure out what will be open.

If this will be your first exposure to Provence, it will be a weird one. Not necessarily negative, but certainly not typical for the average tourist. You can visit the ateliers of santons makers - that's how I spent most of my first winter visit in Provence, and it became a sort of grail. I have a great santon collection as a result, although I'm not so fond of them anymore.

As someone who has lived in Provence now for going on 10 years, I can tell you that while StCirq has a point, she is also exaggerating just a bit.

I agree that the very touristy places (Les Baux, Gordes, Roussillon) become eerily quiet in the winter, especially striking after the hordes of tourist in the summer.

However, there are plenty of other small villages which have many more permanent residents and where live continues and yes, indeed, you might even get to meet a true local in the dead of winter !

In our village of St. Saturnin, for example, all 4 restaurants, both boulangerie, the butcher, grocery, etc. all remain open. There are plenty of people about, if for nothing more than to pick up their kids from school.

It's easy to forget when you are here as a tourist, that the base of the economy around here is still agriculture (though less and less so, sadly). All those farmers and their families, don't just pack up and leave each October...

Other villages nearby that are in a similar vein that come to mind are Bonnieux and Goult, where life does indeed go on all winter long.

And don't discount visiting somewhere like Les Baux in wintertime. In fact, I think the ruins are much more evocative and compelling when you have them almost all to yourself.

Of course, the bigger towns and cities will be plenty busy. Avignon, and even more so, Aix are full of locals, in a manner of speaking, since quite a large number of them are ex-Parisians who've fled south to enjoy a bit of sun in the winter.

StCirq is right, though in saying if you follow the beaten tourist track in Les Alpilles and the Luberon in wintertime and expect to find lots of boutiques and shops and galleries open and ready for business, you'll be sorely disappointed.

- Kevin

Our family spends a lot of time in the Luberon (Bonnieux), including several visits during the off-season. We were there for two weeks this past Christmas, and we had an absolutely wonderful time.

Our situation is different, because the area feels like home to us and we have a lot of local friends, but I think if you have realistic expectations, you can have a great time too.

As Kevin says, the lives of locals go on year round. In Bonnieux, for example, several of the restaurants are open year round as well as the little food shops that support local residents. The Bonnieux market is miniscule in December, but you'll find decent weekly markets in larger places like Apt, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, and Aix (which has a market three times a week). At Christmas we did day trips to Aix and Avignon, which are both year-round, vibrant cities. I love Aix at any time of year.

In the smaller villages, I think most of the B&Bs and hotels are closed. (We rented a gite for our Christmas trip.) So you'd be better off basing in a larger place.

Be sure to take warm clothes (coat, hat, gloves, scarf), as you may need them. The days could be overcast or could be sunny and cool. We've done some hiking in December, and if the sky is clear and it's sunny, you'll even see people enjoying coffee and eating outdoors.

Kathy

Thanks St.Cirque, Kevin and Kathy. Would it be better to base my full week in Avignon and just rent a car on a daily basis , i.e, one or two days if we want to drive to say the Luberon or Les Baux? How about staying in Aix instead?

Kevin, is Mas Perreal closed at this time of the year?

You won't want to rent a car on a daily basis--the rates are very high for fewer than 3 days.