Provence in November
 

Hi everyone

I'm reaching out in the hopes of getting some suggestions for my time in Provence in November. I will be there Nov 7 to Nov 20th, staying at a friend's place in Avignon.

He will be working during the week, so I'll be solo traveling for a lot of days during my trip. I have a list of some spots I definitely plan to see on this trip, some I'll get to see with my friend (we'll have a car on those days) the rest of the time I'll be looking to do things in Avignon or take trains and buses to other cities within a reasonable distance

Has anyone spent a lot of time in Provence or Avignon? What are you favorite things to do? They don't have to be on the Top 20 list of things a person must do in Provence, all suggestions are welcome. What are some day trips by train you'd reccommend?

Me: I love seeing beautiful towns/cities/places, meeting people from around the world, etc. When I travel, my favorite things to do are to walk through picturesque towns, past beautiful historic buildings or touring ruins, to find great food and wine (not fancy just regional cuisine; authentic), to be places locals are, and to be active (hiking/running/etc)

and last but not least, is there an expat group I should hook up with? I have a very limited amount of French (started Rosetta Stone 2 months ago)

Merci!

Brooke

Side Note: I will be traveling to Aix and the coast my first weekend in Provence.

I definitely plan to do The Luberon on my 2nd weekend (I will be with my friend in his car on weekends)

day trips I'm looking at taking solo that i'd like suggestions on:

1) Nice. Should I do this or Cannes?
2) Marseilles?
3) Vaucluse(for wine experience reasons, I'm in wine industry)
4) Arles?
5) St Tropez?
6)Arles?
7)Toulon?
8) Lorgues?

My best advice is to get a copy of the Michelin Green Guide to Provence and the one for the Côte d'Azur. Have a good browse, then return here for more advice. But here's some to start on.

Forget Toulon and St-Tropez. The former isn't prime for a first trip, and getting to and from St-Trop is a pain. Beach towns off season can be a bit dreary.

Go to Nice! Your chances of good weather are greater on the Côte d'Azur than in western Provence. And there's quite a lot to see, easy by public transport.

St Tropez is not a pain to get to in the winter, although there is only one main road in and out, during the winter months there is not so much traffic and parking is easier. I personally would not leave it off the list as it has much charm in the back streets and is an authentic Provencal town. It's a place local people go to just like any other. Plus the coast line has other towns eg Ste Maxime which has markets, the picturesque village of Grimaud plus Port Grimaud, drive round the coast to Les Issambres and have lunch in a local restaurant.

There are many wineries in Provence producing the famous rosé wine plus others. Not sure if they are open during the winter, although there is some activity in the vineyards.

We've spent 20 weeks vacationing in Provence and another 20 on the Cote d'Azur.

I agree with Underhill that St Tropez is a little difficult to get to. It is a 2 3/4 drive there and the "quickest" way involves a winding road that my wife does not like driving on. So, that's 5 1/2 hrs getting "to & from", so it doesn't leave many daylight hours to "be there" in November. We've never visited St Tropez in November, but I'm guessing that it might be pretty dead.

Do you have my 35 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary? I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley

We are in The Luberon for 3 months, off and on, leaving on Dec 23. It is hard to get to the small quaint villages without a car. The weather is spectacular!

We have been in Marseiile in Feruary and we had a great tour for the price of lunch and a drink.

Cassis is lovely, we were there last weekend and many folks were swimmng! We did a boat tour which was really nice.

Roustrerel (Colorado Plateau) is a wonderful hike, not too hard and the colors are far nicer than Roussilon and it's free!

Aix en Provence is a nice day trip.

I would have all of these on my list:

Sunday market at L'isle sir la Sorgue.
Saturday market at Apt
Gordes
Cassis
Biot

Should be L'isle sur la Sorgue

(Auto correct)

Aix also has a Thursday & Tues market.

Stu Dudley

Lourmarin market on Friday is great too.

Yes, definitely take the advice of American tourists and ignore St Tropez as they suggest. Only go in the summer when you can't move for crowds and traffic. No point going when all the tourist restaurants are closed for the season and only the restaurants catering to locals are open. God forbid you actually get some authentic Provencal atmosphere.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/...d-1563129.html

There are many day trips you can do by train, those you name seem fine in that you can go there. Not sure how you picked a couple of them (like Toulon, you can easily go there, of course, if you want). You could go to Orange, also. Nimes, obviously, and also Montpellier, really liked it. Definitely Marseille.

Lorgues? That's kind of far away (about 200 km), why did you pick it? It doesn't have a train station although there is one about 12 km away, you'd have to take a taxi from it. How did you plan to get there? It may be a nice enough village, I just didn't know it was worth that.

DebitNM-great current info as to the weather, etc thank you! I'll read up on Cassis I forgot to look into that, although I've heard in past it's very charming. Could be my sort of place.

Is Roustrerel accessible without car? I'm saving up my Luberon towns for my 2nd weekend when my friend can drive us places

Big Shoulders- great suggestions I'll see which are train or bus accessible

stu-thanks for itinerary offer I've emailed you.

Underhill- Nice does look gorgeous and I've always had it on my list of places in France I'd like to visit. Have you been to Cannes? Is it worth doing both on separate trips or should I pick one? trying to limit my $60 euro RT train ticket days but there seem to be so many spots I can visit that are worthwhile I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. This will be my only trip to France where I just visit the South. I have too many intl trips in the queue over the next years to return

I was researching some trips from Avignon and came upon some info about some caves that look pretty interesting.

Has anyone done the caves (Aven 'Orgnac)?

How about the Castle of Tarascon? I have done Carcassonne which I loved but I read that Tarascon is less touristy and just as spectacular. I'm a sucker for old medieval castle towns

You need a car for Roustrel.

Weather is changing this week, rain ,cooler temps for better part of it.

DebitNM- I saw that on my weather app! I don't get to Avignon til 8pm on Thursday so I'm hoping I'll get at least some nice weather this next weekend or the week after :)

I haven't been to those caves which I'm sure are beautiful, but as far as I know, there isn't any way you can get to them by public transportation (Aven d'Orgnac).

Aven d'Orgnac is fabulous. Michelin gives it 3 stars - their highest rating. The Gorges de l'Ardenche (close by) are very scenic also. Lots of "less touristy" cute/small villages in that region too.

If I wanted to visit Nice & some other city in that area - it would not be Cannes. I would go to old Antibes or Menton. But Nice will keep you more than occupied for an entire day.

I think we saw a tour bus or two at Colorado Rustrel when we were there this past June - but I don't know if these were buses for a multi-day tour group, or just a day tour.

Details about the above "places" & a lot more stuff is in my itinerary - which I just sent to you (your e-mail hit my spam folder).

Stu Dudley

I think you should be able to get to Uzès and the Pont du Gard by bus from Avignon. Both would be well worth visiting.

Great tip about Aven d'Orgnac! May hit that next week before they close for season on 15 November.

All-
I'm now here in France. I have gotten very lucky with the weather it is gorgeous sunny and was about 65 degrees this afternoon in Aix. We are spending tonight in Aix and tomorrow head to St Tropez for lunch with some friends and are staying in a small town near there for the next two nights. I will be doing the Luberon by car next weekend (as well as Fountain in Vacleuse, etc with my host.

So, I have narrowed down my solo day trips to:

1 day trip to Arles
1 day trip to Marseille
1 day possibly bus to Pont du Gard

and I will spend 1 day with my host's car, in Chateauneuf du Pape at his family's vineyards and other spots


Any recommendations on good French restaurants that are not in the high price range in Aix for tonight? I am a foodie but am keeping it to simpler food pleasure on this trip due to budget

I would ask the same reccos (for off season so DebitNM you'd be a great resource here :))

for restaurant in these other spots

Merci Beacoup!