Provence Intinerary
 

We will be in Provence in late June/early July. I am interested in reactions and advice on the itinerary below. For background, we are a family of five, with the children aged 15, 8 and 6. The first night, we are staying in Avignon. The remainder of the nights, we are staying about 20 miles northwest of Avignon. We are planning on doing most of the touring with a car.

Day 1: Arrive Avignon mid-afternoon, walking tour, dinner
Day 2: Tour Palais des Papes, Lunch in Avignon, check into hotel in Saint Laurent des Arbres
Day 3: is a Sunday. I am not sure what is open, but I am thinking about Marsielle/Aix-en-Provence? Any suggestions on what to expect on a Sunday would be very helpful.
Day 4: Orange and various villages in the Cotes du Rhone
Day 5: More Cote du Rhone touring (or other suggestions?)
Day 6: Arles: Ancient History Museum, Market, Roman Arena, Bull Games in the Arena
Day 7: Pont-du-Gard, Nimes: Arena, Maison Carree, Temple of Diana, Old City, Jeudi de Nimes

Does this make sense? Is there any other stops you would make advocate (I am especially wondering about Les Baux?)

Thanks for all the help and advice.

>>Day 3: is a Sunday. I am not sure what is open, but I am thinking about Marsielle/Aix-en-Provence? Any suggestions on what to expect on a Sunday would be very helpful.<,

Most everything will be closed in Aix & Marseille (and other cities & most villages) on a Sunday - except the museums, which might not be too interesting for your 2 youngest.

Go to the Sunday morning Farmers/Antique/Craft market at l'Isle sur la Sorgue. Get there around 8:00, go to the square next to the church, have breakast, and watch the merchants set up their stalls. Then hit the market about 8:45. It gets WAY too crowded for me by 10:30 in mid season, so perhaps head out then & visit some villages in the Luberon. Gordes & Roussillon will both have shops open - so they are good choices.

Defintely visit Les Baux - the youngsters will love climbing around. If the l'Isle sur la Sorgue market does not interest you, visit St Remy & Les Baux on Sunday - shops will be open in both cities - along with the chateau.

You'll be there in the Lavender blooming season. How about a lavender drive???

Do you have my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary??? If not, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll send you one. Do so soon - we're heading to France for a month in just 1 1/2 weeks from today.

Stu Dudley

Stu,

Thanks for the advice. I am going to shoot you an email.

Would you pick heading out to Gordes and Roussillon over going to Les Baux and St Remy?

TN

Definitely keep in mind the Sunday advice. It took my wife and I a couple of trips to realize that restaurants in particular close early. We wound up very hungry on Monday morning.

Hi,
I agree with Stu that Les Baux is worthwhile. The views from on top are stunning, particularly at sunset. St. Remy, where I live, is lovely and has great historic sites if the kids are up for it. Gordes and Roussillon are also very worthwhile; the kids will LOVE tromping around into the ochre mines in Rousillon (wear old shoes!) I would leave time for sitting in cafes, taking in village festivals you might happen on, lounging by the pool, etc. The kids might want to go riding...or to the beach (fun to say they swam in the Med, right?). The day you spend at the Pont du Gard you could rent Kayaks (Kayak Vert is the company, I believe) and lazily float down the river, under the famous bridge....stopping to swim or picnic or what have you. (Check this out before you get there. I believe the kayaks are upriver.) Antiques and lavender and old stones are great for adults but if I were 6, 8 and 15 I'm not sure how much of that I'd want. Kayaks, horses, bikes, the pool and beach might be good to consider. Check my site (www.provencepost.com) for other ideas. Email me if I can help: [email protected]. Have fun & bon voyage!

>>Would you pick heading out to Gordes and Roussillon over going to Les Baux and St Remy?<<

Both are "must sees" in my opinion. I would make sure you visit both regions.

Don't try to fill your days with too many big cities like Avignon, Nimes, Aix, Marseille, Arles, Orange, etc. Like Julie mentioned, slow down and spend time in cafes & small villages - or just doing "nothing".

In Roussillon, don't wear any white socks or any clothes you value - and don't touch your face when in the Ochre fields, unless you want some Indian "war paint" (you'll understand this better when you get there).

Stu Dudley

One thing that I am thinking about now is switching our first night from Avignon to some other location. The upside of this would be that Avignon looks nice, but now that I have done some more research, it doesn't have as much to offer as I thought it might when we made the initial reservations.

Under that scenario, we could stay the first night in Les Baux or St. Remy...any reaction to that?

Thanks for the advice...it has been great.

Please click on my name and look for "Provence Sandwich" trip report. We stayed in Aix so there is a good bit in there. More than you want? Sorry.

I would leave some time for exploring the Camargue. Your kids would probably love the flamingos and wild horses and cowboys and tromping around Aigues-Mortes.

I prefer St Remy because there are lots of cafes, restaurants, pizza places, shops, etc. Most hotels in Les Baux are not within walking distance of multiple restaurants & cafes. St Remy is a little easier to get in & out of than les Baux.

I'm curious - what are you looking for as far as "things to offer" is concerned. I love Avignon (but I would not base there - although 1 day is fine.)

Stu Dudley

I prefer Avignon to St Remy, actually, and have based myself there and didn't regret it. It's a fun, lively city and I'm sure you'll find plenty to do on that day you are there (more than the Palais des Papes). I'm not sure what you would think Les Baux and St Remy have to offer that Avignon would not, as it is larger.

I'm not clear on what you intend to do when you name the Cotes du Rhone wine appellation. Are you intending to visit wineries with your children? There are tons of them, but adding that to Orange makes me think you mean those in the northern Vaucluse, like Jonquieres, etc. I actually like it up there a lot, and did enjoy Orange. It's a pleasant town, and the amphitheatre is impressive. I think I was there on a Sunday and they had a decent market in town.

The advice about which cities to avoid on Sundays is very helpful. I'm wondering about Arles -- is this a city where most shops and restaurants are closed on Sundays?

It's French law that requires shops to be closed on Sunday. There was an article about this in a recent "France" magazine.

There are some exceptions:
- Cultural places like museums & castles
- Restaurants - but many close because cities are often deserted on Sundays. More seem to be open for Sunday lunch than Sunday dinner.
- Regions like the Marais in Paris that has (had) a large Jewish population, and Saturday is the Sabbath.
- Some small/local food oriented stores are open in the morning.

Based on my own obersevations, these also seem to be exceptions:
- Cities/villages that derive almost all their income from tourism - examples are St Tropez, Gordes, Roussillon (not Bonnieux), St Remy, & les Baux.
- Cities/villages that have their weekly "farmers" market on Sunday, like l'Isle sur la Sorgue in Provence & St Cyprien in the Dordogne.

Don't ever expect to purchase groceries on a Sunday afternoon. Very few large groceries are open on Sundays at all. I've never found one open Sunday afternoon.

Many shops are closed on Monday mornings too. St Remy has many shops closed on Monday morning or Monday all day - that are open on Sunday.

Stu Dudley

Dear Tn, my partner and I returned last week from an 8 day tour of Provence. We loved it. The scenery is fantastic and there is so much charm. It equals or surpasses our other favorite, Tuscany. We received a lot of help from fellow Fodorites, especially Stu, thanks to all. We also rented a car and drove ourselves through the area. We stayed for 4 nights in St Remy de Provence and 4 nights in Bonnieux. Here is a list of our favorites.

Avignon, a beautiful, green,lively city. We took the English city tour which leaves from the Information center at 10am. It helped us to understand the history of the city.

Uzes, a medieval town made of stone. Actually it was one of our favorite places in Provence. We went to the market on Saturday morning. You can combine it with a visit to Pont du Gard.

The L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Sunday market, try to get there early. I actually bought some things.

The hilltop towns of Oppede-le-Vieux, Gordes, and Bonnieux, all are exquisite.

The Cotes du Rhone area has beautiful rolling hills but it is a lot of driving. Seguret was our favorite town in that area.

East of Cotes du Rhone is Mont Ventoux, we drove through this area passing the incredible town of Brantes. Spectacular and very exciting. Thanks to Stu for the recommendation

Les Baux was incredible; there was a large group of French school children frolicking among the ruins which added to the ambiance.

Aix-en-Provence is charming and sophisticated but it is a long drive and we preferred Avignon.

I agree with the others that it is important to slow down and enjoy the memorable views and experiences. I hope your family enjoys Provence as much as we did.

Again, thanks everyone for the advice and thoughts.
My question about Avignon was really about what we can skip on this trip. Normally, my family would enjoy spending some time in this city. For the rest of the trip, we are staying in a bed and breakfast between Orange and Avignon. In any case, if Avignon is not “must see” or we don’t need to spend our first afternoon up thru lunch the next day there, we can easily fit in the recommendation for Les Baux/St. Remy and spend an afternoon in Avignon.
In any case, here is a revised itinerary based on the suggestion so far:
Day 1: Arrive Avignon mid-afternoon, see sights, dinner
Day 2: Guided tour, Tour Palais des Papes, Lunch in Avignon, check into hotel in Saint Laurent des Arbres
Day 3: is a Sunday. Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Market, Gordes, Roussillon
Day 4: Orange and various villages in the Cotes du Rhone. This is mostly geared toward a driving tour of some of the towns that I like to drink wine from.
Day 5: St. Remy, Les Baux, Carmague…does this make sense?
Day 6: Arles: Ancient History Museum, Market, Roman Arena, Bull Games in the Arena
Day 7: Pont-du-Gard, Nimes: Arena, Maison Carree, Temple of Diana, Old City, Jeudi de Nimes

It looks like we have long days on from day 3 on. Is that correct? My wife has rightly insisted that the kids need some time at the pool, and this only makes sense. I am intrigued by StCirq’s suggestion of Carmague, which I had briefly thought about. But it also looks like just toing St. Remy/Les Baux could be an easy day with some pool time.

Also, on day 1, we could rearrange out intineray by taking a train to a town and seeing some of the sighs there, if anyone thinks that makes sense?

InMiami, thanks for the advice, especailly on the guided tour.

Thanks again. Please let me know if you have additional thoughts.

Best,
TN

You itinerary seems fine. You'll make adjustments along the way, as you see fit.

Stu Dudley

You're going to have daylight until at least 10 pm that time of year. The kids can enjoy the pool at night.