Just came back from a 3 week trip to France and I must say Provence was the most disappointing of my trip.

I spent my time around the Vacluse area which is supposed to be the most beautiful but I just couldnt find much to be amazed about. I've been to Tuscany and Andalucia and Provence has a similar feel tho not as beautiful. Even the towns dont compare to the Italian hilltowns. I stayed in Avignon which was fun and visited Gordes, Fontain de Vacluse, Sur d'Isle(?), Arles, Aix, St Remy and Sault; of which Aix was the most disappointing.

Maybe I had higher expectations of Provence from the paintings of Monet, Van Gogh and Cezanne but somehow something was missing. Maybe I didnt see other parts of Provence which are more beautiful. Does anyone feel the same way or is it only me and my overrated expectations?

I'm sure there are those who agree with you but I find Provence breathtaking and have seen some of the most beautiful scenery and most wonderful hill towns there. I love Tuscany equally as well but think Provence is more beautiful.

We enjoyed Provence--also touring the Vaucluse region--but were not blown away. We much prefer Tuscany and are going back in Oct.

How about cost of accomodation, transport, sightseeing, and food compared to Italy?
Linwein, where else did you go in France and how was it?
Mamc, what are the highlights of Provence in your opinion?

Different places do different things for different people. Provence was wonderful, though there were some towns we enjoyed more than others.

Aix is good for 2-days, but is too large. Only the "old towns" of Arles and Avignon are worth a visit. The smaller the town, the better - and best to visit at the begining or end of tourist time - early Spring or late Fall.

But the scenery throughout was absolutely breathtaking. And best as possible we found fields, vineyards and shorelines - and those wonderful plane-tree (all orange & red - appearing like gold) lined National Roads were the most beautiful.

It still all comes down to personal preferences - some folks like cruises, yet you'll never get me on a ship; and some return again and again to Paris, yet I never gave Paris a moments thought - it's a big big big world out there and yet everyone seems to be in Venice on the same day.

And think of those people who return to the same place year-in and year-out - like Paris. So many places to discover, not enough time. Well, they can have Paris, I'll take the rest of the world.

linwien:

I love Provence, but definitely do not find it "breathtaking." I think it's a matter of what kind of geography one prefers - give me the Dordogne any day.

Les Baux and Roussillon were my Provence favorites. Although I enjoyed Provence, there are many places in Europe I like much better. As for Aix, I concur. Trés disappointing.

Karla,
The highlights,for me, are the scenery, the lavender, the olive trees, the wonderful markets, the delicious food, the lovely inns with beautiful flowers. It probably helps that each time we have been there, the weather has been beautiful. My favorite places are Avignon, Les Baux, Gordes, St. Remy, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Fontaine de Vauclause and Roussillon. I didn't care for Aix.

This thread reminds me of the Peggy Lee song "Is that all there is?" Can't imagine being disappointed with Provence, but - you can't please all the people all the time.

On the one hand I am not sure what the point of a post liek this is in the first place. To summarily announce that a place is "overrated" (which I don't think is any different from a lot of the posts we see here telling us we HAVE to go here or that somewhere else is a MUST DO) simply invites comments from others who feel the necessity of pointing out the original poster's "error"..reminds me a little of the "he said, no she said" kind of thing. And not being able to imagine anyone being disappointed by a place is,
I think, as descriptive of the mental capacity of the person making the comment to accept the fact that others have differing points of view and to demean them doesn't help, as it is to the narrow-mindedness of the poster.
Sorry to rant on but sometimes it helps to vent some frustration with what is otherwise for the most part a very helpful rather than a petty place.

I don't think anyone has said linwein has made an "error" in judgement. It seems everyone is just putting in their two cents worth about Provence. I believe linwein's comments about Provence were interesting. Plus anyone who does not like Aix, is ok in my book.

One thing I really love about Provence is the Roman ruins (coliseums, theaters, aquaducts, temples, etc.) that are IMO better preserved than those in Rome. Plus I don't have to constantly watch my purse, count my change, check restaurant bills, etc.

As far as natural beauty, I'm with St. Cirq.

LVSue, really? I have never read up on Provence (or visited)...I didn't know there were ruins there! (just food and "scenery&quot And being able to see ruins without fear of getting ripped off I'm sure is a delight. Thanks for the info.

I love Provence, but I agree about Aix but I love the old fountains. I notice you posted about the Dordogne on another thread.It is not the same so you can't compare.If you like Castles, and the food it's wonderful but for me, provence is sunny, sensuous, and colorful and I love the food.
But most important of all I have made many friends there.
Alsace is a beautiful area, flowers everywhere.
I like the Languedoc, Brittany, each area has a different thing about them as well as the cuisine.

Allovereurope, click on Arles, Saint Remy de Provence, Vaison-la-Romaine and Orange on the following site to see some of the examples: http://www.beyond.fr/villages/index.html

For Nimes, just outside Provence officially, click on bridge through the ages > Roman monuments on this site:http://www.ot-nimes.fr/english/visites.html

For a little info on the Pont du Gard: http://www.athenapub.com/pontdgd1.htm

I asked about prices in my earlier post and no one has mentioned it yet. Is a holiday in Provence fairly easy on the budget?

Lots of good tips here. I think I'll be putting Aix near the bottom of the list from what I've read on this thread.

Karla, we stayed for a couple of nights in Arles at Hotel D'Arlatan. It was a good place that has some old ruins beneath it. Room was fine and, looking at their web site, it looks like you can still get a room for about $100.

We ate at the Hotel Nord Pinus (please make your own jokes here), which we enjoyed (although some people who have been recently said the lobby staff have become "snooty&quot.

I think if you look around, Provence, like most places, can be done on a reasonable budget (whatever that is these days). Have a great trip.

We spent some time in Provence and the Dordogne this past May, with a stop at Carcassone in between. We loved Provence, and particularly enjoyed the smaller towns (which you apparently did not see) over some of the bigger places. Bonnieux, Joucas, Roussillon and Gordes were fantastic. I think you could call them "breathtaking." We also enjoyed St Remy (we stayed not far from there at an acceptional B&B for 68 euro per night) for the choice of charming restaurants available to us after a day of touring all over. Lourmarin was another interesting town. If you would like to see pictures, check out my pages on Virtual Tourist at www.virtualtourist.com/radiomom and click on my travel page for St Remy. There are several travelogues that cover the many daytrips we made (also some pics of ancient Roman ruins!). It was a totally different feeling than Tuscany, which we ALSO loved. I think to compare the two is impossible. For me, it is like trying to chose between NYC and San Francisco (my 2 fav big cities in the US) Or Paris vs. Rome. Now, we visited both Provence and Tuscany in the month of May, so tourism was not peaking and we enjoyed that part of both trips a great deal! We too, were disappointed in Aix...but then we had just spent a fantastic morning in Cassis (on the Mediterranean coast) visiting the calanques on a tourboat "cruise." After that cute waterfront vacation town, Aix seemed too much of a big city, so we drove on to a smaller town. But we have friends who love Aix, and I think it would be better to see it with someone who knows where to go. We did totally enjoy Arles, too, as we hit Saturday morning's market day-- which was fabulous.

We also spent a couple of nights in Dordogne --- which I have to admit really did take my breath away, and I know that is another area I want to visit again, as well. We generally stay in 2-3 star hotels on our trips, and were very pleased with all our accomodations on this trip. Our costs on this trip were comparable to our costs in Italy a couple years ago. The rental car was a good bit less...but we only had a car for 10 days in France as opposed to 15 in Italy. Oh yeah...those tree-lined roads so many places through Provence were pretty stunning.

"Oh yeah...those tree-lined roads so many places through Provence were pretty stunning."

Boy, I almost forgot about that aspect. Some of the drives in Provence are spectacular. I don't know if those tree lined roads are what took my wife's breath away, or the fear she had that I was going to hit one.

Driving through Provence, I was reminded of the Texas hill country. I thought it was funny that I had traveled all that way and it felt like home. However, I really loved Provence and I enjoyed Aix. Maybe it was because I stayed at Villa Gallici and La Bastide de Marie which were both wonderful.