Provence Itinerary: Please help!
 

Hello:

I thought I had our itinerary basically figured out, but now I'm regretting all those places we can't fit in! We left out the Pont du Gard, Nimes, Orange, and many other places. So I wanted to solicit some advice about whether the current plan makes sense. We had to shorten our time in Provence by one day because of the train schedule:

Monday, June 22: Arrive 2 p.m. on Avignon TGV; tour Avignon and spend the night.

Tuesday, June 23: Morning in Avignon; drive to St. Remy for lunch and a stroll; then check into our St. Remy hotel. Late afternoon/evening: visit Les Baux.

Wednesday, June 24: Attend St. Remy market in the morning; consider a stop in Tarascon to see the castle? Then go to Montmajour Abbey en route to Arles. Spend that afternoon/evening touring Arles.

Thursday, June 25: Visit Glanum and the St. Paul de Mausole Monastery in the morning and spend a little more time in St. Remy; check out of the hotel and drive to Gordes. On the way to Gordes, stop in Goult, Roussillon, Joucas, and the Abbey Senanque. Check into hotel in Gordes (two nights).

Friday, June 26: Spend this day touring more Luberon villages: Perhaps start in Lourmarin and attend the market; then wend our way back to Gordes with stops in Lacoste, Bonnieiux, Menerbes, and Oppede-le-Vieux. Or would it be better to take a lavender fields drive?

Saturday, June 27: Take the 12:09 train from Avignon TGV to St. Pierre des Corps.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and comments!
gheyer

If you stay in St Remy, you'll see enough of St Remy just going & coming each day. Wander around before & after dinner & befor & after breakfast. It's really a small village. You'll probably decide to skip the Thursday visit in St Remy.

Have dinner in Bonnieux on of your two evening in the Luberon. Perhaps also have dinner in Goult. That way, you can visit these interesting villages just before & after dinner - fewer crowds & cooler then. This may free up some time for visiting the lavehder fields. We also love driving through the Luberon at 7PM - just before dinner.

Save the Pont, Uzes, Nimes, Orange etc for your return visit.

Stu Dudley

I agree with Stu about St. Remy. It is a small village. The Abbey Senanque has wonderful lavender fields. Make sure you have a very good map/gps to help you get around. Enjoy.

good advice from Stu

Thank you, Stu, and others. We will stick with our plan, which does seem to make sense. But I hadn't thought about the advantage of touring some of the Luberon villages later in the day. That makes sense and should give us more time.

Thanks again.

gheyer