Provence puzzle
 

What a great forum this is! I've learned so much -- thank you all.

A friend and I are going to the Cannes Film Festival next month. We're going to stay in Juan-les-Pins during the Festival, but after a few days of that we're going to chill out for three days at l'Eveche in Vaison-la-Romaine. We'll explore the area, but we're going to try not to make ourselves nuts trying to see everything! The only place I want to be absolutely sure not to miss is Arles -- we'll fit that in somewhere.

Now we're just stuck on the last leg of the trip. The day we check out from l'Eveche is my friend's birthday. She'd like to go somewhere really nice and stay at a lovely (but not expensive) place. The trick is, our flight from Nice leaves the next morning at 10:50, so we want to be close enough to Nice so we don't have to worry about missing our plane. And we'd like something that's a different experience from Juan-les-Pins, where we'll be staying for the first part of the trip.

Any suggestions?

Also, I'm not sure how to gauge driving time there. I'm sure what Google Maps is telling me isn't exactly right! How long do you think it would take to drive from Vaison-la-Romaine to Nice? And do you think Arles is a possible day trip from Vaison-la-Romaine?

Thank you. Sorry for the long question!

Oh yeah, adding to the puzzle, that last night is during the Grand Prix -- just discovered that yesterday while trying to book a room in Villefranche sur Mer!

2 thoughts:

Big city: Spend a night in Nice, have dinner there, maybe somewhere around the old market and close to the water.

Small town: St. Paul-de-Vence or Vence itself, have dinner at the Colombe d'Or in St. Paul maybe?

Both of these are close to the Nice airport for an easy trip in the morning.

If you don't believe Google, try www.viamichelin.com or www.mappy.com. The former says Arles is 1 hour and 20 minutes from Vaison-la-Romaine, so a day-trip is no problem at all.

Thank you for the quick reply!

I was gravitating toward St. Paul-de-Vence and Vence today -- thanks for the confirmation! Finding a nice place with available rooms is challenging, but I'm sending out a lot of e-mails to hotels tonight -- maybe someone will answer!

I don't think my friend is into the idea of staying in Nice. But the old part of town does seem very nice. I'll check it out.

Good to know Google's not lying. Being from LA, it's hard to believe all these places are such a quick drive from each other!

-Mimi

I'm starting to hear back from hotels. I'm so glad everything's not completely booked between the Film Festival and the Grand Prix! I was starting to get a little worried!

So far the Hotel Diana and La Maison du Frene in Vence each have one room available. They both look lovely to me!