Natalie2b

Since our planned summer road trip is no longer an option (due to work changes) I am planning a two week holiday through Provence & Tuscany and possibly Venice during mid June. My original thought was 5 nights in Provence, 5 nights is Tuscany/Florence & 4 nights in Venice. After reviewing everything I want to see in Provence I can't imagine pulling that off with what essentially boils down to three days on the ground, so... A week in Provence & a week in Tuscany it is! Is it worth tacking on 2 nights for Venice or is that better saved for another trip (long weekend/city break)?

I am shopping flight/train options from London to Provence & Florence. The Eurostar to Avignon is an option, especially since we are a straight shot on the tube into St Pancras. It is only slightly more expensive than a flight, but we wouldn't have to pay for parking for two weeks. I don't know that flying would be a ton faster either, between the drive & early check in. Any thoughts?

Travel between Provence & Florence -- as best I can tell taking the train between Lyon and Florence is the fastest option (for trains) at 10 to 11 hours, which seems ridiculous. I will check Ryanair & Easyjet - but is there a ferry or any other option that I don't see? We plan on renting a car in both locations. I am thinking we will base around St Remy and somewhere near Florence. I think ideally I would want to start in Italy and move to France for a better chance at catching the lavender in bloom. Thanks in advance for your help!

sandralist

To me the simplest option from southern France to Tuscany is to fly out of Nice to Rome and train to Florence from there or pick up a rental car and take the two-hour drive to scenic southern Tuscany and put Florence at the end of the trip. There might be ferries via Corsica (Marseilles-Corsica-Tuscan coast or Civitavecchia + rental car from there).

I agree the train ride is dreary and to be avoided.

RonZ

I suggest you forget about Provence, saving it for another trip, and head directly to Italy.

neckervd

You may also fly with ryanair from Marseille to Rome. If you want to visit southern Tuscany, you better rent your car at Rome or Orvieto.

RonZ

London to the Avignon TGV station, leaving at about 8AM you'll arrive at about 5:30PM, then pick up a car and head to a hotel. Then you will most likely have to change hotels the night before flying to Rome in the event of a morning flight getting you there early enough to rent a car at FCO.

If you wish to get to Termini and then a train for a rental location closer to Tuscany, getting there all in the same day, the best choice would be Chiusi-ChiancianoTerme. However it would be simpler to just drive out of FCO.

Orvieto is one of the very best towns in the region, and a one-night stay would be enjoyable
prior to picking up a car. This would be a better idea if taking an afternoon flight out of France, possibly saving a hotel change.

No matter how you work it, there is a lot of travel time and activity getting in and out of France, and not much quality time.

RonZ

If planning to fly Nice to FCO, Easyjet offers direct flights, but not on the same time every day. There will be one flight either in the morning or the early afternoon. Iberia I believe has a daily flight late in the afternoon.

Natalie2b

hmmm, the only option I see for getting to Avignon on Eurostar/tgv is a train leaving at 7:19 and arriving at 14:08. Certainly an early morning considering we would have a 45min ride on the tube to get to St Pancras.

What I was really considering is, if we add Venice at the front end, flying (probably Ryan since it is cheapest) into Venice for two nights then taking the train to Florence (using bimbi gratis) spend the week in/around Florence - obviously not driving in Florence. On Saturday there is RyanAir flight from Rome Ciampino at 15:30 arriving in Marseille at 17:10 - certainly a full days travel...

I was considering Eurostar mostly for the trip home. It leaves at 15:58 and arrives at 22:12. Again, a late night, but it seems like it might be easier sitting on a train in one spot, plus we can enjoy the view, maybe. But, we might have to pay a bit extra to return the rental car in Avignon vs Marseille where we would have picked it up (or take a train to Avignon to rent the car there...) It would certainly be simpler to stay in one place, but that's not really what we want to do, so hopefully we can find a way to make it as painless as possible Thanks for the help so far!!

bvlenci

Are you traveling with a child? (I just noticed the "bimbi gratis" reference.) If so, I wouldn't consider any really long train rides.

RonZ

There are direct flights from LGW to Venice, and back from Nice, taking a couple of hours. Train from Venice to Florence, rent/drop off a car at the airport. Florence stay, train to Rome. Fly from Rome to Nice.

Natalie2b

RonZ - any particular reason Nice rather than Marseille since it is really Provence we want to see? Although it might be a prettier flight in and a pretty drive into Provence?

bvlenci - our boys will be 14, 11 & 8 at the time of the trip. I thought 7 hours on a train would be better than an hour in a car, two hours shuffling in an airport, two hours on a plane, another hour in an airport and another hour home... At least they would be able to play video games (I assume Eurostar will have plug ins/outlets since our last TrenItalia from Rome to Naples did) and see things going by. I was also assuming there would be tables with seats around them rather than bays of seats in rows.

honeyhead

Wow, thats quite a trip with three boys.
I would consider staying in Provence cutting the stay in two halves. First driving/culture/staying off the coast in a nice B&B with pool and playtime, second half near the coast with less driving, more time at the beach and sweet coastal towns like Cassis.
September is perfect for Provence: French Holidays end 30AUG15

Venice is like hell in August, spend our honeymoon there around 21AUG and we fled to the mountains after 2 days