Hello. I am planning a two week France trip for late September/early October, and I'm starting to get a bit overwhelmed.
I would love to have some advice and input from the experienced travelers on this forum who have been to some/all of these places.
We already have plane tickets into Paris (CDG) and out of Marseilles, but everything in between is negotiable.

Dates: Sept 24 - arrive Paris
Oct 8 - Depart from Marseilles

Here is my tentative plan. Please let me know your thoughts. I'm worried it's a bit more hotel hopping than I'd prefer, but I don't want to miss anything. (That's always the dilemma. Right?)

Paris - 4 nights
Train to Avignon
Avignon - 4 nights (should be just 3?)
Pick up rental car at end of stay in Avignon. The remaining trip will be with the car.
Uzes - 1 night (only because we love medieval towns. We're open to others.)
Vaison-la-Romain - 1 night (We're not interested in wine, but it looks like a beautiful area.)
Luberon villages - 2 nights (Maybe L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue? Rousillon?)
Aix-en-Provence - 2 nights (Is it worth 3 if I eliminate another one above?)
Return car to Marseille airport and fly home.

I should also point out that I'm really intrigued by Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, but I fear it is too remote or too far east for the rest of my destinations. Also, any thoughts on spending a bit of time in Marseille?

Any thoughts or advice will be greatly appreciated.

I don�t think I would spend more than one night In Avignon. I also do not like moving so many times when I can establish a base that is convenient to explore the sites I am interested in. You can easily reach much of that part of Provence from day , St Remy.

So much time in both Avignon & Aix would be like staying in the same place twice for too many days. I prefer Aix, but Avignon is more centrally located. I don't like one-nighters either. Perhaps stay in St Remy 4-5 nights with a car & visit Avignon from there. Also visit Uzes & the Pont du Gard from St Remy. Then move on to the Luberon & stay near Gordes, Roussillon, Menerbes, or Bonnieux (not l'Isle sur la Sorgue) for 4-5 nights. Visit the Vaison area from there. Then on to Aix for the 2 nights (not a Sunday or Monday). Moustiers is too far away. It is quite charming - but so are other villages in the region. I would only recommend going there if you were visiting during the lavender season (plenty on the nearby Valensole plateau). My wife & I have vacations in Provence for 23 weeks.

See attached Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary

Stu Dudley

Firstly, I want to say you are smart in booking open-jaw or multi-city tickets: into Paris and home from Marseilles. This way you won't waste time backtracking.

I like mjs's suggestion to stay in St. Remy. It is a lovely small city with lots of restaurants and stores, and the asylum where Van Gogh spent a year is located there, along with the Roman ruins of Glanum. You are close to so many interesting places, so you can do lots of day trips from St. Remy. You can visit Les Baux de Provence, the Luberon villages, Pont du Gard, etc. I would spend 4 to 5 nights in St. Remy. But of course you need a car the entire time you are there.

Have you been to Paris before? If not, I recommend spending more than 4 nights in Paris. You will be suffering from jet lag on the day you arrive, so that is not a good or productive sightseeing day. Paris is huge, and there are so many wonderful sights, so many interesting museums, the Eiffel Tower, parks, etc. And of course just wandering around the city is fun and interesting. I would spend at least 5 nights in Paris.

I can see spending perhaps 1 or 2 nights in Avignon.

I haven't been to Uzes or Vaison so can't comment on those. Uzes is an outlier. Moustiers is very pretty but also an outlier.

We have been to Marseilles several times for a day but we have never stayed overnight. I know many people really like Marseilles. It would be very different from Paris and St. Remy, and it nice to have diverse places on your itinerary. So perhaps a suggested itinerary could be:

Paris - 5 nights
Avignon - 1 or 2 nights
St. Remy - 4 or 5 nights
Marseilles - 2 nights

I love Aix!!! Perhaps stay 1 night there. It is not a good base for the Luberon villages. I prefer Aix over Avignon. If you really want to spend a night or two in Aix (definitely worth it), then perhaps eliminate Avignon if you can't fit in both cities.

An alternative: Instead of Avignon stay in Arles, in the old town, parking the car just outside the city walls. Uz�s is only an hour away, and there is the Camargue in the opposite direction. You could also visit Tarascon on the way to Uz�s.

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Good advice from Stu, Karen and mjs. While I love Arles, it is too much to try to fit it into your two weeks… same with Moustiers Sainte Marie. Even Uz�s is not necessarily a must, if you can be happy with any of the other pretty old towns and villages that dot the Vaucluse. Search for “plus beaux villages” — an actual designation — and you’ll see plenty of options.
You’ve said you are not interested in wine, but to advise you on other choices we need to know what you do like. Architecture big and small? Nature hikes and views? Markets? Good restaurants? Art?
if it’s craggy views you like, for example, just east of Vaison-la-Romaine are the Baronnies. A circuit taking in Buis les Baronnies and Saint May is a spectacular use of a sunny day, and you can end with olive oil tastings in Nyons.

I second (third? fourth?) the idea of staying in a central location and doing the spokes of a wheel. Changing hotels is time consuming and frankly annoying. Depending on what's most important to you as you continue to refine your plans, St. Remy or a place in the Luberon would probably be your best bet. I personally would not stay right in Gordes or Roussillon because they can be packed, even though they should be visited, but maybe if you stay outside of town you'll find it less hassling. Bonnieux and Menerbes are, to my mind, better options-- they tend to be a lot less crowded and have some good restaurants. To my mind it makes little sense to stay in both Avignon and St Remy--they're too close for it to be worth your time doing the transfer. Just stay ikn St Remy!

I was glad to see that you're including Vaison among the places you want to see. So many people stay in the well-visited Luberon villages like Gordes and Roussillon and never see the beautiful wine-growing villages just to the north in the Vaucluse, of which Vaison is a major town. But within fiteen minutes of Vaison are a number of other beautiful villages like Seguret, Le Crestet, and Le Barroux, sprawling vineyards in Gigondas, and the beautiful (and craggy!) Dentelles de Montmirail (I think the road to take for the views is the D90 out of Beaumes de Venise toward Malaucene; if I'm remembering wrong I'm sure someone will correct me).

With limited time, I agree that you probably should drop Uzes and, in the other direction, Moustiers. It probably also makes sense to list all the places you want to see and then cut the list in half; this is one region where there is always more to see and you can't possibly do it all in one visit unless you have at least a month. Don't underestimate the driving time from place to place; it takes longer than you think.

If you feel you simply can't visit another village and just want some scenery, one pretty drive takes you along the D40 opposite Mont Ventoux to the tiny village of Brantes. Great views of the Mont, which is so close across the valley that you feel you could touch it.

One last thing. As you finalize your itinerary, I'd like to ride my favorite hobbyhorse and suggest that if you stay elsewhere but want to visit a larger town and are choosing between Avignon and Aix, I'd pick Aix every day and twice on Sunday. The core of Aix is quite small and loaded with charm, and the town makes a perfectly reasonable day trip from wherever you're based. Avignon is, IMO, not particularly attractive as a town, the pope's palace is an empty hulk, and the rest of the town simply doesn't have the elegance and atmosphere that Aix offers. I know a lot of people adore Avignon, but I confess I'll never understand why.

Have a great trip!

Just want to second that Aix was a very pleasant city (even arriving on a non-ideal Sunday) and it really didn't seem too bad a base for the hilltop Luberon villages (my guided tour went to Lourmarin, Roussillon, Gordes and back in 6 hours - could have stayed longer in each of course but it was just enough to leave satisfied).

Without a car I'll likely base in Avignon next time for the easier transit to sites I've missed like the Pont de Garde, but I do have the impression that's the main advantage. If I had a car I'd probably follow what seems the most common advice and stay put in St-Remy. ITA that repacking and transferring places is a pain and would try to minimize it as much as possible.

""I personally would not stay right in Gordes""

Neither would I. As I stated above - NEAR Gordes, Roussillon, .... The Route du Senanque west of Gordes has some excellent hotels & restaurants.

Stu Dudley

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I have modified my itinerary to the following.

1. Paris - 4 nights
2. Train to Lyon
3. Lyon - 3 nights (seems like an interesting city)
4. Train to Avignon; pick up car rental; drive to St Remy
5. St Remy-de-Provence - 4 nights (day trips galore: Arles, Pont du Gard, Luberon, etc)
6. Aix-en-Provence - 3 nights (day trips to Marseille, Cassis)
7. Return car to Marseille airport; fly home

I think this is a much more manageable plan that also provides flexibility to change our minds each day, based on weather, etc.
Thanks, again, for your help and input.

This looks like a great itinerary. When you're in Cassis, take a few minutes to drive the Route des Cretes, a road along the top of the cliffs just to the east of Cassis. There's a sign for the turnoff on route 559 heading out of the village. There are some wonderful views from up there!

Attached is my Lyon itinerary

Stu Dudley

We attempted this road several years ago. We got to the first viewpoint where we parked our car to take some photos. The wind was so bad that I stayed behind the opened car door. Couldn't make it any further. My daughter crawled on her hands and knees. I forgot what my husband did! Then we backed out, and started to continue further up, and the police came and sent us back down. The winds were dangerously strong, and the police wouldn't let us go any further.

Wow! We've driven this road three times, and while one time it was in fact quite windy, the other two times were just fine. I'm sorry you had such bad luck!

We did part of this road in May 2016 and it was like Karen described, the road was closed further along as it was deemed unsafe. I did manage to get some pictures, though it was so scary, luckily DH was driving. We�d planned calanques tour too, though of course that wasn�t possible either.