Request for comments Provence Itinerary Fall 2015
 

My husband and I have planned a vacation in Provence from Sept 26 through Oct 7, 2015. We will be flying into and out of Marseilles. I have tentatively booked 2 nights in Marseilles at Residence du Vieux Port to enable us to recover from jet lag and view the city before renting a car and driving out to the western area of the region. We will rent the car on Sept. 28 and drive to St.Remy de Provence where we will stay for 4 nights at Hotel de'l Image. This seems to be a good base to explore the region and the hotel is in the center and near many restaurants. We will be in town for the Wednesday market day. On Friday October 2nd we will drive to Roussillon where we will stay 2 nights at Le Clos de la Glycine and have at least one meal at Restaurant Davide at our hotel, which I hear is well regarded and also has wonderful views. On Monday October 5, we will drive to Villa Gallici outside Aix where we will stay for 2 nights. This is a bit of a splurge for the last two nights of our vacation.

My specific concerns:
a) Should we try to stay at one hotel for the last two nights instead of dividing into 2 two night stays? Are there better places to stay? Normally I try to stay at least 3 nights at each location but I thought each of the last 2 hotels had specific reasons to stay overnight. I don't mind repacking all that much. Also, I am reluctant to stay in Roussillon until the day we leave as we have a 10 am flight out of Marseilles in the morning and staying in Aix will make the morning drive on our departure date shorter.
b) Is Villa Gallici worth the splurge? How far is it to walk into town? We will have a car and we could also take a cab into town.

Any comments or suggestions will be very welcome.

freedale - Rousillon and St-Remy are only about an hour apart. So you could, potentially, during your 4 day stay in St-Remy visit Rousillon and the surrounding area.

Then you could stay in Aix on your last 4 nights and still be able to make lovely scenic drives and not miss anything.

I found it very easy to drive around and sightsee all over Provence.

I've stayed at Hotel Villa Gillici and loved it. The walk into town was about 5-10 minutes and not inconvenient.

Staying your last night in Aix is a good idea because the drive to the airport is quick and easy.

Oh, and I agree that you could stay stay in just one town to explore the countryside. I would then suggest your last two nights in Aix.

We stayed at L'Hotel in St Remy (was once the movie theater.)
There is a gazebo out back with the Alpilles overlooking you that you won't believe you are smack in town.)
After dinner we played pool in the room where they screen films. Some Like it hot, was playing that night. We stayed in Aix in town and walked to our restaurant, next to Gallaci,
Le Clos de la Violette, very good.

I think your itinerary is perfect and will enable you to taste Provence in different ways. Iwouldnt change it (Roussillon will indeed be very quiet but the Restaurant David is very nice).
No more movies at l'Image, it changed ownership a few years ago. Location is perfect,right in town, dont have to worry about car park.
Always head good reviews about Gallici, worse the slpurge I believe.
Make sure you have a "port view room at the residence" I like the hotel but havent been since its total renovation a few years ago.
Hope this will help and you'll enjoy Provence and St Remy in particular.....

Please don't drop your two nights in the Luberon! (If anything, stay longer.) At that time of year, Roussillon will be beautiful and quiet. Staying in a small village in the countryside will give you a very different experience from Marseille, Aix and even St. Remy.

I agree that your plan will give you a taste of the many different aspects of Provence.

Kathy

Thank you for the replies. I think I will keep this itinerary.

We've vacationed for 20 weeks in Provence, and I agree with KathyWood to split your time between Roussillon & St Remy to get the city/countryside mix.

Stu Dudley