jazzie

My husband and I will be renting a car in Avignon and heading for Eze where we will be staying for 3 nights. My thoughts are to leave first thing in the morning Monday, May 8th and head for St. Tropez and explore ... maybe visit Port Grimaud ... then take a scenic drive along the coast up to Eze. Is this a doable drive? I've read a lot on this board about the aweful traffic in the St. Tropez area ... would this be true during the time we'll be there? About how long do you think it would take us to drive from St. Tropez along the coast to Eze?
If this is not do-able can you suggest another option to explore on our route to Eze? I am open to any suggestions!

Underhill

Even on the autoroute the drive from Avignon to Eze is fairly long; perhaps you could do an overnight along the way so as to give yourselves a more relaxed pace? The most scenic drives are along the coast, and that's generally slow going because of only two-way traffic. Add to that the crawl into and out of St-Tropez and you'll have a long, tiring day.

For an overnight, I'd recommend staying in the charming village of Bormes-les-Mimosa, just above the seaside town of Le Lavandou (excellent beach), or the interesting small town of Hyères.

jazzie

Underhill, we are already committed to our stay at Chateau Eza so an overnight along the way would not be an option. We don't have to take the coast road if that would slow us down too much as we plan on driving along the coast while in Eze. I was trying to break up the long drive with an iteresting stop along the way. Any suggestions along those lines?

StuDudley

It's less than 3 hours from Avignon to Eze - don't know if I would consider that long.

You should not run into bad traffic in May. We've stayed in St Tropez many times in June & it was not bad then.

About 70% of the coast between St Tropez & Eze is not that scenic. Luckely for you, the most scenic section is not that far from St Tropez.

Here is what I would do (done this many times myself). From Avignon, take the "le Luc" exit off the A8. This is a scenic drive (but a little winding) that will take you through Le Garde-Freinet - which might be worth a stop. Then on to St Tropez. If you leave Avignon at 8, you should get to St Tropez prior to 10:30 - which is when the crowds start to arrive.

After visiting St Tropez, head towards St Maxime and then to Frejus. This section is OK scenic-wise - mainly because there are good views back towards St Tropez.

The drive through Frejus & St Raphael is ugly. Get on the coastal road - the N98. Once you are past St Raphael, it is beautiful. This is the Corniche de l'Esterel. Go slowly. There is a little church up on a peak in that area - take a side trip to visit the "shrine" and "take in" the views. There is a section in the Green Michelin Guide for the Riveria that describes this section of coast.

Once you get to La Napoule, get back on the A8 & on to Eze. The remainder if the coast drive is not nearly as scenic as the l'Esterel.

Port Grimaud is not worth a visit IMO - Grimaud the medieval village perhaps, but not the modern Port Grimaud.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

Slight clarification - it's less than 3 hrs to Eze by freeway - longer by the route I described.

Stu Dudley

jazzie

StuDudly - That's the kind of route I was hoping to find. Once back on A8 about how long of a drive is it to Eze? We don't want to get carried away ... loose track of time ... and find ourselves hunting for Chateau Eza in the dark.

StuDudley

About 1 hr to the parking lot in Eze.

Stu Dudley

ScottishChic

If you want to visit St Tropez and Port Grimaud I would suggest parking in Port Grimaud, then taking the MMG 'taxi-boat', that leaves from Port Grimaud's port and goes straight to St Tropez in less than 10mins. It only costs around €3 and will save you a lot of time due to traffic!! enjoy your trip!