My wife and I are planning 5 night trip to Provence in the third week of June. We are also planning to stay in Paris for 5 nights on the same trip. It will be our first trip to both.

It's time to book accommodation, so we'd like some advice on where to stay - I've spent hours reading the posts here and am still not sure. We are thinking of 2 nights in a town in the western part of the region (perhaps St Remy, Uzes, or maybe Arles - not sure which one) followed by 3 nights in a Luberon village.

I know that many posts recommend staying at one place for the 5 nights and making day trips in different directions. But we are less concerned about packing and unpacking (we can do that in 10 minutes), and prefer to experience different locales and not have to backtrack. Whenever we have a car with us, as we will on this trip, we tend to spend only one night at each place and sight-see moving from place to place with our stuff in the trunk. Even when we don't have a car, and need to check-in before we can do any leisurely sight-seeing, we have often spent only 2-3 nights in each place.

1. I see that people tend to prefer Uzes as a more charming and less-touristy town, but at the same time recommend St Remy to first time visitors because it is more centrally located for accessing sights further east such as in the Luberon. But if we're going to stay in the Luberon as well, does it make sense to pair somewhere as far west as Uzes with somewhere further east such as Saint-Saturnin-les-Apt?

2. We need to be in Paris at the beginning and end of the trip so we have some flexibility on the days of the week we will be in Provence instead of Paris. Any suggestions here? Sun-Thu, Mon-Fri, or Tues-Sat?

All depends on the places you plan to visit. There is stuff for much more than 4 days anyway.
Make a list of the sites you want to (and can) visit in 4 days and check then which of the above mentioned places is reasonably close to them.

I would probably choose Uzes, based on what you've said. We've stayed in St. Remy several times and like it very much. We've used it as a base to see the Luberon as well as areas in and around Uzes. But, we've usually stayed there at least a week or longer. If you spend a few days in Uzes, you could see Pont du Gard, Nimes, and maybe Avignon. If you also stay in a Luberon village, you could travel to the neighboring villages and even go south to St. Remy and Les Baux. Alternatively, you could stay in St. Remy and travel north to the Luberon villages (one day) and south to Les Baux and Arles (one or two days). Yes, St Remy is touristy, but so are any of the Luberon villages!! If you're there during the lavender season (beginning the end of June, I think), even more so. By the way, you should travel by TGV to the Avignon TGV stop, rent a car there, and then travel around provence. If you going to France in June, buy your TGV tickets online 3 months before to get the best deal (sometimes you have to check daily to see if SNCF has put the tickets up for sale). PalenQ on this forum has often discussed this. Safe travels!

Uzes is less touristy, although unfortunatley who knows how long that will last. If you are going to be in St Saturnin les Apt, I think what you said makes sense but it really depends what you intend to do during that stay. I suspect what you plan to do in any of those locations is not anything you would be doing from St Saturnin, anyway, so in that sense, it doesn't matter. You give no indication of what you want to do while in that spot (Arles, St Remy etc), so it's hard to advise. If you want to visit Arles, Nimes, Pont du Gard during that stay then Uzes makes sense (or perhaps Orange). Of course you can't do that much in 2 days anyway. If you only plan to visit Arles or Les Baux, St Remy would be good.

Lots of people on Fodors love St Remy, so I don't think it's a given that everyone thinks Uzes is more charming. Uzes does not have as many hotels to choose from as St Remy, that's one thing. And of course, Arles has a train station and the other 2 do not. I suspect you are not going to find a good hotel in Uzes itself where it will be easy with your car as there just aren't that many hotels there. I stayed there once with a car in a hotel that was just okay and parking and driving in/out was very difficult (and the hotel had a garage but it was very hard to navigate being so small). That was the Hotel Entraigues, which is one of the few hotels right in Uzes itself. There is another rather expensive hotel there now (it's a Relais and Chateaux property), and then maybe a couple other more modest places, at least in the city itself. You can find more in the surrounding area.


Anyway, I think you would be fine in either and would just decide based on what you plan to do during that stay, and what type of accommodation you can find that will suit you.

>>stay in St. Remy and travel north to the Luberon villages<<

East to the Luberon villages.

Although I like Uzes more than St Remy, I would split my time between St Remy & the Luberon so you can visit some sites around Mt Ventoux. It's take some time & non-scenc driving to get to Mt Ventoux from Uzes or St Remy. There are some very scenic drives to Mt Ventoux heading through the mountains & gorges due north of Gordes & Roussillon.

From St Remy visit the Pont, Les Baux area, Uzes, Avignon, Arles.

From Luberon visit Luberon villages, Lourmarin, Sault Lavender fields, Vaison & surrounds, Cote du Rhone villages & vineyards. Mt Ventoux, Pernes, Carpentras market.

Stu Dudley

If you going to France in June, buy your TGV tickets online 3 months before to get the best deal (sometimes you have to check daily to see if SNCF has put the tickets up for sale). PalenQ on this forum has often discussed this>

Yes indeed - go to www.voyages-sncf.com to book your own or www.thetrainline.com - same trains and fares and said to be easier to use by those who have done. www.seat61.com has keen advice on doing that - for general info on trains - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com. TGVs are often Duplex or doubedecker trains - chose a seat on upper deck for better views than from sunken lower deck.

I like Stu’s itinerary especially if you want to travel north of the Luberon region. Highly reputed vineyards, the city of Orange, and Mt Ventoux (though I have not been to Ventoux, myself), but you’re really putting on the mileage in such a short period!

Totally agree with Stu's outline. Take a look at a map and pinpoint the villages and sights you want to visit. Our experience with Uzes including a 4 night stay along with many day trip visits, is it is a worthy destination after visits to the Luberon, Les Baux area and the Dentelles. While St Remy is not as charming, travel time from Uzes is substantial after the Pont du Gard and Nimes.
In any case, your first visit will just get you a taste of many things and places and you will want to return. You can't see and experience it all in this first visit

If training from Paris and going to Avignon area book tickets to Avignon-TGV station a few miles out of town - rent a car there and be on way to Uzes or other place away from Avignon.

Thanks everyone for the responses! Let me try to rough sketch our itinerary (St Remy seems to make more geographical sense):

Monday - arrive at Avignon TGV and pickup rental car by noon. lunch in St Remy. Spend the afternoon driving around the Alpilles, visiting Glanum and Les Baux
(Q: should we shift the itinerary by a day so we spend Monday in Paris instead, arrive on a Tuesday? how bad are the store closures on Monday compared to Paris? but this will also mean our distribution of nights will be 5 nights Paris, 5 nights Provence, with one night dangling in Paris at the very end.)

Tuesday - Uzes morning and lunch. Pont du Gard. Arles or Castillo in the late afternoon before heading back to St Remy.
(Q: do we have enough time for Arles or can we fit it in elsewhere? We tend to be fast paced travelers with low attention spans but we don't want to rush it either.)

Wednesday - St Remy market in the morning. then drive towards the Luberon. visit some Luberon villages.
(Q: what's worth stopping on the way?)

Thursday & Friday - two full days in the Luberon area and beyond
(Q: I have Stu's itineraries and the Michelin Green Guide on hand, but there are more options than we have time for. of these, which routes are the most scenic? and where should we go for earlier blooming lavender? I think June 21-22 is usually too early for the areas around Sault highlighted in Stu's itinerary...)

Saturday - Apt market, then early afternoon TGV back to Paris.

Shops should be open in Les Baux on Monday. Some may be closed in closed in St Remy in the AM. My itinerary has details about St Remy on Mondays.

Nothing/not much to see between St Remy & the Luberon if you take the direct drive through Cavaillon (not an attractive town, IMO). I would just get to the Luberon ASAP - or dawdle in St Remy for awhile.


Lavendin is planted in the Luberon and it blooms earlier than normal lavender. Just take the Luberon dive in my itinerary & you should see lots of lavendin.

Stu Dudley