Darla

My husband and I will be spending two weeks in Pezenas for business but will be able to take a few day trips. One we have planned is to Avignon. For the route to Avignon we plan on taking what appears to be the direct route; Montpellier, Nimes then Avignon. My question is on the return. To avoid seeing the same things we are contemplating returning via Avignon, St. Remy, Arles, Auiges Mortes, La Grande Motte, Montpellier then on to Pezenas. Does this sound like a logical route and are we doing justice to each of the mentioned towns if we stay an hour or too in each? Any additions or deletions would be most helpful. Thanks so much for your time.

Sue Newman

Dear Darla, <BR> <BR>I don't have a map handy and it's been more than 20 years since I spent a year going to university in Montpelier, but I can strongly recommend you trust your instincts and return via a different route. <BR> <BR>I love Arles, Avignon, Nimes, and Orange, all Roman towns, yet different in their own ways. La Grande Motte and Aigues Morte were different and interesting, too. La Grande Motte was very modern in the late 70's. It could just look really old now, but the area has different scenary and is worth it. I don't know St. Remy. <BR> <BR>You didn't mention Aix en Provence, but it's nice, too. <BR> <BR>Montpelier is much nicer now than it was when I lived there. The pedestrian area in the center of town is/was nice. There's not much to see there, however. <BR> <BR>La Camargue is a very different area of France - wild horses, wine grown in sand, etc... <BR> <BR>My preference is all the little towns and villages, like Arles, Nimes, and Orange. <BR> <BR>I don't know when you're going, but many have festivals of some sort and that's a great time to be there. <BR> <BR>Sorry to reply without a map, but hope this helps. I love this region of France and hope you will, too. Have fun. <BR> <BR>Sue

StCirq

Sounds like an excellent plan to take two routes, and the places you've selected all merit attention (I don't know La Grande Motte, though). But I don't think you'll find it possible to do all that in one day unless you pick just one thing to investigate in each place, and even then..... <BR>I don't know what to delete, though. Possibly Aigues Mortes as it will require a kind of detour from the basic route. I love Arles, Nîmes, and Montpellier. St-Rémy, while enormously popular with most visitors, has never grabbed me. I guess the best advice is to get up early, drive fast, and if you run out of time, save whatever you miss for the next trip. Bonne route.

PB

If I've read this correctly, you plan to do this trip to Avignon and back in one day, stopping in these places ? <BR> <BR>If you drive on the autoroute directly from Pezenas to Avignon, without stopping, it will take you close to two hours. I would suggest seeing Montpellier and Nimes in a separate day trip, as well as the Pont du Gard. <BR> <BR>Returning from Avignon, you can head south to St. Remy, Les Baux, then on to Arles, and then back to Pezenas. That would be about the limit for one day - if you can manage to squeeze all that in. <BR> <BR>La Grande Motte is not one of my favorites. But Aigues Mortes and Saint Gilles warrant a visit. <BR> <BR>PBProvence

Darla

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. I think we will return to Pezenas via St. Remy, Les Baux, and Arles. We will have to save the Camargue area for some other trip. Just the excuse to return to France! Any last suggestions on things to see and do in the above mentioned cities? Thanks ever so much.

darlene

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