Thoughts on Provence itinerary?
 

Hello:
We will be in Provence for 7 days. Staying in a small town called Simiane de la Rotonde, about 25 minutes east of Apt. We have been there before and loved it so much that we decided to go back. Our first trip was fast and we didn't get a chance to see much of Provence. We hope to do more site seeing this year.
Here is our agenda. If anyone has any feedback about it, I would appreciate it. We expect to drive about 1-2 hours for our day trips.


Day 1:
Land in Marseille around 1Pm, visit Cassis for a few hours and drive to our B&B- to Simiane (about 2 hours away)

Day 2-
(full day trip) Drive from Simiane to Verdon to do some white water rafting (anyone have suggestions to which rafting company is best?)

Day 3-
(SAturday) Apt market, and Abbaye de Senanque

Day 4-
MORNING: Drive from Simiane to Vaison la Romaine(may do a cycling tour around the city-again any suggestions re:bike rental companies?)

AFTERNOON: Visit Arles or Baux for supper (restaurant suggestions WELCOME :)


Day 5:
Full day trip: Drive from Simiane to St Tropez and back. BEACH DAY! This is a Monday-tried to stay away on the weekend


Day 6:
Drive from Simiane to Avignon-spend morning in Avignon.


Day 7-
RELAX by pool.


This is just a plan and it will probably be modified as we get going. I would love to hear any thoughts about other sites we are missing. We also don't want to be too busy visiting too much. We like to relax and take it slowly.

Thanks for all the advice I have already gotten from Fodorites!!!

A couple of my favorite places in Provence that you didn't mention were:

Les Baux
Aix-n-Provence
St Remy

Simiane is pretty remote - but since you've been there before you already know that.

You might not have much time for Cassis if you land at 1, get your bags, rent a car, & on the road by 2:30. Couple of hours in Cassis, then on to Simiane - getting there at 6:30 or so. You can always make adjustments when you land, but if it were me I would be a bit jet-lagged (I don't know where you're from) & want to get to my B&B earlier that 6:30.

On day 3, I would try to hit some of the Luberon villages also - Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux, etc.

Actually I would visit the market in l'Isle sur la Sorgue on Sunday instead of the Apt market. Both are very good markets, but l'Isle has antiques and more food vendors than Apt & many tourists find it more interesting. Senanque & Luberon villages would be just as nice on Sunday. That would free up Saturday for visiting some towns & villages (St Remy) that might have shops open (most/all are closed on Sunday, except Gordes & Roussillon - the very touristy villages).

Compared to your other days, I think Day 4 is a little ambitious if you do a bike ride around Vaison. Vaison & Arles are not that close. What time did you expect to get back to Simiane after dinner in Arles? Most good restaurants really don't start serving till 7:30, and I have difficulty holding a nice leisurely dinner under 2 1/2 hrs - so that gets you back to Simiane pretty late. Also, many restaurants are closed on Mondays, so if you have your heart set on a specific one, make sure it's open.

Bedoin is a biking center, and it has a very nice market on Mondays too. There are 3 very good rental places in town.

Stu Dudley

I knew I could count on you Stu! You gave me some good info on our lat trip. It was your advice on the lavender route that brought us to this area of Provence- Superb.

Thanks for the invaluable advice.

Do you have my 27 page Provence & Cote d'Azur itinerary that I updated this year??. If not, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll send a copy. Do so soon, because we leave for 6 weeks in France on June 20.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu,

I do have it. I got it from Fodors.
Thanks again.

For rafting, we were booked with Aqua Viva Est. [email protected] My husband wrote them in French but they were able to respond in English. Unfortunately we didn't end up taking the trip, so I can't comment on the quality of the guides. http://www.aquavivaest.com/

This link has 4 companies listed:
http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/groupes/verdon/eauvive.htm

We really enjoyed the Saturday market in Arles.