TPAYT

Excellent report and never too many photos of France. I enjoyed every one of them. You took me back to some of our favorite places in Paris & Provence, merci!

susan001

I'll try to catch Isle sur la Sorgue on my next trip to Provence! Yes, I agree with you. My mini-van tour was from 9 am to 9 pm -- it was fabulous, but really too much for one day. By the end of the day, I couldn't remember Menerbes (first town), but had my photos to joggle my memory. I also saw Abbeye de Senanque. I had to take a cab from Avignon to the train station. Were you taking cabs to and from the station? It didn't seem that close, but I also had luggage when I left.

I'm still debating whether or not to rent a car in the Dordogne next June. But I probably will, just to try it.

Myer

susan001,
We also stopped at the Abbey (photo on my web site) but since we were really there too early for lavender the stop was at a field with lavender not in bloom. Could have been long grass.

However, we passed a field that was quite a bit more advanced and the guide stopped for about 15 minutes. We got out of the van, walked around, took photos and my wife walked into the field between the rows. Unscheduled but a good stop.

We stayed at the Bristol Hotel on the main street one block from the city wall/gates directly opposite the train station.

We arrived by bus from Aix and that was the longest walk of about two blocks into the town. The bus station is a block to the side from the train station.

From the hotel to the train station took us under 5 minutes.

Knowing that we were using public transportation a lot I selected that hotel.

When we left for Paris we went to the local (city) bus terminal that's located outside the post office but inside the gates. It's about half the distance as to the train station. With our luggage it was well under a 5 minute walk. We took the shuttle to the TGV station and that took no more than 10-15 minutes to drive.

Did you have to take cabs to the central train station or TGV or both?

Digbydog

Myer,

Interesting report and great pictures. We are hoping to get frequent flyer seats to France to visit Provence next June. You report and photos get me excited! Did you find Provence very busy with tourists? When in June wre you there?

We have stayed at Hotel Clement twice--great location. If you stay there again, the rooms facing the street amazingly enough, are not noisy.

susan001

Hi Myer,
I was on a photography workshop to start - in Lyon & then Valensole area. From there the photographer leading the workshop drove me to Avignon on his way back (since I had a reservation there). From there I went to Aix - I think I must have been taken to the TGV station, as it was a good 10 minutes or more by taxi (my b and b was inside the city walls). Sounds like you managed well with the local station. Good planning.

The Abbey itself was interesting, my guide, a historian, was full of information including the fact that the builders from the 12th century had left their initials so they would be paid. Initials are still there.

I'm shopping for a GPS as I'm fairly certain I would like to try driving on my next trip.

Myer

Digbydog,
We were there from June 6 - 19th. The last four complete days in Paris.

Hotel Clement is in a great location. I'm glad we spent a little more to make sure we had an inside room.

The only place that was overrun with people was Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and that was probably because of market day.

I think after that Aix-en-Provence had the most tourists. Or maybe it was the most people as it's a university town. Not really too many to make it uncomfortable. We had no trouble eating outdoors.

Arles had a fair amount of people but nothing too many.

We were in Saint-Remy and arrived during lunch time. I would rather more people than a town that looks abandoned. After an hour or two the town started to wake up a bit.

Myer

susan001,
I wavered a bit for a few days about renting a car but my wife was quite against the idea.

Also, automatic cars aren't always easily available.

spirobulldog

Nice report. Not for me. But would you take my wife next time. lol.
My daughter, wife, and my parents all did a 2 week Paris/London trip a couple of years ago and enjoyed it.
They would both like to try Italy sometime.
I'll check the pics out too.

Myer

spiro,
I know where you want to go and I do that as well.

Our most recent Italy trip was to Tuscany. Check it out. Maybe some flexibility would be fun.

Go to your Utah Trip Photos thread where I responded to your question about the trip to Glacier NP.

kansas

Thanks for the info on Montpellier, Meyer. I was glad to read that you enjoyed it very much.

Your photos remind me of the trip I took to Provence a few years ago with my son. It truly is a beautiful area.

Myer

kansas,
Your welcome.

I would definitely look into using Montpellier as a base if we consider that area again soon.

TDudette

Glad I found this myer (checked after your Umbria post). Wonderful shots and glad to hear you liked Montpellier--we did also. It was one of our bases and we trained to Arles and Avignon from there. We based in Barcelona, Montpellier, Nice and ended in Paris. Actually visited Parc Monceau and "lived" in that area. The park was nice but the area around it even nicer, eh?

TDudette

Myer, I've posted the beginning of our trip that included Spoleto. It was in 2005 and many things have changed but at least there will be some info, FYI.

Myer

TDudette,

Thanks.

We had read that Montpellier is very under-rated, we really didn't know what that meant. Within 5 minutes of leaving the train station knew this place was going to be special.

I'll chech out your Umbria info.

meriberi

Hi Myer -
I realize this thread is a few years old, but I'm hoping you'll see my post and help me out (also, I see you're asking questions about my neck of the woods in another thread, so I'll help you out too!).

We are on a cruise in May which visits Marseille and Sete, but we don't like to do big-bus ship tours and don't want to rent a car. I'm having trouble finding good ideas on cruisecritic.com, so I came over here to my trusty DIY travel source. Lo and behold, here's Myer posting about DIY Provence by train/bus, which is exactly what I'm looking for! I have some questions you're perfectly suited to answer - I may have missed it in your posts, so hopefully I'm not repeated something you've already answered:

1. How did you do Uzes/Pont du Gard with public transport? I'm struggling to figure that one out.
2. We have a nice, long day (8am-11pm) in Marseille and would like to see villages of Provence/Luberon - do you think it's feasible to link a few (Aix? Arles?) via train?
3. Alternatively, do you recall the name of the tour company you used for the minivan tour of Gordes and Roussillon?
4. I actually found your posts by searching on Montpellier - it looks like a fairly easy 30min train from Sete, and from what you and TDudette have written, it sounds like a place we'd really enjoy. What agenda would you recommend to someone who only has about 6 hours on the ground in Montpellier?

Thanks so much for your help already! Now I'll go over and tell you about visiting central Texas...

TDudette

Hi meriberi, Just to add to Myer' info, DH and I used Rendez Vous Provence for two van tours. One to the Louberon and one to Cassis. They picked us up at our hotel.

http://www.rendez-vous-provence.com/index.html

We really used Montpellier as a base (trained to Arles and Avignon) so only hung out in "The Egg" (Place de la Comedie) and one day took the tram to the university and walked back through St. Come Plaza.

Myer and others can make better suggestions.

kja

Thanks so much for this report, Myer! I'm particularly appreciative of your comparison of the Pont du Gard to the aqueduct in Segovia and for the details of your non-rental-car visit to Gordes, Roussillon, and Les Baux -- very helpful! (I know things could easily have changed over the years, but you've given me an idea with which to work.)