Trip to Provence
 

First mother & daughter trip to Provence through "Alumni Association of University of Michigan", staying at the Grand Hotel Roi Rene in Aix-en-Provence. Our schedule includes excursions to Cassis, Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux, Arles, Les Baux, St. Remy, Avignon, Pont du Gard. We want to utilize every moment of our stay and wondered how far we could explore early evenings and our last day is free to go off on our own; maybe Saint Tropez or Nice??? If anyone could assist with trains/bus/schedules and/or suggested day/night trips, we would be sincerely grateful. This is our first adventure together and we are both equally adventuresome and excited about this trip. "Go-Go-Go" is our travel motto and we thank anyone & everyone for their input!

You don't say when you are going and for how long, info that could make a difference. I think you will be ready to have the last day free to explore Aix and relax a bit and you should be sick of busses by then. If not, I would consider going back to your favorite place on the trip to explore further. You certainly don't appear to need more choices.

st tropez is very small so if you can get there quickly you would love it...lots of nice shops and good restaurants and a lovely harbor...again as noted above it depends on the time of year...at certain times it is wall to wall people....<BR>plenty to do in aix as pointed out...or just sit and absorb

I think using public transportation to get to San Tropez as a day trip is going to pretty tough. Hanging around Aix might be your best bet.

Didn't realize I forgot to say when we would be there - Leaving April 28th for 9 days - hope the weather will be good?? Yes, our itinerary is covering a lot, but don't want to miss out on anything else we could &quot;squeese&quot; in! Thanks for the input so far and welcome any other comments.

The more you see, the less you'll remember.

St-Tropez and Nice are too far to do for a day trip, both are probably aroundt 3 hours one-way by train, Nice more. St-Tropez doesn't have a rail station, so you have to go to St Raphael and then take a bus which is at least an hour. One problem is that Aix is not on a main rail line so you have to transfer to go east, and that adds on time.<BR><BR>Given how much you are seeing, you might want to spend it in Aix, I agree. Otherwise, check out bus excursions in the tourist office to see what might be possible for a day trip. You could certainly go to Marseille if you wanted, but I don't know much about whether that would be something you'd enjoy or not as I haven't spent any time there. I haven't heard any glowing reports on it.

Virtually all towns and many villages have tourist offices that can be most helpful. Try entering the name of the place you want to visit on Google and you will gets lots more info...often available in English as well.<BR><BR>John