Aix:
St. Remy:
Any where in that area.....what are the must sees? Restaurants? Hotels? Musuems or sites?

St. Remy is a sight in and of itself, being a charming small town. The best thing to do there is wander along the streets, then stop at a cafe for a Pastis and watch the world go by.

Nearby is the ancient Roman town of Glanum, which has a very good museum next to the site. There are other Roman ruins in the area and, of course, it's van Gogh country; you can get a guide at the travel office or van Gogh museum in St. Remy.

Not far from St. Remy is the fascinating, very old Provencal city of Arles. It too has splendid Roman ruins, including a marvelous arena where bullfights are held, a Roman theater, an interesting folk museum, and some beautiful churches.

Not far is the 3* Pont-du-Gard, a Roman aqueduct that has to be seen to be believed. Then there is les Baux, a quite incredible spot, especially around sunset. The bottom part of the complex is filled with shops and restaurants, but the church is very fine, and there is a santon museum too. The upper part of the site is made up of the ruins of what was a great complex once ruled by the lords of les Baux, the Wolves of Orange, who had the unpleasant habit of kidnapping wealthy folk and holding them for ransom. If no ransom arrived, the unfortunate captive was pushed over the edge of the high cliff. Eventually the lords of les Baux became too powerful, and the edifice was destroyed by (if I remember correctly) order of Cardinal Richelieu. It's an eerie place but an absolute must. Go early or late.

The area around les Baux is filled with small towns that produce excellent olive oil. One is Mausanne-les-Alpilles, which has its own mill.

You could spend weeks around St.-Remy without ever getting bored.

How many years are you staying ?

Peter

The biggest must-see in Aix is a parking place. I am not kidding.

"The biggest must-see in Aix is a parking place. I am not kidding."

I doubt you'll find one through the exhaust haze.

Thank you.....I am doing my research and I am so over whelmed with so many things to see. Aix has so much. Then Arles with the arena. Avignon seems to be easy to get around.

I bought a few books, but unfortunately the maps are not as detailed as I needed.

I'm having a hard time finding hte little towns that people talk about. I have three maps in front of me and can't find Mausanne.

The plan is to stay in one town (probably Avignon or St. Remy) then do day trips. My new worry is that we will get there and have this week long itinerary and then get side tracked b/c there are towns I never knew exisited!

There'll always be towns you never knew existed. Every year, I say, gee how did we miss this one before?

Maussane is due south of Les Baux, right next to Paradou. I'm looking at my Michelin may of Provence/Côte d'Azur, which is number 245. The cover is yellow. This is by far the best large-scale map of Provence.

Underhill - the Michelin #245 (Yellow) has since been replaced by the #526 (Orange). I too live by my 245, but it is no longer, so pressume the 526 is basically the same.

Toile - regardless how many times one visits Provence, there is bound to be some town that you're going to miss. Don't worry about it. I believe that most of our responses have indicated the main places to visit, and if you luck out and get lost and wind up "someplace" think of how lucky you are, becase I can guarantee if you were looking for that "someplace" you'd never find it.

St. Remy, the Luberon towns, Avignon, Pont du Gard, Arles, Glanum, Les Baux can pretty much keep you all busy for the week. And if you come on some place other than these "that's the Bonus"

I'm looking for a place in St. Remy. A house is hard to find to rent. Then once I get on teh sites looking for houses I end up finding these perfect places on the coast. Problem? St. Remy is central and I know that is wher to go! Does it ever come together when planning?

Thanks for the advice on the towns. I know i need to get over the fact that I can't see and do everything! But, I know that will not keep me from trying.