I have searched the archives and found lots of information on day trips in Provence. Enough for several weeks in fact. But we are only going to be able to spend 4 nights in Aix and would like to rent a car for two or three day trips. If you had to pick only 3 day trips, what would the itineraries be?

This is a very difficult question.

Driving down to Cassis and taking a boat trip through the Calanques is a top one in my opinion.

A visit to Les Baux, easily combined with St. Remy is another good one.

But my very favorite day was a drive of several small towns -- Roussillon is probably my very favorite, which we combined in one day with L'Isle sur la Sorgue, Fontain-de-Vaucluse, Gordes, and fabulous lunch in the caves at Bonnieux -- Restaurant Le Fornil. All this was accomplished in one day with a beautiful scenic drive back over the Luberon to Aix by evening. (Roussilon was the last village of the day, the others are in the order we did them).

I couldn't fault any of Patrick's itinerary- the Calanques! (a full day) Les Baux! The Fontain!! Wonderful!!!! And Roussilon..wow!! (walk through the ochre mines- worth it!) If you go to Isle Sur La Sorgue- and please do it's amazing...try to make it a Sunday when the flea market has to be seen to be believed. (Can combine with Fontain and even Petit Luberon villages) And if you do drive through the towns of the Petit Luberon, try to walk up to the Maquis de Sade's catsle ruins at Lacoste.
One other thing ....if you are in Provence in Lavender season, then the Abbye de Senanques is like a dream!! (otherwise don't bother)

Enjoy...

Thanks so much for the help. I don't mean to sound ignorant, but could someone help me out on the recommendations for the Luberon? Is this an area? A mountain range? Lori

Did you read 'A Year in Provence' by Peter Mayle? He stayed near Menerbes which is one of the Luberon villages. It is a region of Provence. Really pretty with sunflower fields, lovely hilltop villages....with great views. Romantic and slow paced. But you must have your own car.

If you only have 2 days though, this area doesn't have the wow factor that you'll experience in Les Baux or the Calanques or the Fontain de Vaucluse. With the exception of Roussilon.

Good luck!!

I think Patrick's all sound pretty good, also, although I wasn't that crazy about Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and wouldn't put that at top of my list. I also have another choice given your location, which I would.

First, the Luberon is a mountain range but that term is sort of used to refer to the general area around it. Maps and guidebooks will definitely refer to the Luberon. I think the north side of the Luberon is more interesting than the south, and from Aix, you'll have to cross the mountains to get to the other side.

It's hard to say for three days, but I imagine St Remy and Les Baux would be one of the top, then another day to do some of the Luberon (I especially liked Roussillon) villages. I think you can go up through Lourmarin for that.

Now, from Aix, I also did a day trip to the east, exploring the Montagne Ste Victoire, seeing the Cross of Provence, the Ste Beaume Massif, and St-Pilon, etc. That is more a mountain driving tour and hiking, but that is the most extensive and highest of the Provencal mountain ranges. YOu might be able to combine a drive through that down to Cassis for a day, although you couldn't get out and do some of the hiking to the top of St-Pilon or anything.

Moustiers-ste-Marie and lunch at Les Santons. You can see some of the Luberon villages along the way. I like to use mappy for route planning

Patrick nailed this one. We loved Roussillon. Les Baux was great. It's less crowded later in the day when the tour busses depart. A boat ride out of Cassis was absolutely glorious. But when I tried to look closer at some of the naked women sunbathers, my wife Calanqued me along side the head.

Hi: I took day tours to all the villages mentioned by the others from Avignon. It was rushed but I loved the villages and hope to go back. I am looking for a hotel in aix. Could you share the name or the site where you found it. Thanks johanna

We stayed our week at Hotel des Augustins in the center of Aix right off Cours Mirabeau. They had an arrangement for parking in a garage about 2 blocks away. You can check it out at http://www.hotelinformation.com/html...ence/augustins

Next time we are likely to get an apartment at Citidines Aix Forbin. See www.citidines.com and follow the links.

You can do a day trip to Arles and walk around seeing the Roman ruins, Amphitheatre, Baths, forum etc (there's a great market but I can't remember which day) and then drive to see the rebuilt "bridge at Arles" that Van Gogh painted - it was bombed during the war and rebuilt a bit further downstream presumably for the tourists, but it is straight out of his painting! You can then drive to the Camargue which has millions of flamingos on it's waters, and plenty of horse-ranches for day riders but has a wild beautiful scenery all it's own. The gypsies of Europe visit in their RV's for a w/e in late May to pay hommage to their patron Saint ( St Mary?)who has a statue in the Church there. They take the statue for a "swim" and redress her in gypsy clothes for the next year. We did this as a day trip from Aix, and it was very interesting.
I second the trip to the Calanques, Cassis and the Luberon.