My husband and I are going to Provence for six days in September for our first year wedding anniversary. I was thinking of maybe going to Avignon for three nights and then maybe St Remy or Aix for the other three. What do you think? I have never been so have no idea of what it's like down there. I want: nice quaint town, good cafes & restaurants, not overcrowded, good markets etc etc. Also are there any nice beaches around? We have a car.

Why not just stay in one nice place for the whole time--St Remy would certainly be pleasant. Distances are not great for day tripping in every direction. The beach would be south an hour plus for a day trip.

Uzes whilst not actually in Provence (its across the Rhone in Gard in Languedoc-Roussillon) is a wonderful place to stay. It meets your criteria in everyway (not full of tourists, quaint, good cafes/restaurants and excellent markets on weds, sat & sun).<BR>Only 15 mins from the Pont Du Gard (good swimming and bathing as well as the Roman Aqueduct which is truly breathtaking - its familiarity from postcards, photos etc does not detract at all from the amazing ediface), 30 mins from Avignon and from Nimes, an hour from Arles and the Camargue. <BR>Very romantic and truly a quintessential small French town.<BR>My top recommendation to you!!<BR>Have a great time<BR>Dominic

Last summer we stayed at Mas de Entremont just outside Aix and used this as our base to drive to all of the sights in southern Provence. We were also able to drive south to the coast for an afternoon/evening visit. We drove into Aix one morning and did some shopping and also drove to Avignon. Both were too large for our liking. We much preferred to drive to the smaller towns to sight see and sample the wines. Why don't you get the Michellin book on Provence or a similar travel book and do some research to see what you might like best. I did my initial research this way and then posted questions on this site for more specific information. I might also suggest getting a good map of the area if you plan to do a lot of driving. Driving is easy but a good map is a must. We had the spiral bound Michelin map of the entire country as we drove from Paris to Normandy to Loire Valley and then to Provence and flew out of Nice. We also stayed in Orange north of Aix for three days. This is an interesting town with a fairly well preserved Roman amphitheatre and it is fairly well positioned for driving out to surrounding areas. You are going to love the area and driving is definitely the way to go. Good luck!

The Mas de Entrement is located close to the major highways, so it is very easy to get to places from there. We use the same map atlas and use mappy for route planning. If you are seeking luxury accomodations, consider the Chateau Montcaud in Bagnols-sur-Ceze, which is a little north of Avignon.

What a great time to go to Provence! You will miss the crowds and the roads will have less traffic. My wife and I have been to this area in Sept. for each of the past seven years. I have posted a diary from our trip last year. It mentions severral of the areas that have been suggested already. You can find it and other info about Provence at:<BR><BR>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/provence<BR><BR>Bon Voyage

A lot depends on what you want to do and see. Although it is a small area in terms of distance, driving through cities and hill towns can take time. I just returned from a 2-week trip to the area & we had plenty to do and see. You could spend 3 nights in the St. Remy area. From there you can visit Les Baux, Arles, Pont du Gard & Avignon. If you want to spend time at the beach, you could take a day trip through the Camargue to Stes Maries de la Mer. The town itself is not particularly charming, but the beach has nice soft sand--unusual on the Med. The other 3 nights I would spend in the Luberon. The hill towns are beautiful and the markets are great fun--esp Isle Sur la Sorgue on Sunday. You can also visit Avignon from here & Southern Rhone wine country. We had a lovely, relaxing stay at Bastide de Capelongue in Bonnieux. Aix is a lovely small city--but we much preferred the countryside.