Hello,
We are taking a tour in Provence which visits many of the recommended towns, including Les Baux, Gordes, Roussillon, St. Remy, Uzes and Avignon. We will have an extra 2 days on our own. What town do you suggest that will complement what we are already seeing, ie lovely, comfortable, beautiful but also maybe a bit different. We have thought of Arles, Nimes, Vaison la Romaine, and Aix - which should we pick (or is there another we should consider)? We will have a rental car so all is possible.

The villages in the luberon, like Bonnieux, Lourmarin, Seguret

We found Isle sur Sorgue to be an ideal location to explore.

Assuming you'd be seeing the other nearby towns and villages of the Luberon on your tour, I'd suggest the 'beautiful but also maybe a bit different' Vaucluse area around Vaison la Romaine which would include Séguret, Crestet, etc. From there you could reach the area around Mont Ventoux including the interesting hillside village of Brantes.

How 'bout Arles/Nimes and the Camargues in between ? The places on your tour are all excellent, but you've left out Roman ruins and the Med - which you'd get a tast of by basing in Arles, for example, and maybe doing a day's drive down to Aigues Mortes and/or Stes.-Maires.

-Kevin

What time of year?

If you'll be there in late June or July, I would try to spend some time in the Lavender growing region - near Sault. You could stay in/near Vaison and hit the Sault area and also the Rhone winegrowing villages TuckH mentioned. You'll see some lavender fields in the Luberon near Bonnieux, but the ones around Sault are larger. If you visit Brantes, you get up into more mountainous terrain - which will be different than what's on the "tour"

If this doesn't interest you, I would probably try to squeeze in Aix with a day-trip to Cassis - or even entirely Cassis.

Like Kevin mentioned, there will not be many/any Roman Ruins on your tour - those are in Arles, Nimes, Vaison, Orange, some outside St Remy, and the Pont du Gard. I'm surprised the Pont is not on your itinerery, because you pass right by it going to Uzes.

Stu Dudley

Hi everyone, thanks for your good suggestions. I think the Pont du Gard is going to be on our tour as you note, when we are in Uzes. We will be there at the end of June so if the lavender will be blooming we may need to go and see that! The suggestion for more mountainous areas is a good one too (our tour is on bicycles so I think it is in an area with more gentle hills). We were looking at hotel Crillon le Brave, which I think is near Vaison, Seguret and some of the other villages mentioned... is it a good base, or should we go further north or northeast? The mediterranean is not a "must" on this trip as we've seen it many times in other places... some of the Roman ruins might be good to see, however. Orange at least would be quite accessible from Crillon or Vaison. I am wondering if Aix might be a little too far away (we want to spend more time seeing, less time driving... but I'm not sure of travel times in the area). I had thought of Nimes and Arles but they both seem rather large and I'm wondering if they might not represent the charming, "country" Provence we are hoping to enjoy. Can anyone comment on how these cities are for the tourist?

The end of June is the perfect time to see the gorgeous lavender in bloom.

Stu Dudley has an an itinerary that features that scenery (we followed it) and it was a highlight for us.

For someone who bikes, Crillon-le-Brave is a great place to stay. The food, ambiance is , I hope, still as good. I agree if you will be there during lavender blooming time to adjust the days spent wherever.
And, you can't get anywhere different in Provence than the Camargue. Aigues-Mortes was a must see. We spent a night there.
The Roman ruins outside St Remy, Glanum.

Crillon is fine - excellent location. There is a very nice Monday morning market close by in Bedoin. I'm sure you already know that Bedoin is kinda the bicycle "hub" for that region - the starting base for climbs up Mt Ventoux.

If you want my 27 page Provence itinerary (with lots of driving tours around the Bedoin/Crillon region) along with my "Lavender Field Route" e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll send a copy.

Stu Dudley