xyz99

We are planning a 2-weeks trip to France next year, hopefully end of June – early July, for lavender. We prefer smaller towns and slow driving with multiple stops. We always stop for lunch, and generally have an idea of what to do for the day, but if not all of it fits, there is no problem. We’re interested in relaxation, photography, good food, and generally soaking in the area we’re visiting.

Here is what I am thinking, please chime in with any comments and suggestions:
Day 1 (Sat) – Land in Marseille, rent car, drive to Cassis
Day 2 (Sun) – Cassis, boat trip to Calanques
Day 3 (Mon) – Drive to our Provence base (Isle sur la Sorgue or some town nearby – looking for a nice B&B around $200/night) – visit Maussane, Les Baux, Glanum on the way. Don’t think we can fit St Remy, should we reconsider?
Day 4 (Tue) - Pont du Gard and Uzes
Day 5 (Wed) – Arles and Camargue (horses, bird sanctuary)
Day 6 (Thu) - Pernes Les Fontaines, Le Beaucet, Venasque, Chateauneuf-du-Pepe
Day 7 (Fri) - Oppede Le View, Menerbes, Lacoste, Bonnieux, Saignon
Day 8 (Sat) - Goult, Gordes, Abbaye Senaque, Village des Bories, Roussilon
Day 9 (Sun) - Stu's Lavander Road
Day 10 (Mon) - Vaison-la-Romaine, Mont Ventoux and other Dentelles
Day 11 (Tue) – return car, TGV to Paris (from Avignon?)
Day 12-15 – Paris, and fly back home on Day 16

We would like to see a couple of markets, but did not look into days yet. Based on that, we will switch some days around. So, how does this sound? It will be our first trip to Provence, so any suggestions are welcome. Thanks

StuDudley

On day 10, it the market in Bedoin before visiting Vaison.

The most popular market is Sunday in l'Isle sur la Sorgue. You could do that before the Lavender route - but get to the market no later than 8:30.

Stu Dudley

ira

Hi x,

Good plan.

You might want to consider fitting in a drive through the Gorges de l'Ardèche on Day 4

On day 5, it will take you about 4 hrs to get down to the Med (we visited Saints Marie sur mer) and back. That doesn't leave much time for Arles.

You will be less than an hour from Saint Remy du Provence. It would be a shame to not visit it.

The Provence part of my trip report might be useful:
Ira Returns From 22 Loverly Days in Europe - Sep, 2009
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-europe.cfm

Enjoy your visit.

xyz99

Stu, thanks for the markets info. We’ll definitely wake up early for the l'Isle sur la Sorgue market (although, I have to admit, we don’t usually do that on vacation).

Ira, the Gorges de l'Ardèche look amazing. Thanks for suggesting them, since I was very sad that I had to cut out Millau and Gorges du Tarn, but we’ll need a reason (or more) to go back.

Hmm, I really want to see a Roman amphitheater, so that is the main reason to go to Arles, although I know it has a lot more to offer. I heard the Nimes one is even better, but Nimes is a bigger city and even farther from where we will be. I guess we will have to cut off the birds of Camargue, and keep the roman ruins. In this case (for both roman ruins and general atmosphere), what do you suggest for a day trip, Arles or Nimes?

StuDudley

I'm not a big fan of Nimes compared to Arles, Avignon, or Aix. We returned there last year & stayed overnight in Nimes before staying for 2 weeks in a gite near Vaison. This was about our 4th visit to Nimes - and it was a Friday night & Sat morning in mid June - and not much was "going on". Architecture in the city didn't seem as interesting as the other cities I mentioned. Maison Carree was under repair & covered with sheeting - but it was scheduled for opening in Sept '10. Therefore I would visit Arles instead of Nimes for the amphitheater.

Stu Dudley

baglady

If you haven't found a B&B in Isle sur la Sorgue, I'd highly recommend Le Pigeonnier. They offer a beautiful gite or a bed/bath in their house. A lovely, quiet property, close to Avignon and the hosts are the best.

xyz99

Stu,
That’s what I thought too, thanks. We’ll skip Camargue (too long in the car) and spend the day in Arles.

baglady, thanks for the B&B recommendation. I found a few, but haven’t decided on any yet…will check out the Le Pigeonnier, thanks a lot.

Christina

You shouldn't have to pay anywhere near $200 for a B&B. I'm sure some real expensive hotels and inns might charge that in some top areas (like Gordes).

Anyway, since you said you wanted this area, I highly recommend the Hotel Hermitage which is just outside Pernes-les-Fontaines. I've stayed there several times now and it is my preferred accommodation in that area: http://www.hotel-lhermitage.com/

Their most expensive double is around 100 euro, I think. It is a really nice place and actually looks like their website (with the gardens and pool). And within the last couple years they actually got good AC units in the rooms which is hard to find in that area, it was heaven last summer with those. Some of their rooms have private balconies, I always get one of those, it is nice to sit out there in the evening (they are large). It's not a B&B, though, if you really want one of those. I don't like B&Bs myself so am always looking for nice inns and places like that, as I like bigger places and don't like the restrictions of B&Bs (like required meals, etc.). It does have a great breakfast, however, and nice parking area which is behind gates (ie, only guests can enter, you get a code or something, I forget how the automatic gate works, but it does). It's a very central location and I like to drive to various places for dinner. Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is only about 8-10 miles, I think.

xyz99

Christina,
Great info about B&B prices, makes me really happy. And Hotel Hermitage looks very nice, it goes on the list. It’s a little bigger than what I had in mind, but I like the a/c. And the gardens, which are a big requirement for wherever we will decide to stay. I enjoy photography, so I’m looking for nice gardens, flowers, birds, etc.

CaliNurse

xyz, i envy you all that time!!

Ira, thanks for referring to your 2009 TR.

We lv in 2 weeks and i've gathered so much info from the folks here (thank you, FF Folks!) guidebooks, internet. Luckily, I'm traveling with wise 24 yr old daughter who knows detail- oriented Mom enough to say, "Time to sloooow down and smell the budding lavender!"

xyz99

CaliNurse, have a great trip. Enjoy the lavender and come back to tell us about it.

sap

I sure hope the lavender will be budding for you CaliNurse and likewise hoping it's in good bloom for us during the 3rd week of June. I'm crossing my fingers that this year's warmer spring may boost the buds by a week or two.

tedgale

1. I have been to every place you name. It took me about 30 years to see them all. You mention preferring slow travel, lingering between stops. I don't see a lot of lingering in some of those itineraries, with 4 or 5 towns in one day.

2. Driving in this region is slower than you might imagine, especially if you have to negotiate hills.

3. Mont Ventoux is mentioned in 1 itinerary. If you don't have a brilliantly clear day, I'd drop this. It is a long climb in a car and August humidity could make the views less than satisfying.

4. Uzes is the loveliest small town in the South. More beautiful than any of the other towns on your list. (Yes, others will disagree). I've spent a week there 3 different years and a few nights on other trips. I never exhaust its charms.

5. If you want a base in the south, why not rent a gite/ apartment? There are about a jillion offered in the Luberon. If you always stop for lunch, you might prefer a light dinner in your own home to another restaurant meal.

6. If you are staying in Cassis, take yr car up the Route des Cretes, about half an hour outside Cassis. Another way of seeing the spectacular "calanque" territory - a complement, not a substitute for the calanque boat visit.

7. You may find you could jettison a few of those towns on Days 7 and 8. This is not sthg you need to decide now. But don't push yrself to hit all those towns, if you find yrself pressed for time or getting weary on a given day. Roussillon is my least favourite on your list, Menerbes is perhaps the prettiest.

I notice you have omitted Lacoste, neighbour to Menerbes and Bonnieux. I used to stay there always but note that the whole town has been bought up by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)

8. I love the Dentelles de Montmirail because I like to climb. If traveling to Vaison, drop into Seguret. Gigondas is nice for lunch. I also enjoy Venasque.

CaliNurse

xyz and sap, thanks for your good wishes!! Ot's been yrs since i wrote aTR (that was for the Caribbean) but i am determined to do it this time!
Tedgale, thanks for the reminders and useful info for us eager Provence visitors. I almost based in Uzes instead of St Remy and am curious to see what i missed!!
(Also, lacoste is mentioned on day 7 of xyz's itinerary.)

xyz99

tedgale,
I guess we’ll just pick 1-2 towns each day, and decide to return another year to visit the rest. We are really about taking it slow, I just did not realize that more than that is rushing it. Thanks, I really appreciate your perspective.

I am considering the gite, but not sure about it (as we had never done it before). I know they have a kitchen, but would we have to worry about salt, spices, dish detergent, etc…or should we assume they all come with those?

Thanks for all the other advice, your personal experience really helps. We’ll need to scale down, but that will be hard. I know that everybody has their favorite towns, so “polling the audience” will probably not be very helpful. I think seeing pictures on Google will help me decide which towns to pick, but if you have any other suggestion, I would love to hear it.
Thanks

StuDudley

>>I am considering the gite, but not sure about it (as we had never done it before). I know they have a kitchen, but would we have to worry about salt, spices, dish detergent, etc…or should we assume they all come with those? <<

We have rented 33 different gites, and all but 1 had salt, dish detergent, washing machine soap, and all but about 4 had coffee filters. All had TP & bath soap - but we usually stay for 2 weeks in a single gite & need to purchase more. I would not count on spices, however, About 7/8 had spices, olive oil, coffee, vinegar, and many more "staples". We have a "standard" gite shopping list that includes stuff like Dijon mustard, cassis, bottled water, jams, OJ, cream, creme fraiche. When we first arrive at a gite, we "check out" what the gite has available and then we go to the grocery. Gites usually rent Sat to Sat - and on Sundays many groceries in France are closed - so it is a "mad dash" to get stuff for the gite on Sat.

All of our gites have been rented through Gites-de-France & we've rented 43 gites for 74 weeks. (obviously, many gites for multiple times).

Stu Dudley

xyz99

Stu,
Thanks a lot for the gites information – we rented villas in the Caribbeans (and loved it), but never in Europe. This long stay might be the one we’ll try it. Although, as we usually travel Sat – Sat/Sun, our stay will not fit the regular Sat-Sat schedule, but we might find one for our Mon-Mon stay…will definitely check out the web site you mentioned.
As usual, you are a wealth of information, thanks for your generosity in sharing it.