Hello Rouelan,

Thank you so much for answering me. This stop is not on most American's lists but it is important to me. The other three folks with me will only be interested in the beauty of the place not the sacred part. Since they will only be stopping per my request I was thinking that on our drive from Antibes to our next base at St. Remy de Provence that we could take a little detour and do the hike. Is St. Maximin close enough to do both together since I am hesitant to have them make yet another detour for me. Again, thank you so much.

Hi Heather,
as you probably noticed, St Maximin is close to the motorway from Antibes to Aix. So, stopover is very easy to visit the basilica and the cloister (entered via the tourist office). Not much to see apart from that (unless your party wants to taste some local wine; I usually stop at the St Jean le vieux winery). Like so many towns in France, huge supermarkets have been built in the outskirts and killed town centers.
maps says it is a 30 mns drive from St Maximin to the Ste Baume via Nans. Not a big deal but expect a winding road going up the mountain. When you are done with the hike, you can resume the driving via St Zacharie, Auriol and back onto the motorway.​​