jft

My husband and I will be taking the TGV from Charles de Gaulle airport to Avignon in October. Our plan is to rent a car and spend sometime in Provence. We have 4 nights/4.5 days with a return to Paris on the last evening. We are thinking staying in one location but are unsure where to stay. I think a little town near St. Remy de Provence was mentioned somewhere ( can't find the post). Another place mentioned was Saint Saturin.....We would like to visit some sites including Pont du Gard, Les Buax, some pretty towns, possibly Aix en Provence .Any recommendations are appreciated.

StuDudley

I always recommend:

If you want to stay in a village with lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, English spoken, & large crowds in peak season - stay in St Remy. If you want to be in the countryside surrounded by hill villages, vineyards, Lavender (late June/July), canyons, drive to restaurants - stay in the Luberon near Gordes, Roussillon, Menerbes, Bonnieux, St Saturnin les Apt.

Stu Dudley

DebitNM

When in October?

jft

October 20-24. I can do without crowds and am comfortable without English spoken. I believe it is after lavender season.

DebitNM

Many B&B's etc will likely be closed by that time, so I'd book asap.

highly recommend:

http://www.masperreal.com

We have spent over 6 [cumulative] months in St Sat and love the area. Very convenient to see villages of The Luberon.

Christina

Definitely after lavender season. Personally, I'd stay farther west than St Saturnin given your wish list. Depends how much you want to drive around.

I like to stay in Pernes les Fontaines, a bit north of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, I find that a very convenient location for everything. I stay here and love it:

http://www.hotel-lhermitage.com/

I don't like B&Bs myself, that's a real hotel and isn't closed in October. If you want lots of expensive shops and restaurants, and lots of English-speaking tourists, you should stay in St Remy. I prefer the opposite.

But it may be booked up already, you can check.

StCirq

I really like Pernes-les-Fontaines also. And Maussane-les-Alpilles. St-Rémy really gets on my nerves and it's expensive and hardly even French anymore.

cornelius01

I am not fond of St Remy either. It seems too touristy. Mausanne and Avignon are our favorites Having just returned From Avignon we liked the choice of restaurants and good shopping and just the layout of the city is nice for walking.

mjs

I am going against the crowd and vote for St Remy. Hard to beat as a location as it's very central to much of Provence and small enough so it's easy to drive out. Large enough town to have many, albeit somewhat expensive choice of restaurants and a decent size supermarket and a laundromat. Also a few very nice hotels.Its also not far from the TGV Avignon. Avignon would be the last place I would base myself with a car.

jft

Thanks.
We are pretty flexible as to what we do during the 4 days- I had mentioned places that sounded interesting but I am not set on that list.
We are also open as to the type of accommodation - hotel or b&b. I will look at the suggestions. Basically a lovely location that is drivable to other towns and sights. I prefer not overly touristy.....

jft

The Hotel L'hermitage is full for those dates unfortunately. It looked great. I will check also in Maussanes-les-Alpilles and in the Luberon region outlined by Stu including Mas Perreal.

mels

September we are staying in Gordes, 1 mile from the City center, at Le Petite Palais d'algae. It's newer but has some good reviews and the grounds look beautiful! From what I've read on Fodors and other sights, Gordes is beautiful, and may be touristy during the day. We are staying 4 nights as well and plan on traveling by car during the day. We will be in Gordes early morning and evenings.....breakfast and dinner. Hopefully without the crowds.

Christina

I'm kind of surprised l'Hermitage is booked this far in advance, I wonder why. I see they don't have rooms until November. And October isn't their high season, of course, you can tell by the room rates. Well, you could send the email request if really interested, no harm in asking in case there is something funny with the booking software. They used to have their own booking engine, now they go through logis.fr

I did stay in Roussillon once for a few days and I know they have rooms available there at Clos Glycine, which is the top hotel. That town is very central, also, and does have the advantage that you can actually drive through it, unlike places like Gordes. I didn't stay in the top hotel, though, just a modest place about 500 meters away but had a car park in front of it, so that was convenient. Roussillon has a claim to tourist fame (Pernes does not) due to the ocre but it's not as bad as Gordes and of course fine at night. Of course their rates are at least double those of l'Hermitage. http://www.luberon-hotel.fr/

I'm sure you'll find something.

mjs

Stayed at the Clos Gycine in Rousillion last year. Modest 3 star hotel reasonably priced with parking right next door. Easy to get in/out of Rousillion. Both Gordes and Rousilllion are very touristy during the day. Good location to explore the Luberon but not as convenient for places like Arles, Pont du Gard....

jft

I found what looks like a good deal for a 4 night stay at Fontinelle in Lauris. I think I may book it.

mels

What's the name?

mels

Sorry you did mention it.

aliced

I laugh when I read "too touristy..." --- but these people ARE TOURISTS! What's wrong with finding English speaking people? St. Remy is ideally situated between Arles & Avignon (from where we went to Pont du Gard), with plenty of time to go to Le Baux, Gordes, Fontaine de Vaucluse, and other charming villages that looked like they'd roll up the sidewalks after dark. Lovely 'old city' to stroll after dinner, fabulous Saturday market day. And actually, at our lovely hotel Le Soleil the mgmt spoke next-to-no-English. At the other extreme, happy we did not stay in Arles or Avignon either. Easy to/fro the TGV station in Avignon.

milaedg

"St-Rémy really gets on my nerves and it's expensive and hardly even French anymore." If tourists stayed away, will be French again? I am not being facetious, I just don't understand exactly what it means.
On our first trip to France a couple of years ago, we stayed in St. Remy and it was a great base to see the surrounding areas. We certainly did not mind seeing other tourists like us.

jft

interestingly- the website shows hotel l'hermitage available for only the first week in November.
I will look at the other suggestions. The room at the Fontinelle available is outside the main building which is less appealing than in the main building....we will see
I love planning trips - almost as much fun as going! (less expensive!)
We stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast in Bayeux in the fall called Chateau de Damigny- place is beautiful 10 minutes outside Bayeux, large lovely rooms, excellent grounds and breakfasts, optional family style dinner and very reasonable....