Hi everyone! In summer 24 my husband, our 5 year old and I enjoyed a wonderful trip to the Luberon and Cassis (thanks to all your suggestions!! And Stu helped so much!!! I’m so sad to hear of his passing!)
For summer 26 we’d love to return to Provence/South of France. This time we will be joining another family so we’re looking for an area that will have great beaches, lots for kids to do, but also not too crazy touristy/busy. We’d love get a villa with a pool in a nice town/village and to explore a smaller area around there, little day trips. We loved the Luberon but would like to see a different area. Great food is our number 2 priority
we’re thinking either the west side Catalan Pyrenees area which some people said is lush and green and beautiful. Or, the Camargue area so we can explore beaches, see the horses and flamingoes and maybe go to some of the calanques again. Or, maybe further east like Antibes or Menton??
We speak French and will have cars and will be going from June 27-July 4.
thank you! 🙏

Be aware that the Camargue, whilst absolutely worth visiting is mosquito heaven, and no matter how hard you try you will get bitten by the vicious beasts. After our first night there covered in DEET and sleeping in a completely screened space we still looked like we had chicken-pox the following morning.

You’re in luck, sort of, in that your holiday is before French schools get out, though since July 4 is the first day of the summer holidays, the highways could be packed on that Saturday.
Have a look at La Grande Motte or Grau du Roi, within easy reach of Aigues-Mortes and the Camargue, with good beaches and plenty of accommodation. But like most places along that coast, they are rather built up, with modernist architecture that is an acquired taste. A search on Gites de France will find rentals nearby that are more like your ideal.

I don't know what the 'West Side of the Catalan Pyrenees' means.... Perpignan and Barcelona are the twin capitals of Catalonia.

I spent a week in le Pays Catalan, though it could be called les Pyrenees Orientales. (Eastern Pyrenees), which is the name of the department of France.. I was mostly based in Canet-Plage staying with a friend, but also rented a car for 3 nights to go on a road trip.

It is an extremely beautiful part of France with some very dramatic scenery. Culturally, the fact that you are in a very specific region of France should inform, in part, what you seek out. There are local catalan radio and tv stations and newspapers in that language, The architecture and history is unique.

Collioure is a well-known beach village and is an ideal place to appreciate Catalan architecture.

Perpignan has the Palais des Rois de Mallorca.

Going up into the mountains from Perpignan, there are some stunning villages: Vernet-les-Bains, Villefranche le Conflent, Molitg les Bains, Prades (has the same rose colored stone of Toulouse.), Prats de Mollo (which has many stepped streets).

Two of the most dramatic sites in France are a fairly easy drive away. Chateau de Peyrepertuse is a justifiably famous Cathar Castle. And Gorge de Galamus is a very tight, steep mountain gorge.

St Paul de Fenouillet is built from a very interesting speckled stone from the surrounding hills. And nearby Maury produces an exceptional Vin Doux Naturel. This is a very sweet wine. The locals chill the red and drink the white room temperature.

Only Collioure is truly swamped with visitors. There is one road in, and it is trafficky, so expect a delay. There is a wonderful walk along a sea wall you can do in Collioure, decidedly worth it.

Languedoc is an excellent region to explore, but so is the Basque country on the Atlantic coast, so you'll need to choose one or the other.

A completely different suggestion that might suit you in some ways. Brittany is my favorite part of France. You could tick a lot of your boxes there (except it is not in the south of France.)

yes, we thought about Brittany! My friends who live in the Loire valley would prefer to go to the south of France for better chances of good weather.

Thank you so much for your suggestions everyone! The Languedoc seems great- though it seems that everything takes a long time to get to- not an easy drive between Sites, villages and beaches.
coullioure looks amazing- but I don’t want anything too touristy. We already went to Cassis and the Luberon last summer otherwise that area would be great.
we are looking at a few different options- Seillans which is one of the plus beaux villages de France which would be about one hour to the gorges du verdon, and then an hour or less to the Mediterranean.
Another option that might be even better situated is the Saint Paul de Vence area (but maybe stay in a different, less touristy town nearby as I’ve heard that town is swarmed with tourists) and then Antibes beaches are quite close maybe only 20 mins.

thank you. I am now steering far away from the Camarge because I’ve heard the mosquitoes are awful. Definitely don’t want to be anywhere near that. Also I don’t like the built up modernist architecture at all. 🤣

It depends on what they call "good weather".
Like most places, France is getting increasingly hot in summer. More or more French now prefer Brittany or Normandy for their summer vacation to stay away from the very hot weather in the south.

We've done a number of summers in the South of France, including renting a villa with pool in Le Cannet (a 10 minute drive down the hill to Cannes), and a great place in Juan les Pins. You'll probably want to stay well southwest of Nice, for example, Antibes going west, if you want sandy (vs. rocky) beaches. Sandy beaches are much nicer for children (and us too!). Our favorite place (and the favorite place for our son, with whom we traveled since he was 3 months old -- he's now 36) was based in Juan les Pins, which is a favorite of the French family vacation during their summer holidays. By going when you're going, you'll beat the start of their summer holidays. Plage des Pirates was our favorite beach, but there are also plenty of free, public beaches as well. Also, a great children's park right by the sea, La Pinede, has little rides and a carousel. Just lovely! Plenty of street parking as well in the area.

https://www.antibesjuanlespins.com/e...rove-la-pinede

Using Juan les Pins as a base, you can either drive, take the coast train, or the little children's (and adult) train, Le Petit Train, between Juan les Pins and Antibes. A lot of fun, whatever your age!

https://petit-train-antibes.com/en/

The coast train will take you Northeast all the way to Nice, or West to Cannes. Cannes, by the way, does have a lovely promenade by the coast, and a number of public beaches that are really nice.

Plenty of day trips in the area, from relaxing on the beaches by Antibe (Plage de la Salis, Plage de la Gravette, etc) to the ride up to St Paul de Vence, or even Grasse if you want to check out some perfume factories.

Just after you leave, if I recall correctly, Juan les Pins hosts the famous "Jazz a Juan", which takes place in the outdoor amphitheatre right at the shore. "Jazz" is sort of misnomer, as is the "Montreux Jazz Festival" taking place around the same time in Montreux, France. We've been to both, and are not Jazz fans. So we go for the blues and "rock" concerts. In Juan les Pins we saw B.B. King one year, and Simple Minds another year. Anyway, lots of music all along the coast in summer, but particularly in Juan les Pins and Monte Carlo. (One year we went to Le Sporting in Monte Carlo for a dinner show with Duran Duran!).

my friends have decided they want to go to the Languedoc. We found a really nice property on a vineyard. It’s in a town called Val de dagne. It’s about 30 minutes due east of Carcassonne. My only concern is the heat, there is no AC in this property and the location. It looks like it’s pretty far to get to pretty much anything. It’s an hour to the beach, and at least 2 to 3 hours from.Gorges du tarn…etc. Is this a good place to base? Or should we try to be more up north there is a house in Claremont Herault- would that be a better location for exploring both beaches and inland sights?? we are going to have a few small children so I don’t know how much running around we’re going to do and maybe just sitting and drinking wine out of vineyard is just what we need lol.

Thanks so much everyone for all of your replies!!!

my friends have decided they want to go to the Languedoc. We found a really nice property on a vineyard. It’s in a town called Val de dagne. It’s about 30 minutes due east of Carcassonne. My only concern is the heat, there is no AC in this property and the location. It looks like it’s pretty far to get to pretty much anything. It’s an hour to the beach, and at least 2 to 3 hours from.Gorges du tarn…etc. Is this a good place to base? Or should we try to be more up north there is a house in Claremont Herault- would that be a better location for exploring both beaches and inland sights?? we are going to have a few small children so I don’t know how much running around we’re going to do and maybe just sitting and drinking wine out of vineyard is just what we need lol.

If you need at least an hour to do anything, you may be stuck in your unairconditioned place. You could get bored fast, since an hour or two to get somewhere also requires a similar return time. Wasting vacation time on daily commutes translates to the following advice: Choose a new place that is nearer to what you want to do. Flying to France to commute every day for several hours is not an optimal use of vacation time.

Is it the gite Entre Vignes et Garrigue? Looks lovely but indeed entailing a drive any time you want so much as a croissant. An hour or more to Carcassonne, the seaside or the Réserve Africaine de Sigean which might be to your kids’ address. There might be river swimming nearby if the pool doesn’t suffice.
The Clermont l’Herault area puts you close to Lac de Salagou for bathing, the tiny perfect village of Guilhem Le Désert and a cave Grotte de Clamouse, ideal retreat on a hot day. I do see air conditioned places with room for six+ guests on Gites de France around there.
The Gorges du Tarn would be too much driving from either area. Enjoy the Gorges de l’Herault instead from Clermont l’Herault, or the Gorges de Galamus from Val de Dagne.

it’s Domaine de Montlaur. The place itself looks lovely, but yea I can see it being remote….