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Advice for 2-day drive from St-Remy de Provence to Nice via Moustiers and Gorge du Verdon

Posted by (SF Bay Area) on

After six nights in our base in St-Remy de Provence, we have two full days in early June to drive from St-Remy to Nice. Our tentative plan follows. Please let me know if this is doable, especially the stop in St-Paul-de-Vence.

Tuesday 9:30 am: Leave St. Remy to drive to Moustiers Sainte-Marie via D561 and A51. Via Michelin says this will take 2 hours 15 minutes, so we would hope to arrive in Moustiers by noon or so to drop off our luggage at our hotel.

Tuesday afternoon and evening: Explore Moustiers Sainte-Marie, have lunch, possible quick swim in the lake if it’s warm out, more exploring of the town, dinner.

Wednesday 9:30 am: Leave Moustiers to drive via the Gorge and Castellane to St-Paul-de-Vence. Via Michelin shows the drive as under 2.5 hours, but we would plan to take up to 5.5 hours and arrive in St-Paul-de-Vence by around 3 pm.

Wednesday 3:00 to 5:30 pm: Tour Fondation Maeght. (What is a reasonable amount of time here? Should it be possible to park at the museum at this time?)

Wednesday 6 pm: short walk and early dinner in St-Paul-de-Vence

Wednesday 8 pm: Drive to Nice airport (30 min according to Via Michelin) to arrive well before 10 pm rental return, and taxi to our hotel.

Please let me know if this seems like a good plan, especially the stop in St-Paul-de-Vence. I know it gets really crowded, but I thought it might work with our late afternoon timing. Our alternative is to spend more time in Moustiers and along the gorge. We can be flexible--for example waiting to eat until we get back to Nice or skipping St Paul all together if we want more time at the gorge.

Posted by
10634 posts

Does your plan allow any time for hiking into the Gorge?
Dinner at 6 pm will be hard to find. Most places don’t start serving until 7 or 7:30. There is a cafe right outside the wall/ gate at St. Paul that does serve meals, so you may be able to eat early there. Cafe des Sports?? The one with the field for petanque.
Yes, 2 hours is about right for the Foundation.
There’s parking below the Foundation.
Parking for St. Paul can be tricky, but just keep looking. It’s a cute town with many interesting shops if you like shopping. But then, Moustiers is stunning and with shops, too.
Bon voyage.

Posted by
882 posts

Bets, Thanks for your reply. I haven't decided whether to take my hiking poles on this trip, as I'd only possibly need them about 2-3 days out of 14. I am not taking hiking boots. If you can suggest any 1-3 hour hikes not that hard on the knees, I'd be interested.

Posted by
713 posts

Yes, this is doable. It just depends how much time you want to spend at the Gorge and the towns and view points en route (for example, routing through Tourettes sur Loup, a stop in Vence for the Matisse Chapel, etc). It is also rather twisty and windy, depending on your exact route.

You can head directly down instead of eating dinner, although being a tourist town there will be places in SPdV. It will be at peak rush hour if your leave early. The route down is through a surface thoroughfare (past big box stores and a big Mall), and as get closer in to join the A8 the traffic will increase. You can find late dining in Nice. Uber works well in the region although I've never tried hailing one from the car rental areas.

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