Arles and St Remy

I live in Florida so I'm an expert on managing hot summer days. Do outdoor stuff in the early morning. Save the casual walks around town for the evenings after dinner. Spend the afternoon in air-conditioned places, relaxing in shady areas, or by a pool or a beach.

Wear light colored, lightweight clothes. Jeans are super-bad news for that kind of weather.

Fast Eddie
We are from Massachusetts and although are winters can be brutal our summers are hot and humid. My parents had a home in North Carolina so we spend our summer there and I love the weather. I imagine Provence is similar in the summer. I am wondering how late the sight stay open during this time of year?

In regards to heat...

We were there last July to see the lavender. Having a car was a great help...nice to be able to go back to the air con. Most days were pushing 35c, and in one parking lot the temp shown on the car was 40. One of the saving graces was it was a very dry heat, because humidity just does me in.

The lumieres was blessedly cool, and the 2 times we’ve visited Les Baux it has been very windy (to the point I had to take my hat off for fear of losing it).

Make sure to take lots of water with you (if you have a fridge, freeze some up the night before). And we had lots of slushies and ice cream as well to help stay cool. Look for restaurants that have some shading if eating outside.

Hi,
To answer some of your doubts:
- most sights typically open at 9 or 10 AM, and close between 5 and 7 PM. If you have a specific sight in mind, check online, and check the closing day!
- A leisurely day is perfect to enjoy the city of Arles.
- As for St Remy itself, it is a pleasant place to wander in for a couple of hours (2 at most), and you might want to visit the Glanum Roman site just south of town but it is quite small too. All in all, a few hours is enough, plus if you stay there you'll wander around anyway if you head out for dinner .
- I hate one nighters, but I understand the appeal of the sea. If you are set on Cassis you could do
-- Day 1, visit St Rémy, Carrières de Lumières, Les Baux, stay in Arles.
-- Day 2, visit Arles, head to Cassis, stay in Cassis.
Staying in Arles is better because you can leave luggage at hotel while you visit Arles, or you could even pop back to hotel right before check-in, or ask for a later check out.
- This said, if you just want to relax by the sea, Cassis isn't great due to small beaches. Instead, I would recommend to stay 2 nights in Arles, and spend half a day at the beach in Saintes-Maries de la Mer, or Piémanson beach for something wilder.

As for the drive from Arles/Cassis to Annecy, at about 5 hours it is too long for side trips such as wine/cheese tasting in my opinion. But maybe some folks here have ideas close to the highway. Best you could do, assuming you take the main A7 highway, is stop by Orange at a secure underground car park and visit the Théatre Antique if you haven't done so. Or, if you drive up from Cassis, you can also take the A51 (more Alpine scenery) and stop by Sisteron and its lovely citadel.

I think that is exactly what we were thinking
1. St Remy morning and Carrieres de Lumieres I have read many peoples posting on Les Baux being so touristy do we just skip and move on? Arles overnight Would love a favorite restaurant recommendation. Not pricey just delicious
2. Arles most of day then had to Cassis overnight in Cassis
3 Cassis Calanques we could stay another night or depart late afternoon ?????
Any top recommendation for a boat tour of Calanques and a restaurant ?
4. Annecy

I found Arles to be very charming and an interesting city - much more than Avignon. Rick says you're either an Avignon person or an Arles person and I know where I land.

St. Remy has exactly the right look to wander and explore. A tight city core filled with charming alleyways, little boutiques and eateries everywhere. The fruit I got just at the little Spar marche in St Remy was the juiciest and freshest fruit I've ever gotten outside of market day. If you are van Gogh fans the hospital where he was committed is just outside town near the very nice Glanum ruins site. I would allow a couple of hours for St Remy town plus any ice cream or lunch time and a couple of hours if you do the exterior sites.
You will want to drive to the external sites rather than walk. You can park for free at the van Gogh site for both sites rather than pay for Glanum site parking. As the signs warn: Leave nothing of value in your car.

Les Baux is basically a quaint little medieval village with a big ruined castle site. It is touristy but can still be an interesting place to wander and explore a little bit - you need to balance your interest in that knowing what it is. If get the combo ticket with the Lumieres and see how much of it interests you. The limestone quarry is cool inside and if you arrive later in the day both the heat and tourists may be waning.

I stayed in St Remy one night - for Les Baux and St Remy - and in Arles one night but you could easily do Arles for both. Les Baux is closer to Arles so you could do that early in the day and then go to St Remy and wander until you find a lunch spot and then do however much of of the St Remy sites you find interesting in the afternoon and then return to Arles for a late afternoon and evening in Arles. That sounds like a fine day to me.

There are many restaurants in Arles - Rick has some higher end recommendations but I didn't get to try any of them. Aside from avoiding Place du Forum as a place to eat there are many charming places to eat. I ate outside at a little place I stumbled on with a jazz trio playing inside and it was everything I wanted that night.

If you're looking for a great little take away place with pastries, sandwiches and quiches etc don't miss Maison Soulier on Rue de la République just off the southwest corner of Place de la République. It's super fast and easy and their food is really good. They'll heat it up quiches and their local Provencal versions of things for you and it's a two minute walk to Jardin d'été - one of van Goghs favorite gardens in Arles for a picnic lunch.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

." I ate outside at a little place I stumbled on with a jazz trio playing inside and it was everything I wanted that night."

This sound lie something i want every night. Do you remember the name of this little gem?

We quite enjoyed Les Baux - we visited in 2015 and last year. In 2015, we were there in early Oct, so many of the demos - like the trebuchet - were not being given. We got an audio guide and had a great few hours wandering. Last year we eschewed the audio guide and just went for the demos (who knew my husband was such a good shot with a crossbow?!). We also wandered around the ruins a bit more. Even in July I didn't find it badly crowded. It's big enough you aren't falling over people. And I actually enjoyed the little shops - there are the usual touristy trap places, but also some shops with some nice locally made/not made in China stuff - I even got a woolly sheep ornament for my Xmas tree!

We spent a long morning in Arles in '15 - mostly touring the arena but also poking around the side streets. Returned last year just to wander a bit and have a meal.

Nicole,
Did you spend any time in St Remy? Would you say most of the day for Arles?

The restaurant in Arles was called La Gallery and they have a small inside and very large covered patio area outfront. Typical small French restaurant - handwritten menu on the board - 4 apps, 4 mains and 4 desserts for the day. Apparently some complaints on-line about their vegetarian options. Oh - also cash only.
19 Rue Tour de Fabre, 13200 Arles

I just stumbled across it and enjoyed it but I'm sure there are 20 other equivalent restaurants in the nearby area. I really liked Arles and would love to go back with more time to explore the city.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

There's also the archaeological museum in Arles. I'd say at least an hour for that, more if you're seriously interested. Take a look at the locations of the things you're interested in on Google Maps. I spent quite a bit of time just wandering around, which is my favorite thing to do everywhere.

Actually - I'm looking thru my photos and we went to Les Baux in the morning and had lunch there (we were staying in Salon en Provence), then the Lumieres, then we went to St Remy - I believe we spent about an hour just wandering around the centre, popping into shops. Then we had nothing else to fill our time, so we went to Arles to wander for an hour then have supper. (This was our 2nd visit to Arles so we didn't have to do the arena again). I think you could do Arles with a tight half day.

"The restaurant in Arles was called La Gallery" Thank you this looks great!