Arles or Provence Countryside

Roughly between Arles and Avignon is the town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence, smaller than Arles, but still big enough to provide the conveniences of a town. We stayed in a gite on the south end of town in the summer, but if you’re not staying long enough to make a gite viable, there is other lodging in town.

From Arles, Saint-Remy is about a third of the way to Gordes. Just south of town is the Monastery asylum where Van Gogh stayed for some time during his brilliant but troubled life. You’re able to view rooms, and one is set up as it might have been when he stayed there, although no one’s certain which one was his.

Arles has lots of Roman Empire sights, but just further south of Saint-Remy, past the Van Gogh monastery, are the ruins of ancient Roman Glanum. A few miles beyond is the hilltop Les Baux de Provence, with the remains of its 12 century castle and fantastic views.

Thank you!

We spent last week in Provence, stayed in St Rémy-de-Provence (lots of St Rémys in France so the distinction is important) and absolutely loved it. Super charming, walkable and lots of good restaurants.

My 2nd favorite was Arles, but is is a (small) city and has a very different feel than St Rémy - St Rémy is much more relaxing, layed back.

We easily drove from St Rémy to Gordes, Roussillon (loved both), L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Avignon, and as far west as Carcassone (well worth it - absolutely fascinating).

Susan, where did you stay in St. Remy? I am planning a trip with friends to Provence for April/May 2020, and we will most likely stay in St. Remy. Would love to know where you stayed. We have been to St. Remy and love it, but have never stayed there because we have family in the area. We won’t be staying with our family when we are traveling with our friends, however.

Well, I'm a fan of Arles. As you see, there are the St Remy fans and the Arles fans.

I think it depends on what you like. For me, St. Remy was too frou-frou. Arles is a bit grittier. Both towns are beautiful. We had wonderful meals in Arles, enjoyed walking around. We took a day trip from Arles to Les Baux (too crowded) and St Remy.

The drive from Arles towards Les Baux and St Remy is quite beautiful.

St. Remy is a small town with a very charming center where very alley has a charming cafe tucked into and cute little shops and everything looks "just so".
Arles is more of a small city with old city walls and Roman ruins throughout the town. It is a busier place but the core is largely pedestrian only or pedestrian mostly so it is very walkable but it is also more blue-collar than St Remy.

If you're a van Gogh fan I think Arles is the obvious choice - you can walk around the city and follow the "easels" and see the places he painted some of which still look the same way today - even the yellow cafe at night.

If you do stay in St Remy the asylum van Gogh was sent to is just outside town and worth visiting but doesn't have the depth of an Arles tour IMHO.

Try to catch at least one good market day in Provence if you can work it in. Warning it can easily suck up hours of a tight schedule but it is a quintessential Provincial experience.

You don't say but it sounds like you're driving - if you visit Arles just park outside the city walls and walk in. There is no reason to try and drive inside the city itself. If you're not driving public transportation to St Remy is spotty - train into Arles and stay there.

Have a great time,
=Tod

rizell, as i said, St Rémy AND Arles are my two favorites.

Most of the descriptions of St Rémy, including the two after my post above, that i’ve read on this forum for years were misleading imo in regards to St Rémy. It is not, imo, frou-frou or just so, it is a real town, operates like a real town - it’s not Disney-esque as i feared it might be. It’s a lovely, real town.

kmkwoo, we stayed at Hotel du Soleil and loved everything about it. A very nice, relaxing place to stay. Immaculately clean, good beds (not hard, not soft - just right), nice décor, nice bathrooms, great breakfast with lots of choices, nice grounds, many relaxing places to sit, a pool with nice lounge chairs. Very nice, professional staff.

Susan, thank you! It sounds wonderful.

Thank you all for your input. Very helpful!

We've stayed in St. Remy twice, a week at a time. The Van Gogh walk, with explanatory easels (something like 15-20 of them) was great.