Arrival to Provence

If you choose to arrive closer to your destination fly to Marseille, not Nice.

I don't know how recent rules about short flights in France will impact this, but I would fly on a single ticket to Marseilles or Aix. probably changing in Paris. Nice is on the wrong side of the Riviera to make it a convenient route to Provence.

Where are you actually wanting to spend time in Provence? Around Nice? Or around somewhere more like Avignon, Arles or Aix en Provence? I would have different suggestions for the different areas.

In general, I like to avoid short flights - bad for the environment, and not comfy. However, it is not possible to book a flight to Paris, a train ticket from the airport to the south, and have this connection be protected in case of flight delays. So, if you take the train, you typically have to allow 3 hours for the connection at CDG airport, plus 3-3.5 hours to Avignon/Aix/Marseille, and you still run a risk of missing your train.
Therefore, just booking a flight to your destination is easier.

Now, the specific answer depends on what you want to see and where you want to stay in Provence.
If Aix or Marseille are on your list, then flying to Marseille is more convenient.
If you stick with Avignon and vicinity, you'd have to take the train from Marseille airport anyway, so taking the train from Paris CDG airport could still be better.

Reply to myself: Air France is now able to sell train tickets to several French destinations together with flights, on a single ticket.
All info here: https://wwws.airfrance.fr/en/information/prepare/voyages-combines-avion-train

Thank you all for your suggestions. We would like to rent a car to tour Provence. We would like to include the hill towns, Roman ruins, quant villages. We don't have our itinerary yet. Any suggestions are appreciated!

so fly to a larger city like Marseilles and then pick up a car when heading for more rural Provence.

FYI: Nice is not in Provence. It's on the Côte d'Azur, or in English, the Riviera.

Yes I didn't know the most accessible airport. Which city should we train to topics up a car?

Rental cars are available in Avignon, Aix, and at Marseille airport (among other places).
If you want to stay in Aix, you do not need a car there. Same for Avignon. So if you start in either of those cities, you can rent a car when you are ready to leave the city.

If you decide to stay in smaller towns, you need a car, but keep the drive as short as possible on day 1 (the journey from overseas is exhausting!), ideally less than 1 hour.

@ Jeanie, Provence is western part of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azure administrative region of France but I guess you could shorten the name of the region to Provence. If I were flying from Atlanta and trying to get to the western part of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azure (commonly known as Provence), I would take a Delta flight (possibly operated by KLM) from Atlanta and transfer in Amsterdam for a flight to Marseilles. I don't dislike CDG the way some others do but I find Schipol more efficient for transfers. My second choice would be flying into Paris and taking the TGV from the airport to Provence. If the schedule is such that I would have to get to Gare de Lyon for the train, I probably would not fly into Paris. My reason for not flying between CDG and Marseilles is very specific: odds are I would be traveling with my very tall husband and even taller son and the plane they use for the flight between Paris and Marseilles does not have enough leg room for them.

I would let my itinerary dictate my entry point to Provence rather than the entry point dictate my itinerary. Do your reading and decide what you want to see. Then figure out if you want to fly to to the fringes (Marseilles or Nice) to start, or go through CDG and take the train to Aix, Avignon, or Marseilles. If the Riviera is your focus, fly to Nice. If you want it all, fly as close as you can to Provence and start driving to pack it in.

I would suggest that you not plan a long drive after an international flight unless you are one of the fortunate people who can sleep well on a plane. I limit myself to not more than a hour drive upon arrival. I’ve based in both Arles and St. Remy de Provence. Either works well, but I preferred St. Remy. It’s less than a one hour drive from the Marseille airport.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I am sure I will have more questions as I build our itinerary. Looking at flights out of Charlotte NC. These connect through Madrid. Any input on that airport? Connection times atr around 3 hrs.

Walking distances at Madrid airport can be very long, but with 3 hours this is not a problem, so that sounds like a good plan.

Thank you Balso. Will starting planning our trip.

Jeanie,

I think you are wise to rent a car, at least while you're in Provence. Distances are fairly considerable and sites/sights may be out of the way from good public transport. I have no practical advice for how you get to Provence from Paris or CDG - whether by TGV, other train, or flight (to Marseilles?). The TGV does go right through Avignon.

Get a good map (we used Michelin 245, Provence/Cote d'Azur), as well as the Michelin Green Guide that is such a great resource for suggested itineraries, information about the area and particular towns & cities, and what to do there. The Green Guide includes some pretty detailed descriptions of sites/sights. Their Itineraries are sometimes too long and may take you part way where you choose and other places where you don't want to go, but you can cobble together a bit of one itinerary and combine with a bit of another.

We were in Provence only once, for about 8 days in 1999. We used Avignon as one base for about three nights, though other than the Palais des Papes - and the Pont d'Avignon, the half remnant of the bridge that is famous for that song - I thought Avignon had little to offer. But, it is centrally located to much that you may choose to see. From Avignon, the Luberon and Fontaine de Vaucluse, Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux and Lourmarin are accessible for a loop trip to the east. Another loop could include Les Beaux and Arles to the south. A third could include Chateauneuf de Pape, Orange and Carpentras to the North. Farther flung are (1) Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles, Cassis and the Carmargue to the southeast and south and (2) Pont de Gard and Nimes to the west.

We missed a lot ... we only spent time in the market in Arles and we saw little else there. We totally missed Marseilles, other than driving though it on the autoroute. We missed the Pont du Gard and failed to get to a single winery. We enjoyed some great meals and other good ones - though Sundays were difficult for dining out.

Alors, Bon Voyage.

Thank you Fred for your great insights into the area. We will definitely have a car. Unsure of where we will sleep. We have some planning to do.

For sure Marseille airport.
10 days boot on the ground or does that include travel? If it's 10 nights boots on the ground and you don't mind moving around
I'd stay

Nimes 3 nights for Roman ruins
3 nights in Vaison la Romain
3 nights in Rousillon.

Three great parts of Provence. My last night would be back in Marseille the night before my flight out.

Hi Jeanie, I just recently worked through a similar set of choices. Originally, we were going to fly to Nice to access Provence but after the great advice received here, we decided to fly into Marseilles. From the Marseilles airport we are going to taxi or bus (info here https://www.lepilote.com/ftp/document/FH%201040eng-%20240815-210816-mai16.pdf) to Aix en Provence and spend one night and hopefully get some sleep. The next day we will pick up our rental car and toddle off to the Luberon where we are going to stay in Gordes. There are so many recommendations and favorites out there, it is sometimes hard to decide what is appropriate for your own trip. After much research and discussion, I feel like we have a plan that suits us and what we are hoping to do.
Enjoy!

We flew into Marseille and had a short bus ride to Aix, where we stayed 4 days. Took another bus to Avignon and did a day trip to Arles, stayed 5 days. We were flying home from London so we went on the high speed train (chunnel). Provence was lovely in October!

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. I have another travel question. Which would be the better choice: Atlanta to Paris 3 hr layover then catch a flight to Marseille arriving at 2pm. Would then need to catch a bus or train to a town for our first night. Or fly into Paris and catch the train to Avignon and spend the first night there. The flight to Paris arrives at 0915. Would like to hear suggestions from the group.

Normally if you’re at the airport, it’s quicker to fly to your destination. In your case it’s less stress to use the train. Rather than adding a drive. Total time would be similar.

For ease of transport, CDG-Gare de Lyon by taxi 35m & train Gare de Lyon to Avignon 2H40m. @ 11:39 & 12:39

Edit: Atlanta-Paris then the above.

Fly from Paris to Marseille then train to Avignon Centre (which takes you into the main town area). Avignon TGV is outside the City.
To go to Gare de Lyon in Paris to catch a train, you would need to taxi from the airport to the station and it's added expense. You can catch a train from CDG to Avignon but the travel times vary. To train from Marseille to Aix, remember that the train station is outside the City and you will need to taxi into the town or take the bus which takes around 20 minutes. The Centre station in Avignon is city center, within easy walking distance to hotels. (a lot anyway). You can pick up a rental in Avignon. I wouldn't attempt this drive at all after a long international flight.

We have been visiting Provence for 10 years now because our daughter lives here. In fact, we are currently in Provence. We always fly into Marseilles Airport. You can pick up a rental car at the airport. My husband always drives after we land but our daughter’s house is only an hour away. I suggest basing in St. Remy for at least part of your stay, perhaps 5 nights. St. Remy is a lovely village with lots of restaurants, cafes and shops. Van Gogh spent a year at the asylum in St. Remy. It is an easy drive to Les Baux, the Pont du Gard, and the Luberon villages. Aix en Provence is another nice city to stay in with its lovely Old Town and tons of fountains and plazas.

If you want to visit Nice and the French Riviera, you could spend 5 nights in Nice. So a possible itinerary could be 5 nights in NIce and 5 nights in St. Remy.

The Camarque is another beautiful area with horses, bulls, and flamingos.

Great advice. Looks like St. Remy is a great base. Will start researching lodging. Also if anyone has a tip on which rental car company in Marsielle airport to use...would be appreciated.

At Marseille airport, avoid Goldcar and Interrent. Goldcar is notorious for forcing sale of their own expensive insurance, and Interrent as well with extra fees on top. The others are usually OK, with the usual caveats: check cars thoroughly taking pictures, go back to the counter if you see damage that's not been registered, double check insurance coverage.
Auto Europe is a recommended broker: rates are usually slightly better than booking directly and you get help from their customer service if things go wrong with the car rental company.

I always use Kemwel which is now part of Autoeurope. They are a broker. For this trip, we rented our car from Avis at the Marseille Airport (through Kemwel). They had the best price. The car rental agencies are right in front of the terminal. No need to take buses to the rental agencies like we had to recently do in New Orleans and Dallas.

Our favorite small town in all of Provence is St Rémy. We stayed at Hotel du Soleil and loved it.
Much nicer than staying in a city imo.
We loved Roussillon but wouldn’t sleep there, a half day there is plenty.

Awesome feedback. For those that have traveled to Marsielle would you rather connect through Amsterdam, CHG, or Madrid? Connection times of at least 3 hrs. Plan on only having a carry-on.

Amsterdam, but CDG has many more flights a day in case you miss your connection. Transferring internally at CDG is a bit of a gauntlet but not difficult.

We've both done AMS and CDG as our connection from Europe to Seattle. Both work and a 3 hour layover in either IMO would be perfect.

We have transferred in all 3 airports that you mention and didn’t have any problems but we had enough layover time. CDG is a gauntlet ,though, as someone else mentioned. Amsterdam would be the easiest airport to transit through.

I agree with Bets, but check your actual transit time and availability of flights from AMS.