Avignon or St. Remy will have car

Just curious what did your friends living in the area say?

St-Remy would be much easier with a car.

We just spent a week staying in St Rémy.
Absolutely loved it. Small, walkable, very charming town with fun shops, a weekly marché, good cafés and restaurants.
Avignon is a large city.
I agonized over where to stay, and was so grateful i chose St Rémy.

I’ve stayed in Avignon several times, always inside the old city walls, also always without a car at the time. It’s a fabulous place, with probably the best Les Halles indoor market anywhere in France, and the best restaurants this side of Lyon. The old town is easily walkable, but public transportation is also quite good to get you around town and to nearby villages in Provence. Avignon‘s closer to Chateaurenard, but parking a car would be pretty bothersome if it was me.

Had a gite at the southern edge of St. Remy three summers ago, with a car. That was the ideal way to be able to see places and sights nearby, and Chateaurenard wouldn’t be too far away.

We stayed in St Remy and loved it. Nice shops, good restaurants, small and walkable. We stayed at Villa Glanum, a short walk to city center area.

No question -- St. Remy hands down, especially given that you'll have a car. Avignon was awful to drive through. We spent a week in St. Remy on each of 2 occasions, and the one time we didn't have a car we wound up spending more time in Avignon than I ever would have wanted to, since it was the hub which most buses ran through.

I like both of them and have stayed in both of them. But no question that driving in and out of St Remy is way easier than Avignon.

Hi from Wisconsin,
We went to both. I spend a lot of time reading Medieval history so Avignon was a must. But, to my mind, it was a bust. Yes, it was the 'alternate papacy' head quarters. And the building is still there, but anything valuable was taken by the winning Pope and is likely found in Rome today. The city was good. Ah, but my wife enjoyed the bridge.

St. Remy. We stayed in a village nearby. It is a really great little place. Many shops, restaurants, and a fantastic market. Plan your trip around this market day. I didn't care for Provence as a whole, but St. Remy was worth it.

wayne iNWI

With a car, definitely St. Remy. Avignon was probably my least favorite place to stay in Europe.

I wasn't too enamored of Avignon, but if I'd had to drive in it, I'd have been absolutely miserable! Definitely stay in a smaller place with your car (I was carless, and Avignon had good transit connections, so it worked well for me).

I liked Arles. I avoided Avignon because of the reputation for bad traffic. I chose Arles over St. Remy because I found a much better Airbnb option there. During my trip I visited both Avignon and St. Remy and was very happy I chose Arles. IMO Arles has much more interesting things to see and do (in walking distance) than either of the other two. I didn't mind driving during the day but it was nice to come back in the late afternoon, park the car and not need it until the next day.

One small bonus is that the Avignon tourism authority is very helpful, both at its central office and on-line. It deals with the surrounding region as well as the city itself. And yes, as a walled city, Avignon's core is difficult to drive and even worse to park.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon

https://avignon-tourisme.com/en/