Avignon vs. Nice

Bruce,

A few years ago, my mom & I stayed in Avignon for 2-3 days & we truly enjoyed it.

As you may know, Avignon is a beautiful medieval city surrounded by a wall and the popes actually lived there in the 14th
century (instead of in Rome).

I prefer Avignon over Nice.

However, this is your trip. So... Avignon vs. Nice is really up to you.

Do you want to spend time in a small charming city or a big city?
We were there in September & the weather was great.

You may want to check this website to get idea what weather will be like in April: http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/France/average-france-weather.php

Happy planning!

Thanks a lot, Priscilla. Great advice. So which is the small city vs. the large city? I thought they were both about the same size - perhaps not...

Bruce,

Avignon is smaller than Nice.

According to Wikipedia:

"Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast and
the second-largest city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region after
Marseille."

I'll take the contrary perspective -- Nice and vicinity is much better than Avignon, because Avignon is too geared towards Anglo and American tourists, while Nice and vicinity attract internal vacationers from the rest of France, Italy, and Spain.

Avignon itself can be done as a day trip, especially if you skip dancing the conga line through the papal palaces, as RS sort-of advises. That main square and the main drag leading to it can be skimmed, just like the Champs Elysee area in Paris (where 15 minutes, in my opinion, is 10 minutes too much) in favor of the museums and parks and churches. By staying in .. la Surgue you're already doing yourselves a good turn -- the hotels there in the historic core of Avignon are well avoided.

Nice and vicinity are nearly inexhaustible, and because it is popular with the French themselves, people are there to enjoy things not just extract money from you (although Cannes and Juan les Pins have plenty of people wanting to see and be seen.)

No one knows what the weather will be that far out, but you will probably want to do some research on past or average weather in early April in the Avignon area. Early April, it could be a consideration.

"So my quandary is, is it worth it to chop one day off of Nice and "give" it to Avignon?"

Probably, yes.

Hi Bruce. Last spring, my wife and I spent 8 nights of an 18 day trip to France and Spain in the Côte d'Azur and Provence. IMHO, I think you'd be better off allocating more time to the Avignon area. We flew into Nice and spent the first 3 nights there. Although we didn't get to Cannes, we did visit Antibes and Monaco. From there, we rented a car and drove to Lacoste for 3 nights, using it as a home base to explore Provence. We then spent two nights in Nimes where there's an awesome Roman arena, and day-tripped to Pont du Gard and Orange for more Roman ruins. Personally, I think there's more to see in Provence and would recommend only 4 nights in Nice and that you allocate the rest of your time to explore Avignon and the surrounding area.

The highlights of Provence are not in Avignon, so maybe the way to think about this is what would you do with time in each locale? And which alternative appeals to you the most? If you have a car, Provence (that is, the Rhone Valley area) is really spectacular.

Thanks, everyone, for your varied responses. The complicating factor will be the weather, which no one can predict, even with stats from previous years. I'd regret spending an extra day inland (in & around Avignon) if the weather is grand in Côte d'Azur but crummy inland. I'll mull it over... it's not a bad choice to have, and in the end, we can always go back! ;)

Nice is not only much bigger than Avignon, it feels much bigger as well. So there really is no equivalence on that basis.

I preferred Arles to Avignon, and liked Nimes better than either one. I didn't care for Aix, but obviously others like it. Since I didn't have a car, I also saw Marseille and Orange but couldn't get to many other places in the area.

There's certainly plenty to see around both Avignon and Nice. I recommend looking at Rick Steves Provence And The French Riviera, which has lots of information about both. His general France book has much less information about this region.

Thanks. Actually, what spurred me on to think about an extra day in the Avignon area came from reading Rick Steves Provence And The French Riviera. :) I've made my mind up and have "taken" a day from Nice and "given" it to the Avignon area.

Again, thanks everyone for your helpful responses.

-Bruce

You're going to have a great time!

I would also point you towards Nimes -- there's been recent excavations that have a double payoff: more old stuff on exhibit in revamped exhibition spaces and more new boulevards to stroll along. And the material on Nimes in the RS Provence guidebook benefits from a little reading-between-the-lines. (If you follow his recommended walking route keep your eyes out for many more items of note than the book actually notes, some of it NSFW)
The Nimes TI map/brochure also has what seems a thumbnail walking tour but turns out to be full of interesting nuggets...

Thanks. Have you been to Aix-en-Provence? If so, how would you compare Nimes to Aix-en-Provence?

I ask because we have limited time, and might end up having a choice between the two.

I have been to all the locations you mention and for me it would be an easy choice... I would stay in Provence over Nice. Although I have to say Avignon is not my favorite place to use as a base. I would choose Arles, or better yet, St. Remy. It is an easy place from which to drive to many of the locations you have listed, and the beautiful drive into town with the trees overhanging the road is the epitome of French charm. Aix is much larger and Nice is really a big city. I prefer driving around the countryside and exploring little villages, markets, etc. Cannes is a very trendy and pretentious, but still beautiful. For a little more laid back beach town I love St. Maxime's... nice market, shopping, restaurants and a wonderful beach complete with a carousel. The beach in Nice while beautiful is all stones... not my preference. I liked Nimes, but I don't need to return.

Thanks Terry. We will be staying in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, not Avignon.

From your base in La Sorgue, devote a day to the Cotes du Rhone wine valley traveling through Seguret to Vaison-la-Romaine. Devote a day to the villages of the Luberon, driving through Gordes to Roussillon and back through Menerbes. Devote a day to driving to Les Baux-de-Provence (set in Parc Naturel regional des Alpilles) through Saint-Remy-de-Provence. These are three days well spent.

Thanks e2dbg.

We won't have enough time for Cotes du Rhone and the Loire Valley but do plan on seeing and Saint-Remy-de-Provence. We also plan to go to Gordes, Roussillon, Pont Julien and Bonnieux. The thought is to drive from west Nice and then turn north at Aix-en-Provence. From there we would drive to Pertuis, Cadenet and then to Bonnieux for the others.

I'm hoping that this turns out to be a scenic route.

bk,
It is only 50KM (50 minutes) from La Sorgue to Vaison-la-Romaine. The Loire is more than 6 hours away from La Sorgue.

e2dbg

I will take that into consideration - thanks