I am bring my family to Provence next summer. We are 4 adults in all. Rather than stay in hotels I would like to rent a home either for a few days in two towns or one town for our entire stay(( about 8 days) any advice? What would be a good base town(s)? Thanks!
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA
700 posts
Which part of Provence? And what are you hoping to see or do? Renting a car, or travel by train?
There is a very convenient train line with frequent villages from Nimes to Orange with Arles, Avignon, etc on the way. That would make a good trip and plenty of excellent restaurants and Roman ruins.
You can also go to the Luberon : Gordes, Roussilon, Bonnieux, Lourmarin, La Costa, L'Isle Sorgue, etc. I don't think there are any trains there. And although famous, pretty touristy.
You can also stay in Aix-en-Provence which has everything - and do a day trip to Marseille or Cassis on the coast.
You could also train to Nice and take a convenient train line to Cannes, Antibes, Monaco, Menton, etc.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
I chose Arles as a base and was happy with the choice. The town has a lot of its own sights and is centrally located for visiting other towns.
Posted by
283 posts
I was there for a month in March 2024. I stayed in Aix, Arles and Avignon. Marked on a map where I wanted to go and headed bout by public transpo from there. Turned out 2 weeks in Aivgnon as most of where I wanted to go was more convenient from there. I stay in apts virtually all the time I travel. All the towns, markets and sites were fabulous.
Posted by
Long Beach, Ca, usa
1331 posts
immermaa,
For lodging, check gites-de-france. We have used them regularly. Been around longer than AirBandB, lots of options re size, location, etc. Very safe and reliable source for lodging.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
I plan to drive around and maybe have two bases where we can rent a vacation rental . Want to visit Avignon and the Luberon Region as well as points south of there like Nines, Arles and Aux. it seems that two likely centralized locations are Isle de la Sougue and maybe St. Temy de Provence or Arles. What do you think?
Posted by
Paris
7301 posts
Isle sur la Sorgue and St Rémy de Provence are both good bases, but they are only 40 min apart by road. I would choose St Rémy in the west, but for trips to Aix and the Luberon you could stay further east. Lourmarin or Ansouis would be great, for example.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA
700 posts
The advantage of St Remy en Provence and L'Isle Sur la Sorgue are they are ok place, but not huge tourist magnets, and probably lower priced. I have used both of them as bases when I had a car. But they are not all that close to other locations though, and not really that great of selection of restaurants. You can walk around for 30 minutes and see everything. LSLS has a nice little waterfall and mini-park next to the canal which are nice. So I would stay there only to save money and have a quiet time, if you are driving out a lot.
Avignon is a place that amazing restaurants. I would say it's probably the gold standard of excellent restaurants which are not too expensive and yet not touristy at all. Avignon is enclosed by original city walls, and has the pope's palace, and great view of the river. It's a very walkable nice place to hang out - albeit with a few homeless or troublesome teens - but nothing dangerous. Nimes has a wonderful vibe about it, and also much more impressive areas to walk and Roman ruins.
Many of those places in Luberon are over-touristed to the point that it doesn't feel that anyone actually lives in some of those places - its all restaurants and postcard shops.