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Cinque Terre to Provence

I am traveling from the Cinque Terre to Avignon in late September with a train connection in Genoa and Nice where I can get from Nice to the Avignon TGV station.

From there I plan to rent a car to explore Provence and I'm staying three nights in St. Remy de Provence. Since I'm comfortable with it I am staying at the same B&B where I did traveling with family, but this trip is solo. I want to see Arles, Nimes and the Pont du Gard as well so yet unknown other towns.

From Provence I planned to travel to Paris for four nights before returning home. I've had several friends suggest that instead of taking the train to Avignon that I might consider renting a car at the Nice train station and take two of the days allotted to Paris and explore the area between Nice and Provence. We were in Provence for six days and this trip there is to see specific things we missed the first time, or that I gave in on my travel partners so they could have a better trip. The most easterly we went was Aix en Provence and that was only for a few hours.

Is there enough to see to justify taking time away from Paris to see on the French Riviera. I have been to Paris twice and seen most of the biggies and this time was to explore the lesser sights and the neighborhoods.

Thank you for any advice or suggestions you care to share.

Jim

Posted by
7937 posts

We're going to Provence and the French Riviera this July for 3 weeks, and won't be even passing thru Paris this time, despite having visited both areas several times before. Your interests may vary, but the area around Nice has some great art museums and surrounding towns in the hills and along the coast.

Marseille was kind-of a "pit" 15 years ago, but has been revitalized and is a worth a visit. It's the home of true bouillabaisse, if you're looking for food options.

Cassis has the wondrous calanques sea-cove cliffs, to visit by land or by boat.

Provence is full of wine regions (they may even be harvesting when you're there), ancient Roman sights, and lovely hill towns. Check out Gordes, Vaison la Romaine, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Orange, Crestet, Roussillon, and San Remy, among others. Rick Steves' France and/or Provence guidebooks will have lots of useful suggestions. .