Day trip from Avignon

There are loads of interesting places in the vicinity of Avignon. To the north you could drive to Orange and se the remains of the magnificent roman theatre, with a stopover in the famous wine town of Chateuneuf du Pape.
To the east you have the very impressive roman aquaduct/bridge Pont du Gard and the city of Nimes woth it's roman Amphitheatre.
To the south there is the town of Arles, famous for the many paintings of Van Gogh and with yet another amphitheatre. Nearby Arles is the Abbye de Montmajour and further south is the Carmargue region.
To the west you have the Luberon region with it's many hilltowns, the most famous (and touristy) are Gordes and Roussilion, however if found Saignon very pleasent and remarkably free of tourists.

Im sure others could fill out the list even further.

We are here now and tho we aren't visiting Avignon(we've seen it before) we are doing day trips from where we are staying in Salon. We really enjoyed pont du gard which you could combine with a visit to Nimes. Today we visited Arles and Nimes. Yesterday we spent the day in Aix which was nice. (But we got caught in some very bad rain and some flooding so came back to our Airbnb by 5pm.

Tomorrow we are most likely doing Rousillion and maybe gordes, or we may do St Remy and Les Baux. I'll let you know how it goes!

I absolutely recommend Pont du Gard and then the town of Uzes, not as famous as Nimes or Orange but worth a half/day visit in conjunction with the Pont. Here's a NYT article about it: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/on-the-verge-uzes-the-hidden-gem-of-the-south-of-franc/?_r=0

Honestly, this is a personal choice kind of thing and (for only one day) depends strongly on your sightseeing priorities. The big hits are:

1. Pont du Gard + Nimes or Uzes
2. The Luberon
3. Les Beux + St Remy + Carriers Lumiers
4. Arles + the Camargue + the Med
5. Cote du Rhone + Orange

These are all comfortable day trips from Avignon with a car but offer different sight seeing activities. Given what you have written, I would think that (2) or (5) would be a good choice, as those drives are very scenic. However, the other 3 options are top notch as well. The time of year matters if you are interested in scenic lavender drives.

If you are interested in my detailed opinion of each option (keeping in mind that I travel with children), take a listen to this podcast episode in which I discuss my week in Provence and the 6 day trips that we did (including all five options noted above). I can also provide you with a drive time matrix that shows estimated travel time to/from each major tourist destination in Provence. I will need an email address (sent via private message) to send this to as this site does not allow for attachments. This matrix will help you get a feel for what you can link together in one day.

http://joinusinfrance.com/trip-report-provence-and-chamonix-episode-83/

Thanks,

Matt

Thank you for the feedback everyone. Some of these places like Pont du Gard and Nimes were on my radar of course, but I was curious to see how folks would prioritize them. Others, like Uzes were entirely new suggestions, so I appreciate that.

Matt - Your top 5 list is greatly appreciated and gives me exactly the sort of choices I was looking for. I haven't had a chance to listen to your podcast yet, but I definitely will. Thanks for that link too.

If you don't already know it, the Avignon tourism office is useful for day trips and much else:

http://www.avignon-tourisme.com/home-1-2.html

I bought a piece of pottery in one of the small Luberon villages - still makes me smile when I remember that day. Also, agree that Nimes & Pont du gard are worth exploring. If you go to Pont du gard, rent a canoe (you'll see places) to arrive at it underneath by rowing down the small river.

As already mentioned there are so many places to go! Another to consider is St. Remy. I liked the town;; there are Roman ruins; and it is where Van Gaugh lived and was hospitalized. It's where he painted the olive trees.

Pam

As already mentioned there are so many places to go! Another to consider is St. Remy. I liked the town;; there are Roman ruins; and it is where Van Gaugh lived and was hospitalized. It's where he painted the olive trees.

Pam