Driving in Luberon

We drove the opposite route, from Nice to Avignon, but between Roussillon, Isle sur la Sorgue and Avignon it was absolutely no problem at all. I, too, was a little concerned about driving, but the hills were closer to Nice. There are a few villages that sit at the top of a hill, but even that's not difficult. You won't have a problem, it's mostly flat.

My sister and I are in our 70’s and spent three weeks driving around the Loire Valley and The Dordogne this year. Exploring the medieval villages of France is our passion. We loved our trip so much we are returning next year to explore the Luberon and Alpes-Maritime. This will be our 7th or 8th visit to France, always renting a car and driving ourselves. We used the Waze app vs a GPS system on the car and it never failed us.

We have been to the Luberon previously. It is beautiful! Isle sur La Sorgue is fairly flat. Most popular villages will have a car park or two. You will probably be parking in a car park outside the village and then walking the village, not driving. That’s not to say the roads leading to a village may be steep and narrow.

My recommendation is to do your research online ahead of time watching videos of the villages you plan on visiting. A quick google search for ‘car parks Roussillon’ found this handy site below that mentions Roussillon parking specifically. It includes videos.

Lourmarin is a charming village about 30 minutes from Roussillon. The parking is easy street parking outside of town with an easy walkway path into the village.

https://videoturysta.eu/roussillon.html

Would love to hear about your trip when you return.

Forgot to mention - the size of your rental car is important. This year we had a Peugeot 3008. We had reserved a size below this in the Compact category. The Hertz desk guy at CDG upsold us into this larger SUV saying we would be more comfortable as it had a GPS system ( which we never used ). I think he was profiling us. We even pushed back saying we needed a smaller car to explore the small villages. Thinking back I don’t think he even had our compact car.

This year we are sticking to our guns and holding out for a compact SUV ( not sub compact). We will not be renting through Hertz choosing Sixt or AutoEurope instead.

Some of the roads are quite narrow which is the only thing that made me uncomfortable driving through the Luberon region. Well, that and the road signs which I had studied but not enough, so I would recommend that you learn the signs.

Thank you so much for the helpful advice! I feel reassured and will continue more research on road signs and such. I’m renting from Hertz innAvignon and will double check the size of my car.
On a side not: My visa credit card assures me that I have CDW coverage. Did anyone receive pressure from the car rental companies to purchase additional coverage?
Thanks again all!

Call your credit card company and make sure you are covered in Europe. We always buy the no deduction coverage and I book through AutoEurope.

I have auto insurance through my American Express card; we were not pressured to purchase additional.

A couple tips: some smaller gas stations may be closed on Sundays, especially in the more rural area. Fill up on Saturday and you’ll be fine. Gas was super cheap in April.

It does not seem that you will be on the larger “A” toll roads, but wanted to mention that, for us, it was sometimes tricky to pay the toll. We had four credit cards between us which did not always work. We began to keep lots of euro coins and bills for paying tolls. It was a great way to off load excess change.

Bank ATMs everywhere worked great but a would consider carrying a second credit card ( we were not
Comfortable with using our debit cards ) just as a back up.

Take a look at Moustiers-Ste-Marie in this link. It is a charming walkable village, parking outside. It’s about 2 hrs driving east from Roussillon. That said, remember everything takes longer than you might expect. Start out early, plan your stops, especially for lunch, and keep in mind many shops close for two hours from 12-2 during lunch. You won’t have this problem in the more popular villages.

https://youtu.be/Is1Q9D_T0o4

Amazing! Great suggestions. Thanks so much everyone!

Some roads are quite narrow (take care around blind curves and blind hills) but I cannot think of many exposed roads in the Luberon. There is am exposed stretch between Gordes and Senanque Abbey but it is one way, which makes it safe.
I see Lourmarin mentioned: the road between Bonnieux or Apt and Lourmarin requires some care: it is very twisty and has quite a bit of traffic. But again, nothing too scary IMO.

You will be fine as not cliff driving per se but lots of windy roads and sometimes impatient drivers! Just keep your cool and go step by step. People can pass if they want. Dont drive at night. Both towns are lovely. Roussillon is more touristy and recommend going earlier in the day. Also Menerbres, Bonnieux Gordes etc. are all lovely. You can find parking just before entering the villages...Gordes is a tad tricky and recommend just parking inside the town.