We are planning a trip to Provence in the fall of 2019. We hope to fly into Marseille and want to see all the following places. Can anyone offer a good itinerary and possibly some towns that are easy to navigate in a car to use as base for travel.
Cassis, Luberon, Arles, Aix, Avignon, St. Remy, Pont du Gard, Grande Canyon du Verdon and any other areas you recommend....probably 10-14 days focusing on Provence. Not interested in big busy cities.
Posted by
Austin TX after living in Boulder CO for 25 years
1166 posts
- Take a look at this website of the most beautiful villages in France. http://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/en
You are missing the best ones in your list !
- Determine all of the villages/larger towns like Arles that you want to see and put them on a map. Even if it's a lot of them !
- Then you can see the regions you may wish to stay in and can determine a route for a drive.
- You might be able to stay several days in one region like St. Remy and do trips from there to Cassis and Arles. Then stay in a village like Caseneuve to visit the glorious hilltop villages or in Uzes for a fabulous cooking class and visit to the Pont du Gard.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
I know that Gordes, Rouisilon, and many other villages in the Luberon are recommended by many. I just didn't list all of them. I'm mainly looking for a routing that works for this. Basically we'd like to have 3 places to rent an apartment or hotel to explore Provence. I was thinking Cassis is close to Marseille and not a bad drive for day 1 so considered that for a few days. Also heard St. Remy was good to use as a base but maybe looking for another closer to Aix.
Posted by
Sunriver
1321 posts
Here's my 2 cents .... depending on how many times you want to pack/unpack I'd take a paper map and make a big circle on the map encompassing all you want to see in Provence...then I'd pick 3 -4 places as bases where you can day trip reasonably to the places you want to visit. I don't think you can go wrong and I'd look for towns to stay that have your basic minimums .. like walkability to restaurants or public transportation or public markets on certain days.
I thought Gordes and Roussillon were nice place to see but not worth staying overnight. Those "best places" are so subjective but useful to see what is "out there".