Help with Provence/Car decision

I haven't driven in that area, but I believe St-Remy has no train station and Eze's station is right down on the coast, while your lodgings may be much higher up. In that area folks without cars depend a lot on buses. I used the buses a lot in May.

I was in Provence in late April and had a car,it is a pretty big area and the trains don't go every where.
Mike

Yes, train service is spotty in Provence. Years ago we spent a week in St. Remy w/o a car, and took a lot of buses. And wasted a lot of time making connections. I'd suggest keeping the car and driving to Eze. On the other hand, I don't know what the train or bus service is like from Avignon to Eze. If's good, then maybe dropping the car back in Avignon will make sense.

Eze le Village (at the top of the hill with a donkey track going up towards the Jardin Exotique and the hotel), Eze-sur-Mer near the station and the sea, or somewhere in between on the hillside? It will make a difference....

To get from St. Remy to Eze, you'd take have to go bus-train-bus, and it will take some time. A car will be much easier and faster, as it will be a "one seat ride."

Once in Eze, there are only a few options for getting to other towns without a car, so if you're staying in Eze a car will again be very useful. There are about 16 buses a day (8 on Sundays) to Nice, 8 buses a day (none on Sundays) to Monaco, and 8 buses a day from Eze Village (up on the hill, where I assume you are staying) to Eze Bord de Mer (on the coast), where you can connect with the trains (two per hour) or buses (four per hour) that go all along the coast. That's it for public transit. So, even though you do not plan to "hop around," which I understand, you'll probably want to go somewhere else besides Eze (it's lovely but small), and a car will give you much more freedom.

So, even though I'm a fan of not driving, for your particular itinerary, I'd pick up a car in Avignon (lots of choices at the Avignon TGV station) and keep it through St. Remy and Eze. Drop the car in Nice (you do not need or want to drive while in Nice).

I learn something new every day on this site. Please tell me: what is a one-seat ride in the context of driving. I tried looking it up on Google but nothing fit in the context.

By "one seat" ride, I mean that since you're driving, you get in the car in St. Remy and get out at Eze. You never have to change modes of transit.

Via public transportation for this trip, you get on a bus in St. Remy and get off at (I'm not even sure where - probably Marseille or Avignon). Then you get on a train and get off at Nice. Then you get on a bus in Nice and get off at Eze. So, by public transportation you have "three seats," or legs of transit.

It was just a shorthand way of describing the need to change from bus to train to bus, vs the lack of need to do any changes while driving. I'm sorry if it caused more confusion than it solved.

Thank you, Harold. I am, no doubt, the only person who was confused.

nope, not the only one...

And Harold is usually so transparent!!! ;-)

Thank you all..Eze Village..top of the hill..and yez..the one seat ride makes sense! Much appreciated!

I knew what you meant Harold and I thought it was a pretty good shorthand way of describing it. Sometimes public transportation doesn't serve well.

I think hold on to your car if you're staying up on the hill.

If you're down on the coast, drive there from St. Remy and turn your car in right away. There is a coastal train that will get you around (except up into the hills).

I'm doing similar in September. I'll have a rental car. I'm staying on the coast so as I'm coming into the area I'll spend part of a day at stops up on the hills, then drive down to the coast, turn my car in, and use the train from there.