Hello, we are traveling in Provence in a few weeks, We will have 4 and 1/2 days there before we go to Paris. We will have a car (3 and 1/2days) Sat - Tuesday noon. The day before we pick up the car, we are scheduled to take a highlight tour to get our bearings and recover from jet lag. Should we keep our homebase in Avignon and complete day trips from there or split our time and spend the night in Aix, Gordes or other suggestions? We enjoy beautiful drives wandering through the towns, history, abbey’s.
We are interested in so many of the towns including Arles, L’ Isle sur la Sorgue, CDP, St. Remy, Seguret. We have heard how charming Annecy is, but that may be too much for this trip.
Appreciate your recommendations. We realize we need a much longer stay in this region.
Posted by
SoCal
1135 posts
Valbonne is a lovely village with very good restaurants and pétanque in the town square. Proximate to the coast and to lavender fields.
Posted by
283 posts
I just came back from Provence spending a week in Aix, Arles and 2 in Avignon. S, F, solo and using public transport which is why 2 weeks in Avignon. Stayed in apts in the center of towns, all ped friendly, so having a car to park may depend on where you stay. Arles was a delight, and all others small. Enjoy.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you both for responses. Seems we should have day trips to Arles and CDP from Avignon and then stay closer to Aix or Saint Remy for 2 days. Are there smaller villages you would suggest to stay overnight?
Valbonne is lovely, thank you for the suggestion, not sure if too close to the coast for our stay.
Do you recommend the L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue market?
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
Valbonne is lovely but it is near Nice: not sure that is what you are after.
I think the Luberon is your best bet; Gordes, Roussillon, Goult, Bonnieux are some good bases, or l'Isle sur la Sorgue if you want a larger town.
By the way, there is not much to see in Chateauneuf du Pape and the wine is $$$ even in France, so bear that in mind. There is lots of vineyards around Séguret too, and the area is prettier. The wine is worse, but still good and much cheaper.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
486 posts
With a car I would definitely stay a few days outside of Avignon. Driving in and out of Avignon is not too bad. But the smaller towns are wonderful. We stayed near St Remy, in Maussane-les-Alpilles. Here is a link to their tourist information bureau with lots of good information about the area. https://maussane.com/en/discovering-the-area/maussane-alpilles-100-alpilles/ There are many smaller similar towns in that area just west of Avignon and Arles. The Luberon is a bit further but also great. Driving in the area is easy. We were in MLA a month and could not have run out of great things to do in a year within an hour drive.
Posted by
7 posts
We just returned from nine days in the region. The first night we just picked up our rental car and rested in a hotel near the Marseilles airport.
Our first actual base was St Remy at Hotel Mas les Carassins. We stayed there three nights. We chose St Remy over Arles as our base due to its ideal size and central location to Arles, Nimes, Avignon, and L'isle sur la Sorgue. St Remy is fairly easy to get around in, and it's easy to get to other places from. The parking is also not the ordeal that it can be in some of the other cities in the area. The hotel was wonderful with good breakfast and extensive grounds with multiple pools and patios. We also ate at their restaurant one night and had a great meal there. St Remy is also a nice walking town with a vibrant but accessible city center. There are also numerous Van Gogh placards along the walkways where he painted particular paintings while he was a patient in St Remy. The only downside versus Arles is that St Remy is farther from the Camargue, which also has many things to do and see.
Our second base was a rustic farmhouse gite between Gordes and Joucas. It was a very central location within the Luberon, but nothing in the Luberon is very far from the other villages. Each of the villages has its own character, so they're not a "seen one, seen 'em all" We enjoyed Gordes, Roussillon, Lourmarin, and L'isle sur la Sorgue in particular, and we also drove up to Seguret and the Mont Ventoux area from our gite locaton, We were there three nights also. That said, we could have stayed in the Luberon a week and not run out of things to do.
Since you like Abbeys, I would advise you to go to the Abbaye Notre Dame de Senanque website and check out their liturgy schedule. Their Masses and daily prayer times are open to the public. We went to a Tuesday Mass and the chanting by the monks was sublime! You can also go to lauds and vespers, which are shorter. They also have a histopad tour which we took and enjoyed.
One caveat about the Luberon is the driving in and near the hill villages is challenging. If you have not MASTERED driving a manual transmission, opt for an automatic.
My wife and I both enjoyed L'isle sur la Sorgue very much. We could see using that as a base on future trips. It is a beautiful, lively town, and it has a good central location near both the Cote du Rhone area and the Luberon.
Hopefully this was a little bit helpful,
Happy Travels,
Matt
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you all for your comments. I am grateful to have the details of the towns you visited, especially the information on visiting the Abbey..