Is this too crazy of a schedule for basically one day in Provence?

To answer your question...Yes! Doable if there is no traffic, if a parking spot is available right in front of where you are headed, if you get fast service and eat fast for coffee/pastries and lunch. You have 1 hour and 15 minutes seeing the Chateau de Lourmarin AND having coffee and pastries, leaving there at 11:00 to be at Bonnieux & Roussillon by 11:15. If you get to Senanque at 2:30, and leave at 3:15 to get to St. Remy by 4:00. that also makes for a short visit to the Abbey. And if at St.Remy at 4:00, you have 1 hour and 10 minutes to explore it before leaving to get back to your hotel at 6:00. It sounds exhausting, and you won't have time to enjoy the scenery of Provence.
Also, the sites that provide drive times (Google, ViaMichelin, etc.) all underestimate the time. They don't allow for gas or food or bathroom stops. The country/small roads between these towns may have single lanes each way, and if you get behind a farm vehicle, you won't move fast. (I speak from experience.) Also, even on some smaller roads, there may be speed cameras. There is no leeway above the speed limit in France, as there is in the US. You could receive a ticket six months later in the mail, as well as a charge from the car rental company for providing your info to the ticketing agency. Best to relax and not try to cover too much territory in too little time.
All those stops in 9 hours (9 am to 6 pm), three+ hours of which are in the car, don't sound like a fun day. Could you perhaps eliminate a stop or two? I recommend getting a Michelin paper map of the area. Seeing the "big picture" helps in planning a driving trip, at least for us. Plus, it makes a good souvenier if you trace your drives on the map!
I wish you luck. Provence is lovely and worth the time to really see and appreciate it.

When are you going? If during peak season, especially lavender time, you can kiss those drive times goodbye. It might work for you but it's much too tightly scheduled for me. I'd be a nervous wreck with the first traffic tie up.

When you plan such a tight itinerary, don't forget that the devil is in the details like those mentioned by Judy

You only take into account the travel times estimated by Google or other applications that are always too optimistic

Just for the first step, you estimate your arrival at 9:45 in Lourmarin. Do you know that the castle does not open before 10:30?

And where are you going to park the car in Lourmarin? At the castle parking lot? It's not possible near the Gaby cafe. Have you estimated the time to visit the castle, then the walking time to go from the castle to the cafe? then back to the car?

Same in Gordes, how do you estimate the time to find a parking space, choose a restaurant that is not too crowded, eat, then return to the car? Even if you do not hang around in the village, 1h30 is very optimistic.

The only part I find realistic is the last one: "Relax back at hotel." lol

Where are you planning to stay?

St Rémy de Provence is a good place to stay but not a great place to visit IMO, there is not a lot to see if you exclude Mausole & Glanum a little bit out of town.

Lourmarin, Bonnieux (good lunch stop), Gordes, Sénanque is OK for a 1-day tour of the Luberon.

Firstly, where are you staying? Secondly, yes it is too rushed. Stop and smell the roses. The villages are lovely and you will enjoy them more if you take your time to explore, stroll around, etc. You have less than 2 hours to visit 2 villages (Bonnieux and Rousillon) and then drive to Gordes. For example, we spent a couple of hours in Bonnieux walking uphill to see a church (I think) but also to enjoy the scenery and views. Each town deserves more than a 15 minute look-see. You don't leave yourself any time to see Gordes, only to have lunch there. And the drive times are slower than you think. And it could take a while to find a parking spot.

Thank you so much for the quick replies!

I tried to use AI (ChatGPT) to help plan, but it's definitely NOT as good as the Rick Steves community! :)

We are planning on May, here is our rough itinerary:
St. Jean Cap Ferrat (for 2 nights, we came last year and are bringing our mom this year) lots of walks, one morning in Old Nice, the Ephrussi de Rothschild, maybe Villefranche-sur-mer again.

Provence--staying at Chateau de Fonscolombe for 2 nights (half day travel, one full day, one morning before train to Paris)
Picking up the rental from Aix. Where should we spend the one day we have? Should we skip Provence altogether? The hotel in St. Jean is a little expensive so not sure we could add more days there...

Paris for 4 nights--this is our first trip to Paris so it will be all of the touristy spots, we're staying in St Germain Des Pres.

Travel Brooke!,
In planning your trip, many contributors to this forum recommend counting nights, not days. This allows for time traveling from location to location. e.g., you count 2 nights in St. Jean Cap Ferrat. That means one full day, and whatever part of a day you have on arrival there, and whatever part of a day you have before leaving after night two. I hope you can do what you plan in that time on the Riviera, without hurrying too much from place to place.
Good to see you are not planning things on your travel day from Nice to Provence. Have you sussed out the method and time involved in your travel from Nice to the Chateau? And the time it may take to get your rental car and the (possibly limited) hours the rental agency is open? Where are you picking up your rental? One point...Provence is a large area. In choosing where you want to go you are wise to keep to places close together, as you seem to have done. But, as I and others have said, try to trim down your places. One third of your day (at a minimum) is driving. The driver won't be able to enjoy the scenery with this schedule. I guess I am belaboring the point, but we have driven many times around France, and in Provence most of all, and your schedule really seems unmanageable. I believe Rick Steves has,or had, a separate book on Provence. Try to find it in the library or online. That will help you organize your day in a more manageable way. Best of luck!

To add......Four nights (three full days) in Paris will allow you to hit some (definitely not all) of the top tourist spots. Before going, check out your options and list them in order of importance for you to see. Choose from the list, estimate your time to spend there. Then arrange your sightseeing geographically to avoid backtracking. Next, be sure to reserve/purchase your entry ticket if that is required (e.g. the Louvre). Bonne chance!

This seems way to rushed for me. I worry you will be so stressed at keeping to your schedule and seeing everything you've planned you won't have time to sit in an outdoor cafe with a coffee or a glass of wine and watch the world go by. However, that is just me. I've traveled for years and I admit I have slowed down and learned to stop and enjoy the moment. Maybe if you did an alternate plan and left out a couple villages in case you run into traffic or find somewhere you really want to spend more time in. IMHO that might lessen the stress of making sure you see every village on your list.

Lavender won’t be blooming in May so you could cut out Abbaye de Senanque. I’d try your plan with the understanding that you may not get to all of your stops. Some villages like Bonnieux won’t take long at all.

I've looked at a lot of posts on the forum and taken everyone's advice into thought--I think we're going to keep it at 2-3 villages and I think we're settled on Lourmarin so far. Are there one or two nearby that anyone recommends?

I think Gordes will be too far, and I think someone mentioned that Bonnieux goes through winding roads so I'm not sure about that.

Cucuron and Ansouis were also mentioned--would those be good? We mostly like shopping/markets, historical sites, museums. We're not hikers and my sister just went to Monument Valley so she is good on rocks, so probably not Rousillon...

Thank you!!

Our Provence trip was in early September, so your experiences in May will probably differ. For us: 1. I really wanted to walk around in Roussillon since I had read a couple of books set there. After driving around for half an hour we gave up because we could not find any place within a mile to park. 2. At Abbaye de Senanque in September all of the lavender bushes had been pruned almost to the ground. Not very scenic! 3. Choose and enjoy two villages for a day. The Provence villages ( and it was about the same this year in Tuscany) are very similar. You don't need to visit lots of them, better to choose and savor .

Travel Brooke!
Just rereading this thread. I cannot imagine going to AI (ChatGpt) to plan a trip. I am sort of a troglodyte. I don't carry my phone around with me. It lives in my purse at home, I prefer talking on the phone to texting, and when I have to wait somewhere (e.g. doctor's office) I have a book with me and don't pass the time scrolling. Thus, I wouldn't go to AI to plan a trip of one day or one month. The results you got just go to show how AI is far from taking the place of people in trip planning. AI's results were pretty much an impossible option. Travel books, some travel bloggers, and fora like this, where real people have done input are so valuable. I am glad those of us on this forum were able to give you useful suggestions to enhance your day in Provence. AI has a long way to go!

Ansouis and Cucuron are cute. Especially Ansouis. There is minimal to no shopping there, though.

Dear Travel Brooke,
Depending on your philosophy of travel: Busy, on the go, see everything or leave time to enjoy a drink in a cafe and learn about the life in that town that may help plan YOUR trip. Our first trip to Nice and Provence was 11 days and we didn't see everything we'd originally planned so we identified places we'd visit on our next trip. There is so much beauty you really can't see it all in 1 trip.

This second trip we visited Lourmarin on our drive from Aix to our week stay in Roussillon. Not much to do/see in Lourmarin. Yes. the hills around Bonnieux did give me motion sickness even with my 'sea bands' on the wrists. Gordes is beautiful. We had a great dinner there day before the Tues. market day. Parking can be troublesome there. Check out Rick Steves info. about Gordes. We were in Luberon in mid-Late June and the lavender was early bloom so you might not catch it in May.
Other posts have good suggestions to you as well.
Message me if you want more details.

Your planned day looks exhausting and probably not quite doable.

one morning in Old Nice

With a 2 night stay you only have ONE morning. Your second morning you will need to get going if you are headed to Aix to pick up a car and travel onward.

Not clear on your itinerary—
Flying in or coming from where?
2 nights Cap Ferrat- then train to Aix to pick up car? (To Nice, change in Marseilles, pick up car at TGV?- drive to hotel-ugh )
2 nights Chateau de Fonscolombe- then road trip as above on full day here?
Then what- drop car? Where?
Train to Paris for 4 nights?

Seems like a lot of travel/transfers, lots of “seats”

I don’t know- maybe think about just spending 1 or 2 nights in Aix and enjoying that town- then train to Paris for 4 or 5 nights. 5 nights is really just 4 full days in Paris.

I don’t think AI does well with travel planning- at least not from what I’ve seen shared here.

Woody Allen once said: "I took a speed-reading course. I read War and Peace in three hours. It had to do with Russia." The point being: it might be physically possible to get to all of these places in a single day, but I'm not sure you'd get much out of it. ;-)

W-a-a-y back in 1999 we did something similar, but without the schedule. And with more miles and a far later return to point of true beginning

From Avignon, we drove and stopped in

• Fontaine de Vaucluse -walked to the source of the river springing out of the ground. Pretty cool.
• Gordes. Lovely walk through town, lunch, admired views and group of Japanese tourists painting watercolors.
• Rousillon. Lovely drive there from Gordes through lavender and sunflower fields. Didn’t really spend any time there. Tant pis. (Such a pity)
• Bonnieux. Lovely walk around town and a very nice time in a charming gallery with a lovely view. My wife wanted to buy the window, but we couldn’t get it and the view onto the airplane. We did get some posters which the artist kindly signed.
• Lourmarin. Lovely dinner outdoors marred by some really loud, obnoxious Texans who were complaining that the food was not like the steaks back home. Then why the hell did they travel to France?
• Got back to Avignon about 10 or 11 at night

I think Judy and JoLui are absolutely right about the problem with trying to cram a bunch in with a tight schedule. We just ambled. That is why we somewhat bailed on Rousillon.

The joy is in the journey and the experience, not ticking off the boxes.

Rule of thumb for a Quality vacation:

Go fewer places and stay longer in each place.

Drive at most 2 hours and spend the rest of the time exploring on foot, having a good meal, etc