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Marseille – Nimes – Orange – Dijon: Opinions on how to do this

Posted by (Massachusetts) on

Marseille – Nimes – Orange – Dijon: Opinions on how to do this

I have a total of 11 nights (before that I will have been in Bologna for a week and in Croatia for 2). The first 2 nights and last 2 in Lyon (not changeable due to flights in and out). So really 7 full days/nights. Right now I have it 4 in Marseille and 3 in Dijon. But I have had Nimes and Orange on my ‘list’ for years but even after several trips to the south of France I never managed to work in either of them so I’d like to try to do that this trip, but without shortchanging either Marseille or Dijon.

One option is do them both on a (long) day trip from Marseille. Another is to leave Marseille after my four days there and stop in Orange for a few hours (this assumes they have left luggage – anyone know?) and then go to Nimes for the afternoon, night, following morning and then continue on to Dijon. Right now I have two and a half days in Dijon, with that plan it would go down to one and a half days/ two nights. Is that enough for Dijon? Orange doesn’t sound all that interesting to me except for the Roman sites, which it seems like could be visited in a couple hours.

Do either of these plans sound better than the other? I mostly like to wander around exploring cities, photographing things. None of these places has a lot in the way of museums that interest me, the few I might go to sound pretty small and quick. Thoughts? Opinions?

Posted by
4132 posts

Hi Isabel,

I think I have different tastes than you. I'd chose the Rhone valley over Marseilles and Beaune or other smaller city over Dijon. But your tastes are not wrong; I'm just explaining why I feel I can only give general advice.

I agree with you, however, about your impression of Orange. The theater is magnificent however.

On a purely logistical basis, I do not much like either of your Rhone Valley scenarios. The day trip is probably the better of the two. I assume you will have a car. You might consider swapping Arles for Nimes, just because it would be less driving.

An alternative, if you travel light, would be to spend the night in Nimes, get an early start, and then an hour or two in Orange, porting your bag with you.

Posted by
847 posts

Thanks for the replies.

Now that I know left luggage is not an option I've decided to not even try to do Orange. I'd still like to see Nimes so just need to decide if I'd rather take a day from Marseilles or from Dijon in order to do that. I was not planning any day trips from Dijon (I have been to Beaune on a previous trip). From Marseilles I want to go to Cassis. I'm sure Marseille is one of those cities some people love and some hate. I gather it's a bit like Palermo or Genoa, both cities I wasn't sure I'd like but both of which I really did. That's why I'm giving it four days but perhaps it makes sense to shorten it by one to go to Nimes. On the other hand I tend to like Mediterranean cities more than northern cities, and Dijon looks fairly small, so in some ways it might make more sense to take the Nimes day from that. I think either way it makes more sense to spend the night.

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