Nice / Provence for 7/8 nights

A trip that is comprised mostly of one night stays, even with the convenience of a car, will feel a bit exhausting, I think. And it will be good to have a preplanned route, and hotel reservations, since it's July in the South of France. I'd try to eliminate at least a few one of the one night stays and instead use a place as a "base" to take day trips out of. Moving hotel rooms is always more tiring and time-consuming than you think it will be.

For an itinerary that’s moving through a region, it’s ok if you do spend three nights in one place—but not Avignon in July. The festival will be going on, so it will be a madhouse. You should find a different base, somewhere where you can keep the car. And expect traffic through the Gorges. Vence is St. Paul de Vence, not Vence, because they are two different places. Looks good.

I'd base somewhere central and do day trips. We will actually be there the same time as you (July 4-11). This will be our 3rd visit there (the 1st time we only spent a few nights near Avignon; 2nd time - 4 nights in Salon; this trip we are spending 4 nights in Salon and 3 in Manosque). I don't think I'd want to leave accoms to chance - unless you don't mind something either really bad or really expensive. We didn't decide until March that we were going, and trying to find something good in my price range - well, the pickings were getting slim. Our other trips were in late Sept/early Oct.

Everything is pretty close together and with a car, I think it would just be easier to base and do day trips. (I wouldn't bother to stay in Roussillon then move the next night - stay there a few nights or stay a few nights in Vaison then move to Avignon or wherever you decide)

St Paul de Vence is gorgeous. We didn't go to Grasse on our last trip - our airbnb hosts told us there wasn't much there other than the 'perfume' stuff and recommended a drive thru some hill towns.

Avignon didn't do much for me, personally. We picked Salon to stay in as it was sort of in the middle of everything we wanted to see - we didn't even explore Salon, but are going to remedy that on this trip. Roussillon was also quite pretty.

Our last trip in Provence, we did Arles, Nimes, Aix, Les Baux, Pont du Gard, Roussillon (the trip before we did Avignon and a day trip with a company to Pont du Gard, Nimes, Uzes). This trip we will return to a few places - Aix, Les Baux, Roussilon - and visit some new places - Valensole, Gordes (and the Abbaye Senanque), Orange, Isle sur la Sorgue, Vaison la Romaine, Manosque. I've mapped out where we want to visit on my CityMaps2Go app and will base our day trips accordingly - eg - Vaison and Orange are outliers from where we are staying, so will combine them into one day. Hopefully we can do Roussillon/Gordes/Sorgue in a day - the great thing about July - loooooong daylight hours!)

A great app (if you don't have it) is Rome2rio (also a webpage). It's great for calculating driving times.

PS - if you are driving a mid-size or larger car - avoid the indoor parking garage in St Paul du Vence - the corners were very tight (we had a car about the size of a Dodge avenger) and we ended up putting quite the scrape on the car. Our rule for this trip - NO INDOOR PARKING GARAGES!

Thank you guys - really appreciate the input. It seems that Rick's suggested itinerary for the region is perhaps a bit too aggressive. I think I will take the feedback to heart and look for a couple places to base.

Thoughts on basing somewhere in the Luberon for 2-3 days and then perhaps St Remy de Provence for 2-3 days?

Also, Nicole, I certainly won't be leaving the accoms to chance. I'm trying to nail down my itinerary right now so that I can start booking things. We also decided on our trip pretty late so I am racing to get everything planned. Thanks so much for all the recommendations - I will definitely look into them!

I know St Remy has some fans here. It’s a nice central spot. I guess for accom, I’m more of a budget traveller, and anything over about 65€ a night starts to make me hyperventilate...lol. So if you have a little (or lot) higher budget, you should be fine.

I think Rick's packaging tours are designed with 2 things in mind that may differ from your trip:
1.) they are trying to give you just a taste of multiple places since multiple people with different interests will be in the group. As an individual traveler you can focus on what interests you, concentrate with more days there and cross the stuff not top of your personal list off. Figuring out what not to see is sometimes more important than what you should see.

2.) those tours have a private driver and planner keeping track of the time ; in your case that would be you which will make you much more tired by the end of things.
That driver can also keep your bags and store/watch your bags while you are not a hotel.

I am personally not a fan of the whole group tour thing for many reasons but trying to copy a group tour itinerary as an individual traveler would be even worse.
If you truly don't mind checking in and checking out all that many times I guess but most people I know don't like that and you lose so much time with the process of checking in to a new place, packing up, checking out. Waiting for rooms to be ready, etc...

A few comments for you to consider you are not really spending any time on the Cote D'Azur which to me seems odd, maybe just skip Nice/Vence and start in say Avignon with a couple of nights somewhere else to keep your plan more concentrated on the locations of interest.

If you really want to see the lavender in bloom you have timed it well ; but it is not exactly a secret and there will be many, many people doing the same thing so lodging anywhere around there the first week of July is tough to come by, weekends especially are filled up already.

It is not a great idea to keep your luggage in your car while you site see and you would be doing that most every day.

I am actually not copying a group itinerary for the region but instead following his self guided tour of Provence by car as seen here: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/provence-french-riviera-itinerary. My itinerary in the OP essentially follows his itinerary exactly through Day 8/9 or so.

I'm thinking I will still try to follow some of it but try to have a couple of bases to explore his suggestions instead of moving each night.

Sorry if I offended.
I do see what you mean and just have to disagree with the website owner on this one.

These type of daily moving itinerary's are quite common in guide books (not just Rick) but I don't think they make much sense.
Seeing many of the same locations does, but as you mention choosing a couple of bases is a far better plan. Everyone has their own opinion/tolerance on how far a drive for a daytrip type (non-overnight) location.
For me 2 hours each way is my limit.
Others do far more and others do far less.

Just curious if flights not final/booked. If you could fly out of MRS (Marseille) that would be far more convenient for you than Geneva.

I think people have guided you on the right path by condensing down the number of stops. Many of the places are not that far apart.

In the Nice area I do recommend hitting the morning market and also going to Eze and/or VilleFranche/Cap Ferrat. You might consider another day, especially if this is your first leg of your trip. The sea vistas and the Italian influence gives the area a different feel than the countryside of Provence.

You can hit St. Paul de Vence on your way to the Gorges du Verdon. The wider route per the RS itinerary goes through SPdV and then likely routes through Tourettes and then on and up through Gourdon. Then you can reach the Gorges du Verdon and stay one night. Continue onto through the Valensole the next day and into the Luberon. Rousillion is great, but also go to Gordes and maybe Menerbes, Lourmarin, Bonnieux or one of the less popular villages. July is peak season, so be prepared. Then you can head up to Vaison-la-Romain; Orange, Gigondas, Caprentras, etc are all reachable from one base.

I do like the Pont du Gard but it is a longer day trip from these bases.

I think the itinerary variations and choices of locations depend on your interests: food? wine? historical sights? natural beauty? hiking/biking? a night out?

I think my new topics may be getting deleted. Thank you all for the feedback. Would anyone mind reviewing my revised itinerary below? I made some changes and tried to consolidate bases.

Breakdown: 1 night Nice, 1 night Moustiers, 3 nights Luberon, 2 nights Les Baux or St Remy area

July 3 (Tues): Land in Nice at 8am, explore, sleep Nice

July 4 (Wed): Pick up rental car, scenic drive to Gorges du Verdon and sleep near/in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie

July 5 (Thurs): Drive to Luberon, explore area - sleep Luberon near Gordes or Roussillon... any suggestions?

July 6 (Fri): Explore Luberon, sleep Luberon near Gordes or Roussillon

July 7 (Sat): Explore Luberon, sleep Luberon near Gordes or Roussillon

July 8 (Sun): Avignon, sleep Les Baux or St Remy? Any suggestions?

July 9 (Mon): Nimes or Arles? Sleep Les Baux or St Remy

July 10 (Tues): Last full day - either early TGV from Avignon to Lyon or one more day in Provence and afternoon trains to Geneva, Sleep Geneva

July 11 (Wed): Fly home from Geneva

"Near Roussillon" we stayed in Il Sur La Sorgue for 4 days, and visited Vaison la Ronaine from there, and did the cote du rhone drive to/from there.
Id choose St Remy over Le Baux , and visit Le Baux from St Remy--

That looks a bit better - we've been guilty of underestimating how long it takes to switch accoms in the past, so it's better to minimize your moves.

Les Baux is pretty small - so I'd prob go with St Remy as well. I guess it may come down to where you can find something in your price range.

As for Gordes vs Roussillon - again - prob come down to where you can find something in your price range. I thought Roussillon was very pretty - we didn't visit Gordes on our last trip, so I have no opinion on there...

Maybe we'll pass by you!