Opinions on Towns in Provence Region

We are normally big city sightseers, but in Provence our favorite experience was hill-town hopping in the Luberon. We enjoyed Rousillon and Isle sur la Sorgue the most and plan to return to both this summer, while skipping Avignon and Arles. I would be interested to hear your opinion on Nimes as that's on our "maybe" list for our trip this July.

Drive from Carcassone to Nimes with a stop in Montpellier
Base yourself in Nimes for 4 nights, taking day trips ...
Day 1 Excursion to Pont du Gard, Avignon & Orange
Day 2 Excursion to Arles, St Marie de la Mer & Aigues Mortes
Day 3 Excursion to St Remy, Les Baux & Aix-en-Provence
Then on to Cote d'Azur

Hi Nicole

In my view unless you are very interested in Roman arenas then drop Orange and I wouldn't bother with Apt either as there isn't much there. The Fontaine de Vaucluse I would add along with Gordes. Marseilles should also be visited along with Cassis.

There are others but these are the main ones in my view.

Best

Peter

I had read somewhere that Apt had a great local market, which is why I was thinking of there. We will be in Provence area on a Fri afternoon thru Tues morning, so we may luck into a local market on the weekend in one of the towns (I will do my homework before hand and see where some are). From Carcassonne before hitting Provence, we may hit Millau to see the bridge...that will be entirely dependent on the weather.

I will def look at all those other spots. I'm hoping we can wing it a bit - having a car, I don't want to be pinned down to a super-firm schedule every day...I'd like to be able to stop at some little village or town or site if it looks interesting. I was looking over my Provence guide book and noticed they offer tours at the L'Occitane factory (I love their products) so we may do that.

I am also very interested in photography so anywhere super-picturesque...

denisek...I sent you a message about Nimes...

When I was there for 6 days in 2012 I based myself in Roussillon (after 1 night in Avignon and a visit to Pont du Gard on the way between the two). I really liked Roussillon and the other small villages I visited on day trips from there - L'Isle Sur La Sorgue, Sault, Bonnieux, Vaison La Romaine, Gordes, Joucas. I did go to Arles also but never got to Nimes, I preferred to drive the countryside and visit the smaller places. I managed market days in at least 4 towns and that was one of my favorite things to do. Another favorite thing was photographing the wonderful scenery around and the towns themselves, adored the colorful buildings in some of the towns.

Heres a website with market day information that may be helpful.

http://www.beyond.fr/a/markets-by-day-all.html

We just returned from staying in St. Remy and loved it. We based there and had a car so we toured the entire area. Glad we stayed there instead of Avignon or Arles. We also loved Isle sur la Sorgue. The markets are fun in all the small towns too.

In my view Carcassonne warrants 1 day. I was in Nimes last yr becuz it was on the way and rick recom it however the sigts were insignificant and incould have easily skipped it and spent more time in Cassis and the cote de zur. i could have also skipped Marseille altogether but Our train routed us there and we rented a car at the station. But it is one ugly, mostly industrial port town with vagabonds and crazy drivers. i have based myself in previous trips in larger Arles, with daytrips out and also in tiny Isle sur la sorgue. Both i thought were very gd with xcellent sights themselves and wonderful restaurant options. Gordes, Rousillion, St Remy, Les Baux they r all quite diff and enjoyable. In cote de zur do not miss villefranche sur la mer, nice, monaco and the villages on the corniches. Enjoy espec since it will be cooler and fewer people visiting in the fall.

I loved Nimes and it's a great transportation hub, but it's a city. With a car, you may prefer a smaller town.

I had initially had Carcassonne down for one night, but I don't imagine we will get there from Avignon until later in the afternoon...and didn't want to drive all that way for one night only. So that's why I decided to go for 2 nights. I imagine if we get bored of it, we can always take a drive somewhere in the afternoon...which is probably what we will do...any suggestions? Narbonne? I see it's about an hour drive to Toulouse...is that worth an afternoon?

Arles also has a great market on Saturdays mornings, if it fits your schedule, or smaller on Wednesday mornings. Without any scientific research, I'm guessing that larger towns get more vendor turnout to their markets because of the larger target audience there.

"if we get bored of it, we can always take a drive somewhere in the afternoon...which is probably what we will do...any suggestions?"

Perpignan is also just a bit over an hour's drive. I've not been there myself but know someone who has been and really enjoyed it. I've seen good reviews about it on here and other forums. Just another suggested option if you get bored in Carcassonne.

I agree with the poster who said there's not much to see in Orange other than the Roman theater. Aix and Carcassonne aren't favorites with me, either. Someone mentioned Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. IMO, it's one of the prettiest villages in the area. Despite being tiny, it has a number of noteworthy sights. There's a 12th century church, and the Musee Petrarque, in the house where the poet lived for a while. The Museum of History, 1939 - 1945, is one of the best of its kind that I've seen. There's a museum of speleology, which I haven't visited. We had dinner one night in a restaurant right in the center, simple but delicious food and gracious service. Name is something like Chez Dominique.

St. Remy has the most charm to me of all the towns you listed for a base. It is beautiful, has a fabulous market on Wed. & Sat. I think as well as having the most beautiful drive into the town. It is the quintessential road with the trees on either side...perfection. You then pass the hospital where Vangogh spent some time. St. Remy has a great area of shopping, restaurants, cafes as well as being so close to many of the surrounding towns.
I did not care for Nimes... the ambience was not even close to the smaller village, especially as a home base. Worth a visit, but when the French countryside is calling me it is any of the smaller villages. Arles can be hectic and parking can be a pain.

I also always forget the name (I think it has changed) but there is a place just outside of St. Remy where they have a multimedia presentation inside a limestone quarry... It was closed for a while but heard it was open again. Spectacular...
I just saw that you are in to photography. I am a professional photographer and we have had many workshops in St. Remy and one thing we would do was get up very early and walk to the hospital area where Vangogh was. The buildings are not open but you can wander around part of the grounds and see the hills that he painted. Also you should go to Gordes, beautiful Abbey de Senague (sp?) with all the lavender fields in front of it. The whole area is so special... If you go to LeBaux just go at the end of the day after the tourist buses have left and watch the sunset. It's such a touristy town but the views are great.

Hi Nicole

I think you will find Fontaine de Vaucluse is exceptional for photographic opportunities.

As for the market at Apt, well for my money it's not exceptional and the town itself is a bit grim as can be the case with some of the mountain region towns, the surrounding countryside and villages are exceptionally beautiful and that is the attraction of the Apt neck of the woods. The market in Aix is exceptional.

Its all nice really but as your trying to cherry pick...

Best

Peter

Wow - thanks for all the great recommendations! I honestly just picked most of those places off my RS France planning map...lol. So I think Orange will def be off the visit list. I guess Apt will depend...def adding Isle sur la Sorgue and Fontaine de Vaucluse (pardon my spelling if those are wrong).

Thanks Terry K for the photographic hints! I am really leaning towards staying in St Remy and more to exploring little towns and maybe only do one larger spot...I'm feeling a little more like this will be a more laid back visit without having to check things off a too-see-list. But I'm not too worried right now about where we base ourselves - I will def have something lined up before we go, but I'm hoping to find some couchsurfing hosts and having a car will make it easier to stay in a smaller town...we've only been surfing with previous CS hosts on our last few trips, and we've been getting so many requests this year and hosting already (some folks from Switzerland staying tonight and some girls from New Zealand next weekend, and we've already hosted 3 this year!) that I'm hoping to get good hosting karma that will rub off when we are looking for hosts.

Loved St. Remy where we rented a farmhouse for the week and drove in a different direction every day. If you only went to the Pont du Gard with a tour I'd suggest you go back and spend a half day or so. You can rent a canoe and explore the river and the bridge is pretty impressive from a boat going underneath it. We went at the recommendation of a friend to a hill town called Gordes (pronounced Gord) and quite by accident arrived on market day which was fabulous. Their church dates back to the 900s. In addition to Aix-en-Provence where we did not spend enough time we also went to Cassis (pronounced cassee). Beautful harbor town and you can take a boat tour out to the calanques which have been carved out of the rocks over thousands of years. Choose a boat that fits your schedule with trips that are short, medium or long and priced accordingly. The food on the harbor was terrific. After exploring the Luberon we also had lunch one day on the river in L'Isle sur la Sorgue and wandered around the town for a couple of hours. An island town it is a must see in Provence if you haven't been there. One other thing you can do is look in Rick's France book for a wine area drive NE of Avignon. We did part of it but too late in the day to get to the many wineries that offer a wine tasting. Start early if you like wine. Lastly, don't discount places you have seen before. After taking my wife and her mother to Europe three times I'm going back alone for three weeks in September, into Rome and out of Paris. Three of my nights will be in St. Remy and traveling to places in Provence we saw and others I missed out on to make their trip better.

Hi Nicole.

My wife and I were heading in the opposite direction this past spring, departing from Nice and driving to Lacoste. Along the way, we went to Fondation Maeght in Saint Paul de Vence which was wonderful, and had an underwhelming lunch in Cucaron across from the bassin (which was cool). After lunch, we stopped in Lourmarin on our way to our apartment in Lacoste for 3 nights.

Lacoste was a nice, quiet alternative to Nice and great for exploring Provence with a car. I'd recommend Pont Julien, Rick's Côtes du Rhône wine road, and a weekly market like that in Gordes.There's also the Vineyard Tour and Wine Tasting in English at Domain De Mourchon. We also enjoyed the Asylum in St. Remy, but we are big fans of Van Gogh. L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was a bit underwhelming, though I'm sure others would disagree. We had dinner in Roussillon which was just OK (both the village and dinner).

From Lacoste, we went to Arles on our way to Nimes for two nights. Arles was too big for my taste, Nimes seemed more laid back. In Arles we went to the Fondation Van Gogh which actually had several originals from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. There's also the Museum of Ancient History which was just OK.

We did the Pont du Gard and Orange on a day trip from Nimes. You've been to Pont du Gard and would go back so I don't need to sell it. The theatre in Orange was like nothing we'd seen before (been to Rome, Bath, Hadrian's Wall) and a must if you're into Roman ruins. We also enjoyed the Arc de Triomphe. There are more ruins in Vaison La Romaine and you might consider staying there several nights and doing day trips to Orange and the Côtes du Rhône wine road.

Have fun!

So many ideas!

I'll be putting little sticky arrows on my driving map and we'll see what we can visit.

Another question - I know in Italy there are driving restrictions in places like Florence - no go zones. Other than traffic/parknig issues, do any of the towns in Provence have any restrictions on vehicles going into historic centers? (We will def be reviewing our France road signs before going).

We just got back from a four-night stay in L'isle-sur-la-Sorgue as part of a larger trip and we loved it. We rented VRBO property #630978 and it is fabulous, right on the river, beautiful property and grounds and two friendly ducks that stay on the property. L'isle also has its market day on Sunday and it is a great market. I would highly recommend that you look at it for a home base. We really liked St. Remy (bigger than we thought) and Roussillon and weren't that impressed by Gordes, although there are some decent photo ops there. We didn't make it into Les Baux, but it was definitely packed with people. Arles looks like an interesting city to visit, but it was at the end of a tiring day so we opted for wine and cheese instead - good idea.

We just returned from a 10 day stay in Sablet. A wonderful hill town. Stayed at VRBO, look for one that is advertised as having two terraces. Rented car in Avignon. Based day trips out of Sablet. We thought we would do and see more, but became more content with just enjoying the fine wines, and excellent restaurants. And seeing one or two sights a day. Maybe we should of stayed in two different towns, one further south....but then again we would of missed being part of this little community of 750 people.

When we left and were rolling our suitcases to our car the proprietier of the grocery store came out to wave goodbye, with his wife blowing us kisses.

Just wanted to update on what we did. We stayed at an Airbnb in Salon de Provence arriving in the evening after a two hour train delay arriving in Avignon.

We spent part of the next day in Aix. But we were there when they had the torrential rains and went back to our place early. Some flooding on the roads (tho nothing like in Cannes). Would have enjoyed Aix more without the rain.

Next day we went to Arles and Nimes and checked out the arenas. We enjoyed that. didn't do much else on Arles but in Nimes went to Maison Carree and went to the park and overlook as well.

Next day we went to manosque for a factory tour at l'occitane. Then to Rousillion which I loved. I wanted to see Gordes but hubby wanted to go to les Baux...but we got there after the fort/castle closed. I told him we should have went to gordes. Sigh.

Next morning we went to les Baux and spent about three hours there. Found it quite interesting (if you like that kinda thing). Also spent about 45 min seeing the Roman ruins at Glanum just outside St remy. After a gps mishap at st remy, hubby didn't want to go back.

Final result...we still have to come back for a week to see more! Rousillion was my fav in Provence.

FYI Nicole, the torrential rain, twenty dead, and all the destruction on the Riviera didn't really make the news here. Over here the news has focused on the rain and flooding in South Carolina, USA.

Glad you got to enjoy yourself so much, that you weren't too affected and weren't on the Riviera last Saturday night, and that you'll be going back to enjoy more of Provence one day.