Overnight trip to Arles/Aix/Avignon from Nice

You should email your hotel and ask them if you could leave your luggage for a day. I have found that European hotels are very accommodating to such requests. If you do spend a night, I think trying to visit all three towns is a bit much. With travel time and checking in and out of a hotel plus traveling from the hotel to the towns you wish to visit seems stressful, tiring and will prevent you from truly enjoying your visit. Choose two and smell the roses instead of running the marathon!

We spent 4 days in Nice, That felt to long..6 days in Nice is way to long.
Theres not that much to see,, the beaches are rocky, bring water shoes
Monte Carlo, isnt worth the visit, unless your very rich and like shopping and 2 casinos.
A beer will cost you 19 Euro outside the casino area.
You can go to other little areas on the train, to wards MC, they"re quite nice

*** From Barcellona, flight to the island of Mallorca,Palma, takes 45 min, stunning there

We aren’t going to be in Nice itself for six days, it’s more that we are staying there and will go to various other towns. My hotels are all cancelable, so I theoretically could go to Paris a day earlier, as I haven’t bought those hopper flights yet, but I was thinking that there would be enough to do if we go to a different town every day.

I did email the hotel but they are currently being renovated and I got an automated reply that their answer may be delayed. I’m hoping they will hold onto the luggage since it’s just one night, but I guess we’ll find out.

Would it be possible for you to leave Nice 2 days early, spend 2 nights in Avignon, and continue on to Paris by train?
It would be more efficient than going back and forth. Avignon to Paris is slightly faster than Avignon to Nice !

Balso's right; it's a short train trip back to a Paris from Avignon, or even Aix. But it appears you've already bought the Nice-Paris airline ticket.

No, I haven't bought any hopper tickets yet, just the big international ones. And I was slowly coming up with this myself. The only question I have is can you really fly out of Avignon to Paris? I just started looking around, but it looks like you have to go to Marseilles?

I was thinking about something like this:

-- leave Nice on the 4th, take train to Arles (with all my stuff). Check into Arles hotel or at least drop off bags. Explore Arles, spend night.

5th -- train to Avignon, explore Avignon, train back to Arles -- taxi to Marseilles, fly to Paris. (Or spend night and fly out in the morning, but that is worse for my plans in Paris, I think).

The main reason I was tracking back is the suitcases, but this could work too. It does mean Aix is off the table, but we can't have everything.

I am open to all suggestions, including other towns instead, but I did want to see the Roman ruins in Arles (or somewhere else).

sorry, meant to add, I know I can do Avignon to Paris by train. Obviously, I am fine with trains in general. But in this case, I would likely be going at night, and with my son and all my stuff, and then have to get to the airport from the train station, and I'm a little warier of accomplishing all of that in the evening. I know it stays light very late in the summer in France, which helps. Maybe someone can reassure me this isn't an issue, but I do sometimes get nervous being encumbered with bags and doing a lot of running around at night with my child. I just feel like an easier target at that point.

I'm sorry, I am getting very confused, I was up late planning! If I took the train to Paris, I obviously would not need to go to the airport in Paris. I was thinking of a train from Avignon to Marseilles. I guess if I took the train directly to Paris, I could just get a taxi at the train station and go straight to my hotel. I'll have to see if there are any trains late enough.

OK, thank you for being patient with me! I think this is coming together. In this plan, I would:

leave Nice on the 4th, take a train to Avignon with all our stuff, leave stuff at hotel, explore Avignon, spend night
5th: train to Arles, explore Arles, train back to Avignon, pick up stuff, evening train to Paris. spend night in Paris.

This does sound more appealing than flying.

The plan you outlined in your last message is a good one 😊. If they aren't already, train tickets should be available soon! Booking early is recommended for best fares.

Note that there are two stations in Avignon : Avignon TGV and Avignon Centre. Most long-distance trains serve Avignon TGV. There usually is a connection there to a 5-minute shuttle train to Avignon Centre, but not always: a taxi from Avignon TGV could be easier. Ask your Avignon hotel, maybe they can help you pre-book something.

Out of Avignon, there is a direct train from Avignon Centre to Paris at around 6 PM every day: it is the most convenient option despite being slightly slower than the trains from Avignon TGV. Incidentally, that train also serves Arles 20 minutes before Avignon, but I do not know of any easy way to store luggage near Arles station so I would just head back to Avignon as you intended.

Thanks again -- open to hotel recommendations in Avignon! Ideally one where I won't need to carry luggage up stairs and also one that has AC and has or can provide a refrigerator and we will be traveling with medication that needs to be refrigerated.

Thank you for helping me pull this section of my trip together!