Provence

Hello,
How long is your stay in Provence?
If it is 5 nights or less, I would stay in just one base: Saint Rémy is great if you have a car, and a car is recommended.

Also, I do not understand your point 1): how far from Marseille do you want to go? Are you interested in the Nice / Antibes area?

I agree with the St Remy suggestion. We liked Sous Les Figiures B&B--it has a nice garden and a gated parking area. Arles is much larger and busy--we day tripped to it and parking was hard to find. St Remy has good restaurants and a market day that is not to be missed. You can take day trips to Roussillon, Les Baux, etc.

You don't give many details of your plans. I'll say that St Remy is a good IF you have a car. If you don't Avignon makes a better base camp because of the connections and availability of tours and transit options.

If you post a list of your interests you'll get suggestions about where you should visit and what to see.

Have great trip,
=Tod

First of all thank you for all the answers. In my previous trips also, I learned a lot from this Travel forum. I shall try to give a little more detail now: My wife and I are planning to go to Provence beginning of September. We would like to rent a car at least some part of our trip which will last about 7 or 8 days. We shall fly to Marseilles but won’t spend any time there. We shall not include Nice and St Tropez either. I will appreciate if you advise 1) Another Town in addition to St Remy as a second base for the second half of the trip (or one is good and is it not recommended?) 2) Recommended B&B’s in those towns? (My only criteria is you or someone you know stayed there and felt happy during the stay) - Many thanks in advance (This reminds me that I should try to answer questions on this forum for the places I know; because one ‘to the point’ advice saves so many hours.)

I chose Arles for my base, primarily because I wasn't happy with Airbnb choices in St. Remy. After visiting St. Remy, I was glad I didn't make it my base. There is way more to see and do in Arles. The only downside in Arles (some consider it an upside) was market day. The market takes up a significant portion of the main route through town. My GPS couldn't grasp the concept that the road was unavailable so it was a chore to get out of town. In the East? Aix was pretty but I didn't see it as a great base. Maybe something in the Roussillon area?

Brad, could you please tell which b&b you chose in Arles and which day is the market day there. Thanks and regards.

It might also help if you listed what your interests are in Provence, Kemal.

If you interests are charming hilltowns the St Remy is probably a great choice. It is a classy little town (~10k population) where every alleyway is charming and has either a boutique or restaurant in it. It is much closer to other hilltowns like L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue than Arles is. Staying in St Remy is right next to Les Baux will save you an hour plus of driving time over Arles for the super charming Luberon hill towns, but you will need to drive everywhere.

I really like Arles but it is a bigger city (~50K population) and is not car friendly on the interior - park on the outskirts and walk into the city itself. If you want Roman ruins the Arles fits the bill and is an easy train ride to Nimes and Avignon and relatively close to Pont du Gard and other sites. And it has more in the way of shops, restaurants and transportation without always driving but lacks the consistent charm of smaller towns.

It really depends on what kind of Provence you're interested in seeing, but it's all great in its own way.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

It may sound too vague but our interest is just feeling what it is like to be in Provence. Still B&B advlces will be appreciated. Thanks and regards

What about staying in the Louberon area, Gordes, Menerbes, Bonnieux?
Read Peter Mayles “A Year in Provence.

We split our time between St-Remy (4 or maybe it was 5? nights) and Arles (2 nights). Dropped car in Arles and took train to Nice.
We liked Arles very much and were glad we stayed those 2 nights- but also glad we had already dropped car!
St-Remy is a great base for visiting the towns in Luberon, Avignon, Pont du Gard, etc. A car is really necessary for all that.

Market days in St-Remy are Wed and Sat. We visited the Wed market- wonderful!
Arles has a HUGE Saturday market.

We stayed at La Maison de Line in St-Remy - it was fantastic- onsite secure parking, easy in/out, beautiful grounds etc.

It was less than 10 min walk into town
http://lamaisondeline.fr/home/
We had a self catering cottage with a very private terrace, large grocery store is nearby. The pool was delightful as we were there during a heat wave.

Many thanks to all who have taken their time to answer my questions. If there is any more advice, I shall be happy to hear them. If not, these gave me some directions. Thanks again.

Christine, I am glad to hear you like Maison de Line because we are staying there for three nights in September in one of the cottages. We were looking for someplace that has a washer and dryer and saw that they do so we were very pleased. Thanks!