Provence and limited time

5 days is actually a good amount of time to visit Provence!
Approximately when are you going?
And do you have the flexibility to rent a car, or not?
And what has your thinking or planning been so far--if you could give us an idea of that?

We will be going to England first the end of October and heading for Provence November 5th. There is so much information on the area, it's a challenge to decided what to see. I am an art history lecturer and would like to visit locations related to that. Also, vineyards of which I'm considering a day tour to see that. My husband would enjoy visiting Roman ruins.

Thank you replying so quickly. We've been to England several times and we are comfortable traveling around, but, the south of France will be a new experience for us.

Hopefully the November weather will cooperate, to allow comfortable outdoor activities. It is countryside and an outdoor activity area, so November could be challenging, if the weather doesn't cooperate.

We will be renting a car to travel around Provence.

If the November weather doesn't cooperate, you may want to park the car part of the time and use the train to see the indoor sights at the following cities in Provence:
Arles
Avignon
Nimes
Aix-en-Provence

You probably don't want to drive into these cities (parking and traffic congestion complications)

If the weather does cooperate, you'll be able to add these outdoor activities:

• Les Baux
• St.-Remy
• Pont du Gard
• Carmargue
• Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
• explore the Luberon area

November is not such a good month for visiting vineyards. To drink the wine and do tastings, yes, but it's after harvest so there won't be any grapes on the vines.

You mention you're an art history lecturer. So you will already be aware that Provence is associated with Van Gogh. The Yellow House in Arles was bombed in WW2, but you can see the neighborhood, there's a tree that's still alive that is in one of his paintings of the Yellow House. You can also see the room in the St. Paul asylum near St.-Remy, where he lived his last year in Provence--very touching.

In Saint-Remy-de-Provence, you can visit St. Paul de Mausolee, the Cloister where Van Gogh spent one year of his life trying to recover and putting on canvas many scenes at this Cloister. Directly across the road is the Roman Site Archéologique de Glanum some of which you can see without an entrance fee.

In Albi, you can spend hours at Musée Toulouse-Lautrec viewing the largest collection in the world of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's works. After the Museum, step into Cathedrale Ste-Cecile and see the most magnificent roodscreen with detailed filigree stone work. There is also a mural of The Last Judgment that was painted between 1474 and 1484.

Roman Ruins: By Uzes--Pont du Gard (a must see with a wonderful museum). Nimes--Colosseum (Arena) and La Maison Carrée (recently restored temple). In Orange--Theatre Antique d'Orange is, for me, the most amazing Roman Ruin besides Pont du Gard. Also in Orange is the Triumphal Arch of Orange. Arles--Colosseum and remains of a Forum. Personally, I could have passed up this town.

Not a Roman Ruin but definitely worth seeing is Palais des Papes--a historical palace in Avignon which is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe.

Enjoy your trip!

Your list sounds great. I was underwhelmed by Arles. If you can get to the Rosaire Chapel in St-Paul de Vence (Alpes-Maritimes area), it was designed by Matisse.

You have gotten some great advice. However I think that Albi and Nice are both beyond your reach, since they are about 3 hour away (each way) from the Rhone valley.

Your best strategy may be to base yourself on one place, either Arles or a smaller town, and make day trips. You will not run out of things to see and do!

after, a visit to Uzes and the Pont du Gard makes for a good day. Even if it's cold and raining, I'd encourage you to not miss Pont du Gard, it was breathtaking to stand there and imagine how it ever got built.

The Carrieres de Lumieres has a new program beginning in March which runs through the end of the year, we loved it there:

http://www.carrieres-lumieres.com/en/events

You might want to refer to Rick's eastern France tour. I did a similar tour that started in Paris and ended in Villefranche-sur -mer, near Nice. Vaison la Romaine was a favorite spot, Roman ruins, a fabulous market on Tuesday, it might run another day. A gorgeous town. Orange has a Theatre, one of the few left with most of it's back wall present. The tour was one of my faves, my first RS tour and quite memorable.

A big thank you to all of you who have been very generous with your suggestions. We have bought our tickets and will be in Provence November 5th and back to London on the 11th. Now the planning begins in earnest. First deciding where to base ourselves and chose if we go off on our own part of the time and use the services of a tour guide for part of our trip.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly appreiciated.

Thank you,
First time to Provence