Provence - Avignon Itinerary

It's been a long time (maybe 15 years?) but I used Viatour for a lavender tour- not sure if it will be blooming during your week? But memorable, still!

Also moving was seeing Van Gogh's view to the gardens from his hospital window and as well as the actual sites for his work:
https://www.alafrancaise.fr/en/provence/282-van-gogh-in-provence
With a tour such as this one.
I checkout TripAdvisor for ideas but also carefully read recent reviews for the companies.
Have a wonderful trip!

You can do this by train or bus, although we’ve used a rental car for mobility and not requiring a set schedule:

South to Arles, for lots of surviving Ancient Roman structures, plus a fantastic museum with Ancient Roman mosaics, a recovered Roman boat, and lots of other artifacts. Also locations that were featured in Van Gogh masterpieces (signs at those sites explaining where and what), and a Picasso museum as well. Great food goes without saying.

West to the Pont du Gard and the city of Nimes, both Ancient Roman wonders. The amphitheater is far more intact than the Colosseum in Rome. Great for scenic walks through the historic locale.

North to Orange. Modern yet historic city with an amazing Roman theatre, still being used. We attended a performance of Carmen one July- amazing acoustics! Get a whole rotisserie chicken in the plaza, with roasted potatoes that the chicken was dripping fat on during the cooking process. A bit farther northeast, Vaison-la-Romain.

Alternative: west into the Vaucluse and/or Luberon mountains. A car is really helpful here, for seeing villages like Gordes, Rousillon, and Menerbes.

Since you’re leaving the door open on a rental, I’d encourage you to do that. I had a similar itinerary based in Avignon using only public transportation and took a small group tour. I had only two regrets: not renting a car and basing in Avignon.

Driving looked pretty easy, with good roads and not much traffic. I still saw a lot, but I would have much preferred doing it at my own pace in retrospect. Having a car here gets you into small town Provence which is where it’s at. If you rent, ideally you’ll stay in a smaller town in the countryside which can net you some better accommodations and access.

Avignon is just an all-time bummer of a town imo. There’s a few pockets of charm, but they get old fast. Its main attraction sights are total busts. I found the whole place just kind of skeevy and groady. I much preferred Arles, and would have liked to have stayed there instead.

If you do stay in Avignon, it does make for a decent base. There’s a lot of regular train service to Arles, which is a solid day. Try to go there on its market day. Nimes is also pretty easy. I didn’t get to Isle-Sur-Sourge but that also has decent connections. Beyond that you’ll have to rely on group tours, which are handy and a decent bet. There’s places like Pont du Garde, where you can technically get there by yourself, but work much better as part of one of these tour itineraries. I booked mine directly at the TI back in the Stone Age.

Thank you so much for your responses. My thinking on Avignon was that it would be better for public transportation and that we can rent a car for just one day for the villages without train connections. Also there might be more restaurants? Frankly, driving and navigating and finding parking will be a little stressful and distract from enjoying the trip I feel.