Provence Home Base?

Will you have a car or be relying on train/bus? There are lots of smaller places people stay, but a car makes that easier.

For what it's worth, we've stayed twice in Salon en Provence - def not one you hear mentioned much, but we had a car, and it was pretty central to the places we wanted to see (looking at what we wanted to see, it was the center of the 'spokes' to the west/north/east). And we used the same airbnb both times. Our other trip we stayed in the 'burbs outside Avignon - but we were couchsurfing, so beggars can't be choosers.

Whether you have a car or not makes a big difference in where to recommend. With a car I found St. Remy to be a nice place. Not too big or too small.

Agreed, whether or not you have a car is a major factor. I did Provence via public transportation and fairly regret it. The roads are pretty easy to deal with, and it opens up a lot more options for you.

Also,”Provence” can cover a lot of area. Folks love Aix, but it’s not close to Arles, Pont du Garde, etc. You may want to consider more than one home base, based on your time and sightseeing interests. Generally speaking, with a car I would stay somewhere smaller (maybe St. Remy, Aix, Roussalon, Vaison-la-Romaine. I didn’t care for Avignon one bit. Even as a base for public transportation I felt like Arles had more to see than Avignon. The Papal Palace is a bust.

I'll just add to my comment on our one time we stayed near Avignon - we had a day there (6 hrs of which we did a day trip with a company to some other places) and on our two subsequent returns to that area, we haven't felt the need to revisit Avignon at all, other than to pick up the car at the TGV (I agree the Pope's Palace was a bust - but we did enjoy the audio tour for the Pont d'Avignon).

We have returned to Aix, Arles, Nimes, Les Baux, Pont du Gard, Roussillon, Salon (since we stayed there). If we didn't have Salon, I'd probably pick Aix or Arles, just because I think you could still have a lot to do/see in the evenings - Roussillon - as pretty as it is - doesn't seem like it would have much to do in the evening (if you had an early evening back to your room). I'd rather be somewhere a bit livelier. Between Arles and Nimes, I liked Arles better.

And as well as knowing whether you'll have a car - how many nights and time of year? If you'll be there for the lavender, recommendations may change to somewhere were you can see the fields better. If you have 7 nights, you may want to break it up. Last year, we stayed in Salon for 4 nights and Manosque for 3, so we'd have easier access to the lavender trail.

Depends too on what you mean by Provence. (May Parisians regard everything south of Paris as Provence) Are you using the romantic historical term or including also the modern designation that includes many other areas such as the Camargue, Alpes-Maritimes, the Var etc. All have their own culture, climate and geography and desirable locations for home bases depending upon what one wants to see. For the Cote d'Azur, I like Nice. Good train connections and lots to see in the area. For access to the Camargue I prefer Arles, for big city and my general delight I love Marseille. For a smaller city and my general delight I love Nimes. For me, not a splendor seeker, Avignon has very little to offer.

A trip report below with a few useful bits of info about bases in Provence. Hope it helps.
I am done. The end.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-provencal-echo