Provence itineary

Liz, can you let us know how many total days you will be in Provence? This will make it easier for others to make suggestions.

Your profile does not indicate where you may be flying from. One thing I would suggest is taking the train or bus to Aix (or wherever your first destination will be) from the airport. It's a personal thing, but after a long flight this may be better/safer than driving.

You'll probably be glad if you avoid driving a car into the historic centers of these cities:
Nimes
Avignon
Arles

Those 3 can be easily reached by train, you just leave your car at some easy car park on the days you visit any of those cities.

Your trip sounds fun and I wish I was going back to Provence.

As another poster asked, how long will you be in Provence? What time does your flight arrive in Marseilles? How long is your flight. Where is your hotel located in Aix? Is it in the city center? Is there parking at or near the hotel?

When we have flown from Minneapolis to France, either Nice or CDG, we have rented cars. We usually try to drive for about two hours to the town where we have our first hotel rental. Going against RS's ideas, we rest for a couple of hours, clean up and then go see the sights.

While many posters like trains, we don't use them, mainly because of going against another RS idea of packing lightly. Since we like to go off the beaten path, train schedules would also be a problem for us.

Depending on the answers to the above questions, I would still drive to Aix and spend a couple of days. I would then go to the Luberon area such as Roussillon, Gordes, Joucas, etc. and use that town as a base. If you are staying one night in Aix, I would try for an early start, go east towards Grasse and back west to the Luberon. This would be a long day's trip but doable. If you haven't made reservations, you could stay in Grasse instead of Aix for a trip to the Verdun canyon.

In terms of the Luberon area, there is so much to see that it is easy to use a week there. I have often stayed in Joucas for a week and done day trips from there. We haven't done wine tours per se but have gone to different wineries in the area near Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Many of the hotels in the area can also provide information about vineyards. For example, on our last trip to Joucas, we went to a new vineyard within fifteen miles from where we stayed.

I agree with one of the other posters, do not try to drive into Avignon, Nimes, or Aix without really good maps. There is a very large underground parking lot beneath the Mercure Hotel in Avignon by the Palais des Papes. You do not have to stay at hotel to use the lot. If you want to use Avignon as a future base, it would easily allow you to go to the Pont du Gard, Arles, and the Camargue. We have also stayed in Arles and explored the same area. You could also drive through the Camargue as you go to Cassis.

If you want more information, please send me a private message. Thanks!

Thanks everyone we will have have 11 days and 10 nights in Provence we are flying from Boston. Should arrive in Marseille around 11:30 am. We have not made any hotel reservations yet. My big concern is the drive to Grand Canyon du Verdon and back to Provence. Should we just forget it and spend more time on Provence.

We will be driving and are comfortable driving in Europe