Provence without a car

Avignon will be a much easier trip if you are relying only on public transportation. Saint Remy has no train station and while I am not sure, I believe that it has far fewer direct bus connections. Avignon is a great spot for day trips but with only four days, if you identify the places that you want to visit, you might do fine with Saint Remy because there are buses to Arles, Les Baux, and Avignon and that would be three day trips right there plus one day in Saint Remy. Anywhere else and mass transit will probably require you to take the bus to Avignon and then make a change there.

Not having a car will slow you down given the itinerary you want to do.
Not having a car, I would home base in Avignon instead of St. Remy, for the reasons given in the first post.
Car rental and driving is not that difficult in this area, if you stay out of the cities, where the trains go.

I've stayed in St Remy and it is charming. I think that you will may find that relying on the bus to get from St Remy to either Arles or Avignon, and beyond, is inconvenient, but that really depends on your plans.

Avignon is the most central and the largest city, but other towns on the rail line are still pretty well situated too, and some have a great deal of charm and their own bus connections. Arles is where one would catch a bus to the Camargue, for instance.

So it depends a lot on where you actually want to go.

I agree that Avignon would be a good choice. I stayed at Hotel du Parc several times. It is walking distance to much of the town including bus and train station. The hotel was comfortable, but with no elevator. They serve a generous breakfast of homemade pastries. Last time I stayed was 4 years ago. A couple were running the place; the man speaks enough English. The TI is close and has the information you will need for daytrips. Arles is easy to get to and not far from Avignon. I found a laundromat in the neighborhood.

If you are interested in a half-day or day-long tour, I warmly recommend Provence Panorama. My 21yo daughter and I did their "Villages, monuments, wine, chocolate" tour in June 2013 and had a marvelous time. We too had no car and were able to see some interesting things on our own, but the day with Provence Panorama really let us cover a lot of ground. We chose that tour because we were most interested in the Roman ruins, but there are several other itineraries that focus on different aspects of the region.

We stayed first in Montpellier [3 nights] then Avignon [3 more nights]. We visited St Remy on our PP tour and it was lovely, but I defer to the other posters about the challenge of basing yourself there without a car.

Have a great trip!

Thank you, all. Without a navigator, I prefer not to drive, so I think based on your responses, Avignon I the way to go. I would also be interested in the Panorama tour, so will check into that as well. This would give me 5 nights in Avignon, and I will narrow down my choices of places to visit as well, so I don't try to overdo. I believe Wednesday is the best market day for most of the area, so would definitely include that in my plans. I will also check out the Avignon hotel recommendation as well. I definitely appreciate the community knowledge here.

Merci!

Wednesday is a good market day for Arles and Saint Remy although you will not be able to get to both but if you are in Provence on a Saturday and can get to Apt, that is an equally fantastic market. And there is a market day in Avignon (Saturday, I think) as well as a covered market that is open every day except Monday. Have a great trip.

My wife and I stayed in Saint Remy w/o a car for a week several years ago. While we saw a lot, we also wasted a fair amount of time in between bus connections, since we generally had to change in Avignon. I didn't like Avignon at all, but many do, and it's certainly easy to get around from there.

Add Nimes to your research topics for a possible home base.
I also prefer to avoid having a car, and once did the day in Avignon
by doing a train stopover on the way down to Marseilles.
I second the notion of taking a local guided walk everywhere you get the chance to do so.

I used Nimes as a home base and loved it, I was there for four nights. I went to Arles, Orange, Avignon, the Pont du Gard - transportation was easy (train and bus).

Wow. Now I'm looking at Nimes as a better option for staying in Provence. It looks beautiful, and there is a direct TVG train from Paris, and looks like public transportation is also pretty good. Any accommodation recommendations? Or other comments? Would be happy with a B&B. I can extend my stay to 5 nights and 4 full days, so I think that might be enough to absorb some of the Provence flavor. Had not thought of making Nimes a home base, but it really looks quite beautiful.

Nimes is okay in my book, but to me it is just okay not great but then again I am not super into Roam ruins. It is in Languedoc-Roussillon so it is great spot for exploring Western Provence. Have you decided what you want to see in Provence or Languedoc-Roussillon during your 4 or 5 nights? Once you decide that, it will probably make deciding where to stay become much easier.

We stayed in both Arles and Avignon without a car. Loved both places! Be sure to go to the Wed. or Sat. open air market in Arles!