"Slow Travelers" too Slow?

you didn't mention your main interests, but I would take time away from Arles and Annecy and add it to Lyon,
not least so you could do a day trip to Vienne. Or even an overnight in Vienne.

We are seniors, too, and for us, there is no such thing as “too slow”. There seems to always enough to keep us busy without rushing from place to place. Add at least one leisurely meal a day, just walking around to enjoy the everyday atmosphere and a little museum or two and it’s easy to fill several days almost everywhere we go. We haven’t been to Annecy or Lyon, but I think your plans for Aix, Nimes and Arles are spot on, especially after the fast pace of a RS tour.

I would not take time away from Arles or Annecy for Lyon. Are you dependent on public transportation, is that why you say possibly a visit to Avignon? We did not care for Avignon at all. It’s a shame you’re focused on cities in Provence, the charm of Provence is in the smaller towns like: St Rémy (my favorite town in France - i grew up in Paris, as reference), Roussillon, Uzès… to name a few. Glad though to see Nimes in your itinerary.

Renting a car in Avignon and driving the two lane roads to visit smaller towns is very easy, if that’s a possibility.

Yes, this is slow and a bit repetitive, even for me, a senior traveler mainly because Aix, Nîmes and Arles are very close to each other and could easily be visited as day trips. But sticking to your plan, Aix is a lovely place to decompress. One of my sons went to the Univ there. From Nîmes, you can day trip to Uzès, Pont du Gard, even Montpellier, Sète. From both Nîmes and Arles, you can visit Aigues Mortes and what is called the Petite Camargue with a boat ride and visit to a bull ranch.
I agree with Avi about staying longer in Lyon and taking a day trip to Vienne, an amazing center of Roman culture. To me, it's more interesting than Vaison. Don't miss the Roman museum across the Rhône from Vienne, easily accessed on foot. Vienne is a favorite city of mine.
You could cut your nights in the Gard department, by adding a night to Nîmes and doing Arles as a day trip. You didn't say which month, but Arles is very crowded with a month-long photography festival in August. Avignon (not a favorite) is busy with the theater festival in July.
Finally, I agree with Susan about enjoying the smaller towns in Provence by renting a car. In fact, you could rent the car in Nïmes and get to Pont du Gard and Uzès easily. Uzès is another of my favorite places in France. We stayed there for 5 months during the pandemic. Now, we live not far away.

I fully agree about the suggestion to visit Arles as a day trip from Nîmes. It's just 30 min by train!
Nîmes is a more bustling town than Arles, but still very charming, and a bit less touristy.

Thank you all who took time to respond to my post. Our trip is the last 2 weeks in September, after our RS' Tour.
avirosemail: I forgot to mention our main interests. I/we used to enjoy spending hours in an Art museum, but as I've gotten older, being outside and enjoying nature appeals more to me. We also love history. Growing up on Kauai, "everything" that happened in Europe seemed so foreign to me, that it was difficult to put events into historical order in my mind. But after a few trips to Europe, I can't get enough of history. I/we are especially interested in WWI & WWII history, and Roman history, but we learned a lot after visiting Italy and Rome several times.

Wanderlust58: I think we have the same philosophy about traveling. We enjoy small-er towns, just walking leisurely and investigating side streets and anything that catches our attention. And if there are paths leading out of town, we always manage to find those.

Susan: Yes, we are dependent on public transportation. We would do a day trip to Avignon mainly to "see" the Pope's palace, even though I know there is not much inside. Husband has deep roots to the Catholic faith. I watched a YouTube walking tour of Avignon, and decided I did not want to sleep there. I would love to visit St Remy (and the St Paul Hospital), but it is an "unappealing 20-minute walk" from town according to the RS' Provance guidebook and difficult to get to by public transportation.
Bets: Thanks for the vote for spending time in Aix. I'm looking forward to just wandering the boulevard.

Arles: "Everything" Van Gogh in this town would get my time and attention.

Nimes: It was not on my list of places to stay, until I saw RS' Monday night program with Steve Smith, who raved about the Roman museum there. And the fact that it was less touristy than other surrounding towns.
Annecy: I'm quite sure I want at least 3 nights there, to spend time in town as well as walk around the lake.
I also do not know whether visiting Avignon as a day trip would be better from Nimes or Arles. Also, not sure if I want to change the number of nights in Nimes as well as Arles.

Lyon: Seems like there is a wide range of opinion about this city. We chose it mainly because of the convenience to get there from Annecy and then to Paris. I would have preferred Strasbourg, but it would have been a long travel day. I am more interested in the Alsace region of France.

You're going to have a great time, Carol! With your interest in Roman history, there's also a terrific museum with Roman artifacts in Vaison la Romaine, where you'll be on the RS tour.

I liked Lyon a great deal and would have recommended transferring one night from Annecy (extraordinarily touristy when I was there) to Lyon had you not mentioned that you are sure you want 3 nights in Annecy. Lyon has quite a lot of sights, and they are varied. Your trip is an ideal time to go to Lyon, I think, because you aren't spending much time in Paris. To me, Lyon is a bit like a mini-Paris. If you went to Lyon after a week in Paris, Lyon might not seem as interesting as it will after smaller towns in Provence.

Carol, Your itinerary, which i can tell you put a lot of thought into, is very good. You will have a wonderful time. Consider a taxi for a hard to get to by public transportation place you’re interested in, like St Rémy…

I didn't have any trouble getting to St-Remy-de-Provence, what with the buses from Avignon running approximately hourly and taking about 70 minutes). I thought there was some service from Arles, but I'm not finding anything direct at the moment. I should mention I'm a very patient person where public transportation is concerned, never having owned a car. The distance to St-Remy is about 15 miles from either city.

Bus schedules can be checked here: https://zou.maregionsud.fr/en/