South of France

Posted by jacque_smithiii on 02/07/16 08:43 PM

We are going a canal barge trip in mid-may on the canal due midi (Beziers to Carcassonne). At the end of the trip we are going to spend some time in the south of France. We will have about 10 days and our plan is to get all the way to Eze, probably to check it out and spend a night in Nice before we fly back to Barcelona for our flight home. We plan to rent a car for our transportation.

I am trying to put together an itinerary that would give us a good flavor for the area and prefer to avoid big cities and a lot of tourist. That said, I am thinking that I want to see Arles, Avignon, the Verdon Gorge Nice, Eze and possibly stop in Monaco but I haven't really studied the map to see what else I think we should do. My preference is to spend two nights in each place or possibly have two different base stops that we could work out of.

I would appreciate any advice.

Posted by Ken

Vernon, Canada

02/07/16 08:52 PM

32198 posts

jacque,

You may want to delete your two duplicate posts, so that you keep all replies in the same place.

Posted by jacque_smithiii OP

02/07/16 08:56 PM

184 posts

thank you - i will

Posted by FastEddie

Florida

02/07/16 08:59 PM

1443 posts

You can home-base in Arles or Avignon and visit the other as a day-trip since they are only 20 minutes apart by train. You could also home-base in Nice or thereabouts and visit the gorge as a long day-trip and Monaco/Eze as a second day-trip. Figure 5 nights for each area giving you 8 solid days to sightsee.

In mid-May the crowds won't be too bad since July/Aug is peak season. I suggest buying Rick Steves' Provence/Riviera guidebook, as well as the Michelin Green Guide and study up on what you want to see and do.

Posted by Rosalyn

Portland

02/07/16 10:09 PM

3592 posts

Just wondering why you would plan to fly back to Barcelona. If you haven't bought your tickets yet, it's more time efficient and usually not more expensive to do an open jaw itinerary; i.e., into your 1st destination and home from your last. Nice is served by the big airline alliances.

Posted by David in Brisbane

Brisbane, Australia

02/07/16 10:47 PM

7175 posts

From Carcassone ...
to Colliure - 2 nights
to Arles/Avignon - 4 nights
to Antibes/Nice - 4 nights

Posted by Clara78

02/10/16 11:33 AM

10 posts

Hi.
We planned to go to Carcassonne but then failed.
Share your impressions after the trip, please.

Posted by Nicole P

Truro, NS, Canada

02/10/16 02:12 PM

3940 posts

Clara78 - my husband and I visited Carcassonne last Oct. I was waffling back and forth as it was slightly out of where we were going to be spending most of our holiday in the South (Provence and Cote D'Azur).

We stayed two nights (I was going to do only one night). I'm glad we did two. We took the TGV from Paris to Avignon and picked up a car. The train was a few hours late because of an accident and by the time we got to Carcassonne, it was evening so we didn't do anything other than wander up to the ruins (all the shops were closed) and have a quick meal.

I wasn't sure how much time we would spend at the fort/walled city. We went up to the fort about 9am (we stayed within walking distance) and were actually there til about mid-afternoon! I loved the little shopping stores and we did the tour of the castle/ramparts, which we quite enjoyed. We walked around half of the area between the castle and the outside wall (there were some lovely views). Went back to the room to relax then walked to the downtown part. That was a little underwhelming. But we were tired from our hours at the castle. I think with some research, we could have found something in the town.

So for a spot I was a little unsure of visiting, we quite enjoyed it. You could probably stay a night and spend a half day at the fort and if you didn't want to explore the town, you could move along. Or visit it for a day from a nearby city as a day trip.