South of France

Unless you are looking to include some 'out of the way' places then I'd elect to use the train all the way. Services are quite frequent in this part of France and the distances not great. Something like this ...
May 21 Train to Avignon (4 nts)
May 22 Day to Nimes+Pont du Gard
May 23 Day to Arles
May 24 Day to St Remy+Les Baux (by bus)
May 25 Train to Aix-en-Provence (2 nts)
May 26 Day to Marseille
May 27 Train to Nice (4 nts)
May 28 Day to Monte Carlo
May 29 Day to Cannes+Antibes
May 30 Day to Villefranche-sur-Mer+Eze
May 31 Depart from Nice

Dear dip-syd,

Thank you for your detailed schedule. I have thought about the train and we will definitely ditch the car in Nice for the balance of the trip but I feel like I have more control over my schedule when I have a car. We have driven all over Italy, Ireland Scotland and Turkey and my husband does a wonderful job. My job is to take the photos and I often see something along the way that I want to photograph. Unfortunately if we are on a train we would be somewhat limited.

Jacque

I would love to hear more about the barge trip

Jkrieg,

We have never done a canal barge trip before. We have booked the Esperance which has recently been updated. This particular barge has 3 rooms so there are six of us. We have the barge to ourselves and there are four crew. We start in Beziers and end up in Homps with a trip to Carcassonne. There are other excursions along the way. From what I understand the distance isn't that far as the barge moves very slowly and goes through many locks. You can get off the barge and explore the nearby towns or walk along the river or ride a bike and catch up with the barge down the way. We are really excited about this adventure. It is Sunday to Saturday.

I am also a photographer so understand your wanting the freedom that a car will give you. I have driven in this area a lot and find that both Avignon and Arles are a bit of a pain with the car. I would stay in a smaller town/village to make it more enjoyable. St. Remy is my absolute favorite place to stay while in Provence, but there are lots of beautiful towns that are not quite as congested as the other 2. Of those I found Arles more difficult with a car...
You are going to love Provence... every curve in the road will offer new photographic opportunities. Stopping for roadside picnics is so much fun. Go to one of the amazing markets, get some food and find a little spot to enjoy a picnic.
Driving along the coast is beautiful (although it can often be busy) Dropping the car in Nice is a good idea. I have dropped at airport and it is really easy.

Terry Kathryn,

Good morning. Thank you so much for your comments. Typically we like to have a car to get where we are going and then we walk everywhere in the town. With that said, would you still say Avignon is better with a car? We are going to go to St. Remy but were not planning on staying there. I am still working out our schedule and welcome all of the comments from everyone not he board. This is very helpful. We are definitely going to turn the car in when we get to Nice.

So, other than Nice (which we want to visit) and we want to have easy access to the surrounding area which seems easy with public transport, would we be better off staying somewhere besides nice?

If you are going to have a car, you will be happier not staying in Arles or Avignon, but in a smaller town. If you will not have a car for this portion of the trip, Arles and Avignon make good bases. I liked Arles better as a town, but Avignon has better connections to places like Nimes, Orange, and Pont de Garde.

Nice works great without a car, but it is a large city. It has the best bus and train connections in the region, but if want to stay in a smaller place and you don't mind changing buses to get some places, you could also stay in Antibes or Villefranche sur mer.

Do get Rick's book Provence And The French Riviera. His general France book has MUCH less information about this area. In the book, he has very detailed directions for getting around the region near Nice without a car (which is both cheaper and less likely to raise your blood pressure than driving in that area).

I agree with everything Harold said.... You will probably be happier in a village with the car instead of Avignon. Much less traffic to deal with and a totally different ambiance. I would take a daytrip to Avignon rather than stay there.

As far as Nice, it is a really large city... so transportation is easier, but if its ambiance you want, move to someplace smaller. It depends on what you like to photograph, but I can find tons in the small villages, but in the big cities, not really.

Hi Terry Kathryn,

We probably will have a car so, what village would you recommend in the area of Arles or Avignon as we really do want to visit these areas. Our plan was to visit Nimes on the way as we are driving over from Narbonne.

What about staying in Aix en Provence as opposed to Arles or Avignon? and possibly stay more days but do day trips from there?

Aix is as bad, if not worse than Avignon and Arles for traffic and parking. It is a college town with lots of one way streets. While it can be fun for a day it is not where I would want to stay with a car to do day trips. I have stayed many times in my all time favorite village of St. Remy and it is my top pick. The drive into the town is the quintessential road with the beautiful trees on either side of the road. The hospital where VanGogh spent time is within walking distance and the market on Wed. and Sat. is one of the best. We would often walk in the morning to the grounds of the hospital. The beautiful city center is so walkable and as you can tell I adore this town. It is so easy to drive to all the amazing surrounding villages. I have spent weeks there and would not consider staying anyplace else to visit Provence. I did stay in Fontvielle once and it was good but much smaller than St. Remy.