Hi Everyone,
Can you please let me know if South of France is a good location to travel in April (during Easter break). We are a group of 12 people with 4 kids. Can you please suggest any other location for April during Easter break. We want a quiet holiday and do not want to cover cities too much. Thank you
You could try the Languedoc region of southern France, it's the lesser known western neighbor of Provence. The main town of Languedoc, Toulouse, is a nice base to explore the surrounding area.
For potential sites, Languedoc contains the well preserved medieval cities of Carcassonne and Montpellier, countless Roman ruins (such as the Roman arenas in Nîmes), medieval abbeys, Romanesque churches, and impressive feudal citadels (such as the ruined Cathar castles in the mountains of Corbières).
Although I am not sure how quiet you want your quiet holiday. You can always just rent out a villa for your large group in Menorca or Corsica for a week, that would be really quiet ;)
In 2005, we traveled in the Languedoc-Roussillon region (southwest of Provence). We arrived in early April and it was cold and windy, and there was no sign of spring - no leaves on trees or vines, no flowers. It was disapponting since we had had an early spring at home. We were there for 3 weeks, based in a village near Pezenas, and about 8 days into our trip, spring burst forth. All of a sudden we could see leaves popping out on grape vines and trees. By the time we left, the wisteria was in full bloom, the vines were leafed out, and the wild irises were blooming along the roadways. Temperatures were in the mid to high 70s, and It was gorgeous.
So, I think April is a fine time to go, just be sure to be prepared for cooler weather...or warm weather. You really can't plan the weather, you can only be prepared for whatever you might get.
You could head into Western Provence, hitting Avignon, Aix and the Luberon. In the Luberon, some things are only just re-opening at the start of April. Were had a long weekend there this past spring at a lovely B&B in Bonnieux, just as they were opening for the season, and the tourist count was definitely way down. There is chance of the infamous Mistral winds in April, however, which can provide some bitter cold. In generally, the chance of Mistral winds drops the further east of St. Tropez (and the massif de l'esterel) you go, and things also warm up (with the peak at Menton).
Another great choice would be Spain. The weather is good. If you want it to be quiet, you can pick any of the smaller towns to relax.
If your Easter break coincides with theirs, you could see some fantastic Holy Week processions. Seville is famous everywhere and gets an influx of tourists to see it. Valladolid and Zaragosa, in the north, are famous inside of Spain and have non-tourist crowds.
I experienced Holy Thursday in Zaragosa. It was one of the travel highlights of my life. There were 26 processions from early afternoon into the wee hours of the night. Each procession is done by a local civic group (think Elks club or similar), each has it's own colors and banner. Some are big and some are small. The biggest include upwards of 500-1000 people costumed as penitents from the inquisition or traditional Spanish mourning dresses, most with drums, but some carry candles, incense burners, floats, crosses, etc. It's loud, exiting and amazing. Between processions people head into bars and cafes for a beer and/or tapas. I saw other processions in other towns (Good Friday in Pamplona) but they were much more sedate. Barcelona has the least because they are the least religious. They have one procession on Good Friday put on by people who moved from Seville but it's not related to the local church.
