Is there a good place to stay in the south of France that allows you to explore multiple cities on day trips. If not just one, what would be the two ideal cities to use as homebases for an 8 day trip? Will have a car, but trains also an option.
Thanks!
Nimes or St Remy (u need a car)
The answer is Yes... The harder answer is which one? I guess it all depends on what appeals to you. We will be there for 2 weeks 2nd half of May and chose a week in Aix-en-Provence, and a week in Villefranche-sur-Mer. We will have a car in Aix, and plan on at least 2 road trip days to explore, and another when we drive back to Nice airport to drop off the car on the way to Villefranche. I suspect you will get alot of different answers here - all valid and probably wonderful. You just have to decide which is best for you based on your interests.
Glenn
The south is a pretty broad definition. Along the Cote d'Azur, Nice is your most central option for day trips via train and bus. A car isn't needed (in fact, it can be a liability in some towns, unless you are heading to the countryside. It is tougher to do western Provence solely by public transport. You can base in a smaller place like St. Remy (or Nimes, Arles, the Luberon, Orange) and have then day trip by car to any number of places. Aix is a possibility but there is a bit more traffic around the ring road there and is a bit further south and east than many attractions. Smaller cities, towns and villages are often easier to get around, if you have a car. If you are thinking further west, Montpellier has some good train/bus connections (and is pretty easy to drive in/around) but further west, places like Narbonne/Carcassonne are best visited by car, if you want to daytrip.
Thank you all for your insight.
I like Arles as a home base for this region. It's small enough that driving in and out of the city isn't a problem, but also big enough to have plenty of restaurants, sight-seeing, shopping, etc. We've used a car in the area because many of the day-trip destinations don't have convenient public transportation.
