South of France - train or car?

I love to do road trips in this area, but I don't mind driving and typically prefer to stay in smaller villages. Of all the places I have stayed in this area the 3 you have chosen do not require a car. If you decide to rethink your itinerary then a car would be the only way to go if you want to explore these areas on your own and not be tied to train schedules. If you want to spend a day or two in Nice then I would pick up the car as you leave. A car in Avignon or Arles is doable, but can be a bit of city traffic and parking can be a pain. Now, there are any number of quintessential French villages to stay in (St. Remy is my favorite) You will probably need to drop the car near the border of France before heading to Barcelona or there will be a drop fee which can be substantial. The traffic will be busy in some areas but you will probably be on the freeway for part of you journey. Driving along the Mediterranean for part of the trip is beautiful but will be busy later in the day. Try to do some of the coast area early in the day. St. Maxime's is another favorite little beach town that would make a nice stopover. I love stopping at any little village, or lavender field that I see along the way and the freedom of a car works for me. Most of the roads that are between the villages in Provence will not be heavy with traffic most of the time. Roadside picnics are another benefit of having a car... and lots of stops for photo opportunities (I am a photographer)

I agree that you don't need the car in Nice, where both bus and train run along the coast frequently, but you could pick it up there to use for more convenience and options inland in Provence. Will there just be 4 total people, to fit easily into a car? Car rental for a week costs about $300 for a mid-sized car, but not including CDW coverage. If you drop the car in Avignon or Nimes, you can catch a direct TGV to Barcelona (reserve now for best price) or it would not cost much more to keep the car for another day and drop inside the French border.

Don't forget to add in the potentially budget-busting costs of getting the car in one country and returning it in another. You might consider leaving the car as close to the Spanish border as you can and taking the train from there on to Barcelona.

With only 10 days I think you all should figure out what you want to see/do in the places you list, then decide whether a car or public transportation would work better for you. The former might be more expensive, especially with 4 people and luggage. Public transportation might be cheaper, but will likely take longer depending on where you go.

We have gone through this area by train, between Antibes and Carcassonne, then between Carcassonne and Barcelona. We have also stayed 8 nights in Aix-en-Provence with a car and explored as far down the coast as the Camargue and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and as far the other direction as Cannes. My big thing was driving as close to the water as possible and seeing the Esterel Mountains.

Depending on what you want to do, you can probably hit all the towns you list by train and get to some of the sights by bus. We loved the freedom of having the car, except when we got stuck in the worst traffic jam ever in Arles.

You also need to figure in the cost of gas AND parking. But as I recall, Rick says you can't really see much of the south of France without a car.

I prefer to have a car in this area...you can easily see the places you listed by train but there are SO many places to see that are not reachable via train.
Besides the factors everyone else has listed, also keep in mind the toll roads which can be a factor when traveling over a long distance as you plan to do.
I think 10 days is the perfect amount of time for the trip you are planning.

July in southern France and Spain is likely to be hot, so pack accordingly.

If trains go to destinations you want to go, take the trains.
Structure your trip so that the destinations you want to go to, that trains don't go to, are in a row, so you can rent a car for those but take trains where trains go.
That way you're not constantly switching from train to car to train.

I would get a train from Nice to Marseille and pick up your hire car here for a week or so in Provence.

Marseille - Aix en Provence - Arles - Les Baux de Provence - St Remy de Provence - Avignon - Orange - Pont du Gard - Nimes - St Maries de la Mer - Aigues Mortes - Montpellier is a nice routing to drive. (highlighted destinations serviced by train)

From Montpellier you can get TGV direct to Barcelona (5 services per day)

We took the TGV ( fast train ) from Paris to Agen, last September. We stayed overnight at the Ibis hotel in Agen, and picked up a rental car at the Europcar Agency, across from the train station the following day. I had reserved the car via Auto Europe, and paid about $22/day. We were given a Fiat 500L by the rental agency - plenty of room for 2. Fuel was not a significant cost. Last September, diesel fuel cost in France came out to be about $6 per gallon, after doing the math. Make sure that you fill up at the big Hypermarkets on the edge of any town The car had a 1.3 liter diesel engine that got almost 60 miles per gallon. The engine had a neat feature. When you came to a stop, the engine automatically shut off to save fuel - but the A/C kept running.

We drove around the Dordogne for a week. It was wonderful ! I would not do it any other way. We stopped in small towns, had wonderful ( and cheap ) meals. Drove mostly on 2 lane highways, and avoided the autoroutes, except when in a hurry. We dropped off the car in Sete, and then took the TGV back to Paris, where we stayed for a few more days, before flying back to Newark.
We had the car for a week - I also wish that I had a month. If the rental agency wants a big one way fee, for dropping off the car in Spain, you can return the car to Perpignan, in France, and then take the train to Barcelona ( you will not need a car in Barcelona ).

I was able to pick up a car at the train station for Avignon. It was the station that serves the TVG trains. But it was very easy and I was headed to Roussillon. It worked out very well.

Pam

We spent about a week, based in Arles. For the first few days we took trains, and toward the end we rented a car. From Arles we were able to happily and comfortably take differnt drives each day, seeing many places. We are not keen on driving overseas, but we found the area quite easy to drive, no horrible traffic, and fairly simple to navigate. We were there in early, mid May. But we did not go to Nice and the coast.