I'm thinking of staying in the south of France in mid to late May, getting lodgings, and doing bike trips in the area. Looking for recommendations here.
Recommendations welcome!
We rented electric bikes from Sport Aventure in Orange on a weekday in late June. They have standard bikes, too. They recommended a bicycling app for my phone and a route and off we went. They do tours with guides on weekends, but that wasn't our schedule. They had multiple suggested routes in different directions and different lengths.
We really enjoyed this day, cycling on a bike trail along the Rhone and then back through vineyards on farm roads with lunch at Chateauneuf-de-Pape. We didn't see many others on the bike trail; there was some traffic on the farm roads, but it was occasional cars rather than constant. I think I remember that they will deliver bikes to your lodging if you are looking for a several day rental. If it had been a Mistral day, we probably couldn't have ridden?
Have you considered "self-guided" bike touring. There are companies that provide you the bikes (e-bikes are extra) plus they book accommodations plus they move your suitcase(s) from hotel to hotel. The "self-guided" tours are far less expensive than the guided ones.
I posted on this forum some number of months ago, and received some, but not a lot of feedback:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/bike-touring-in-france-operator-suggestions.
I also found the following site:
https://www.freewheelingfrance.com
That freewheeling site gave me a lot of info and leads. Despite the good recommendations for Discover France from the RS Forum, I ended up booking with Velo Voyaguer. I cannot review them yet, since we are travelling in May 2023, like you.
Bon Voyage.
May is a good time, in general, although crowds will build in later May, especially in touristy places like Gordes and Les Baux en Provence.
The key question is whether you will have a car? And how serious of a cyclist are you?
The Luberon is one area that might interest you. There are a number of bike rental shops in the various towns/villages, including a couple in Bonnieux (example). There is a flat trail in the center of the valley but also mountain biking opportunities.
For a biking centric tour, I would not stay in someplace as large as Aix or Montpellier. Travel wise, you might just consider fllying to Paris and taking the TGV down to Avignon. From there, you could go to a smaller town like St. Remy or a village in the Luberon (Bonniuex, Menerbes, Roussillon, St Saturnin, etc). I was also just in Orange recently and it is lovely and off the traditional tourist routes (unless you are Dutch) and villages like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Vaison la Romaine and Gigondas are very great.
There are no safe biking routes out of Marseille: avoid! Aix-en-Provence is barely better.
In general, the advice to stay somewhere smaller is good! Apt would work well for Luberon, for example.
