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Southern France Itinerary/Sights Help!

Posted by on

Hi All,

My boyfriend and I (both in our late 20s) have just booked a 2.5 week trip to France in May, and need a little help "itinerizing."

We fly into Paris, where we plan to stay seven nights (we've been once before, but are really looking forward to visiting and taking it easy - we had a whirlwind of a trip last time). After Paris, we are going to take the train to Avignon, and stay for three nights, then take the train to Aix and stay for two nights, and then take the train to Nice where we will stay four nights and then fly back home.

The Paris portion should be fairly easy to figure out; we just need help with the south, as we've never been before. He doesn't want to drive (okay, and I don't either), so I am trying to string everything together via bus/rail. Since we are not driving, we decided to pick three "home-bases" and take day trips out from each.

We are still doing lots of research on the places we want to go, and are open to suggestions. We definitely prefer to travel and explore independently (group tours are not really our thing although we may break down to take a half-day small group tour to see the Pont du Gard. Any suggestions?). Here are some places/things we want to see/do in the south: Pont du Gard, Arles, Nimes, Marseilles, visit a couple of wineries, visit some art museums, meander through a small town or two, explore the markets, eat well, spend time at the beach, visit Monaco. We are just struggling to string these things together by public transit. Right now we are looking mostly at our time staying in Avignon since it is our first stop in the south. For example, the bus to the Pont du Gard runs every 2+ hours. If we missed the bus, it's another 2+ hours before the next one arrives. We definitely can't afford to taxi place-to-place, but are there any awesome day trips from Avignon that people have managed to string together via public transit (that don't involve a lot of waiting at bus/train stations)? Can anyone suggest some charming small towns that are easily accessible? To be quite honest, we enjoy "living like locals" when we travel, and doing anything too touristy is a major put-off.

Thanks in advance! Sorry for rambling a bit :)

Posted by
1443 posts

Arles and Nimes are less than 30 minutes from Avignon by train. There are many companies which do organized tours of PdG, picking you up at your Avignon hotel, taking you there, and then returning you later in the day. The TI office and your hotel will have information on the different options. Or just do a google search now to get a better idea.

The other things to see and do on your list - such as visiting a winery or a small town market - you either need your own wheels or take a day tour like the one to PdG but that focuses on what you want. France Prestige Tours is one option; there are many other companies doing single-day tours.

Also keep in mind that charming towns which are easily accessible but not touristy don't exist. If it has the first two qualities, then it will have the third. It's practically a law of nature. But if you have a car then you can get to the charming towns which aren't easily accessible and thus may not be touristy.

Also pick up Rick Steves' Provence guidebook because it has good backdoor suggestions and lots of other details to help figure out what to do and how.

Posted by
3696 posts

If you are struggling to make this itinerary work with public transportation maybe you should consider renting a car. It is really easy to drive in this area and makes it so much more enjoyable to move at your own pace and explore the towns and villages on your own schedule. I would pick up a car in Avignon and stay in a smaller village (St. Remy) and do day trips from there. You could then drive along the coast to Nice and drop your car at the airport. A nice beach town to stay in is St. Maximes... beautiful beach, nice market, etc. Marseilles is a big, gritty city and while enjoyable would not be my choice if this is your first time to southern france. There are so many amazing towns/villages in this area that you can visit with a car as well as roadside picnics:)

Posted by
11294 posts

The places you listed as wanting to see from Avignon are accessible by public transit. However, as you say, you will have to check schedules and be on time to avoid missing the train or bus. If that's too restricting for you, I agree with renting a car for this portion of the trip. It will also allow you to get to many places not readily accessible by public transit, such as smaller villages.

You don't need a car for Nice, unless you really want to focus on places "higher up." The coastal towns are connected by trains twice an hour and buses 3-4 times an hour. But the higher the town, the less frequent the service. Eze has something like 16 buses per day (8 on Sundays) and La Turbie has 4 buses per day (none on Sundays) from Nice.

For the areas of southern France you're interested in, be sure to get RIck Steves Provence And The French Riviera. His general France book has MUCH less information on this region.

Posted by
7175 posts

1 - Paris to Avignon, and stay for three nights
2 - Day trip to Nimes and Pont du Gard
3 - Day trip to Arles
4 - Avignon to Aix-en-Provence, and stay for two nights
5 - Day trip to Marseille
6 - Aix-en-Provence to Nice, and stay for four nights
7 - Day trip to Monaco
8 - Day trip to Cannes+Antibes
9 - Day trip to Villefranche-sur-Mer+Eze
10 - Fly back home

Provincial Rail Map to assist your planning ... http://www.beyond.fr/map/ter_paca.html

Posted by
14 posts

Thank you all for your help - this is quite helpful!

I am working on convincing him to rent a car for just one day at least (pickup/return in Avignon) so we can get to the Pont du Gard more easily and see some smaller towns. Neither of us can drive a manual, and automatics look to be $100+ per day through AutoEurope. Any other suggestions for renting a car in Avignon?

Posted by
3696 posts

Often times the car rental for a day is more expensive than a week. Look on Priceline and do some comparisons. You could keep the car the whole time and drop it in Nice. Unless you have lots of time to practice a manual before you leave I would not want to be learning it in a foreign country. There are lots of hills and roundabouts that require a lot of shifting... but if you have a few weeks with a stick in the US you should be able to master it. You will really love having a car to explore this area at your own pace and not be tied to schedules. Most roads are not that busy and there is lots to see off the beaten path.

I just picked some random dates in May and for the daily rental found an automatic for $60 in Avignon. But if you took the weekly rental with pickup in Avignon and drop off in Nice at the airport there was one for about $250 total... also an automatic.

Posted by
14 posts

We will probably be nervous enough driving anyway, adding a manual in the mix certainly wouldn't help (even with a month or two of practice). Better to just deal with the higher cost of an automatic.

I don't think we want to rent a car for more than a day or two, and probably just while based in Avignon. The stress and cost of parking just aren't worth it, and we should be able to do much of the rest of our trip on train, bus and foot I think.

I know people have said Marseilles isn't the best but it is a great springboard for visiting the Calanques, no?

Posted by
12 posts

Your rail plan is wonderful. Relax and enjoy your plans. Base cities are perfect. Re Avignon. You do not need a car. We took the train to Arles from Avignon for a day. Easy transport. We took a relatively inexpensive 1/2 day trip in an 8 passenger Mercedes and visited Rouissilon, Gordes, drove through St Remy, and visited Le Baux and the Pont du Gard. The driver removed all the stress for us so we could enjoy the scenery, and provided valuable and interesting narrative so we knew what we were seeing. We were picked up and dropped off at our hotel. We had about an hour at each stop, and the time in retrospect was about right. No lingering or much shopping time, but plenty to get the feel of each city. Avignon deserves a full day. You will be very happy with your rail plans and the airport in Nice is so easy. I understand your stressors. I am planning a trip from Nice to Lyon and Lucerne and keep getting caught up in "connection" stress. If you need help with train tickets there is a website called "the man in seat 61". He provides all you need to know about rail travel and tickets for any country in Europe.

Have fun.

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