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Two extra days in Provence after Best of Eastern France tour- advice on home base

We are going on the June Best of Eastern France tour, which ends in Aix-en-Provence on a Saturday morning. Our flight out is on the following Tuesday at 2pm from Paris. I have already booked a Paris hotel for Monday night, and am looking at exploring Provence for a couple of days before that. Wondering if Aix is the best home base or if we should consider moving.

Places we'd like to see in order of priority:
- Gorges du Verdon (excited to do some kayaking or hiking- we're very outdoorsy)
- Pont du Garde (seems fascinating)
- Arles (can skip this if we are trying to do too much)
- Saturday morning market in Aix

Because our tour ends Saturday in Aix, we'll plan to check out the market that morning. My assumption is that Gorges du Verdon is too long of a journey for a half day, so guessing we might try Pont du Garde and/or Arles Saturday afternoon, and then plan to spend all of Sunday at Gorges du Verdon. Is that way too far away to cram into this trip? Anywhere else closer to Aix that would offer similar opportunities? Monday is simply travel from Provence to Paris, but wondering if it might be possible to jump off of the TGV on the way north to check out any sites before reboarding? Given that loose plan, is Aix our best home base or should we consider moving somewhere else when the tour is over? Is it possible to reach these destinations via public transit, or would we want to consider renting a car for any of it?

Advice welcome!

Posted by
11561 posts

I would prioritize Pont du Gard and/or Arles. We enjoyed visiting both of them.

Posted by
253 posts

We enjoyed our 3-day stay in Arles. We loved retracing van Gogh's paintings in the area. We also visited the Camague Regional Natural Park, which is the delta of the Rhone River and harbors wild flamingos. It's also where the bulls and horses are bred for the non-lethal bull fighting. Avignon may be more central for you, if you also want to visit Pont du Gard.
Arles is serviced by trains. TGV can be taken from Marseille or Avignon.

Posted by
6508 posts

When we took this tour (great tour, BTW,) we stayed on in Aix for several days, and had a wonderful time. Should we do it again, we would probably spend the extra time in Arles. We were in Arles with the Loire to the South of France tour last year, and knew we could happily go back for at least three or four days to see all the things we didn't have time for on the tour.

So I vote for either Aix or Arles.

Posted by
284 posts

Having stayed in Aix years ago and in the next week in Arles, I'd choose Arles if you want to see Pont du Gard. Consider visiting Les Baux which is nearby. Or even Marseilles which you can jump on the TGV back to Paris.

Posted by
310 posts

As others have mentioned, I would prioritize Arles/Pont du Garde as you don't really have that much time. When we were in Arles a couple of years ago, we hired one of Rick's tour guides (Nina Seffusatti, though I'm not sure if she's still a RS guide) to give us a half day tour of Arles. It was lovely and a great way to see so much of the city and learn about it's fascinating history.

Posted by
15 posts

Thank you for the suggestions. We will look into Arles or Avignon for our post-tour stay!