Villages in Provence Recommendations

Ron, Congratulations on your marriage. Have a wonderful honeymoon in France!
Now, re Provence.....Saturday and Sunday look good. Monday, visiting the Monastery and Les Baux after lunch in St. Remy, and seeing the Carriere des Lumieres, then driving to your new village afterward seems to be a lot to do after lunch. You might visit the monastery before lunch when you are exploring St. Remy. That gives you a more time at Les Baux and an easier drive to your next stop. Oppedes seems fine, but you could make it all the way to Gordes for the night if you wish.
Tuesday the abbey will probably take an hour itself. It is so close to Gordes though, that you should have at least 1 1/2 hours at the market after the abbey. The rest of the day looks fine, timewise, as does Wednesday.

All the distances are short. Just remember that the country roads may be slower, with some roundabouts and the need to slow down as you pass through each town or village. I would make reservations at your specific restaurants for lunch and dinner. Don't leave it to chance if you have your heart set on a place. Even in tiny villages there are some fine restaurants that the French may drive to, from another town, for lunch.

Have a wonderful time.

N.B. In 1974 DH and I had our honeymoon 3 years after the wedding, but spent 4 months in Europe with the VW bug we picked up in Wolfsburg. I remember so many sweet ,small towns and lovely drives through the countryside, especially in Provence! Of course we had very little money and on occasion slept in the car at the side of a rural road. We also enjoyed attending small town fetes with the locals and eating prix fixe meals with a pichet of wine for very little money (plain food, no fois gras or sole meuniere ). We had just finished college, were 30 and 31, quit our jobs, sublet our apartment, sold our car and ordered the VW. We covered 9 countries before we shipped the car to the states, then spent another month carless. A delayed and very inexpensive honeymoon, but one for the ages! I wish you as happy a trip as we had! Amusez-vous bien!

P.S. I would skip Saignon, Lacoste and Bonnieux. Not enough time to visit and it adds more time in the car. You don't need more car time.

I'm not aware of a chateau in l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, but if its a cooling water adventure you want, we LOVED tubing down the Sorgue river, from the Fontaine de Vaucluse to ISLS. I don't remember the service provider, so you'll have to do a bit of googling. There are also several canoe rental places that cover the same route.

I'd skip Bonnieux and Menerbes - not enough to make it worth the time, IMO. We did enjoy the wine tasting at Domaine la Citadelle, and there's an even better winery just before Goult - Cave de Lumieres, just off D900. Goult is charming but not a lot to really make it a worthwhile day trip, IMO.

Take a boat ride in the Calanques at Cassis - had a great lunch there and loved being on the water. I was dying to jump in and swim!

Only you can judge whether moving hotels so frequently makes sense for you, but everything you have on your list you could easily do from one base such as St Remy. Nothing is more than one hour drive or so.

I tend to agree with Laurie Ann. Everything in the Luberon is close and you’ll lose more time by changing locations. We picked up a car in Aix, had lunch and headed to Gordes on the scenic route through the towns you suggested. Most of the time it was just a drive through, but we did stop for a drink at a roadside cafe in Bonnieux overlooking a valley of lavender fields. We stayed just outside Gordes and did all of our exploring from there. It worked well for us. Most afternoons we made it back to relax by the pool before heading out for dinner. Check on Maps to see how far it is between the towns you want to see to decide if it’s worth changing overnight lodging.

Allocating an hour to Sénanque is about fifty minutes too long. It’s a Cistercian Abby so has almost no decoration to admire and interpret.

I agree with others that you are traveling too much in your car and changing hotels too frequently. It's a good idea to stay in St. Remy and do day-trips to other selected sites. I would spend more time at Les Baux and skip either Lourmarin or Ménerbes--one is enough. They are overpriced towns that have lost their authenticity to the tourist hordes. By the way, Oppède is the opposite, a relatively undiscovered village without the slick gloss of Lourmarin or Ménerbes. It only has one hotel, which is comfortable but not in any way deluxe, so staying overnight might be disappointing for you. Bon chance.

I agree with Thos about moving hotels too often. St. Remy is a nice home based but swamped on Wed. market day. Give yourself time to sit down in a town enjoying a glass of rose and watch what goes on around you. Take it slow to enjoy being newlyweds sitting at a cafe enjoying a croissant and check out some of the market culture. We day tripped to Cassis and Marseille from Aix to hike the cliffs of the Calanques. They are a natural wonder, unique with breathtaking scenery and the view is outstanding. I was unsure about my motion-sickness on the boat ride so we took the hike along the path at the top. Got tips where to park and hike from the hotel concierge. Our home base was Eygalières the first trip and did a lot of day trips, St. Remy and Les Baux, etc. From that trip we identified a bunch of other places we did not have time to visit and plan a return trip. Year later, returned to stay in Rousillon. We did walk through LaCoste and SCAD, loved Gordes and Isle sur La Sorgue(bummed we didn't get time to kayak -but it was hot!!!) Loved Saignon because there were NO crowds, climbed up to top of ruins to see the 360 degree lavender landscape.

Just remember to stop and enjoy. Don't treat it as your last and only trip to that area so you don't have to blast through without savoring the sights, people, drinks and food!

You might want to consider visiting the Pont du Gard and swimming in the river under the viaduct.

We spent 5 days in the Lubreon and based out of Roussillon (lovely!!) and found it a great spot to travel around neighboring villages (Gordes, Apt, L'ilse-sur-la-sourge, Pont du Gard, and went into Aix one day.
It was nice after long days of exploring to go back to a "settled" house and be able to relax.

Your trip sounds wonderful!

Congrats on what sounds like a lovely honeymoon. Two cents on Palace of the Popes in Avignon. We were there just over a week ago and I have to say it was a pretty big disappointment. The building itself is kind of cool. However, there wasn't too much inside the place that you might think of when you think of popes (e.g. altar pieces, art work, robes). The rooms were fairly empty except for a few unusual modern art installations.

The biggest issue is there is zero circulation inside. It was so stifling with poor crowd movement that we raced through, along with a lot of other people. The garden was very neglected and surprisingly small. Honestly, we enjoyed Avignon, just would not race back to that site. But maybe it was just an off day.

We LOVED Beaune! We would go back there in a heartbeat. Enjoy and congratulations!