Villages in France and Italy

we're staying on a vineyard in ludes, which is in champagne. another traveler also recommended montmort-lucy in the same area as a favorite for the french village experience.

We can give more specific advice if you will give us a little more to go on here about your preferences and prior thinking: "small village life in France or Italy" is too general, northern France, southern France, northern Italy, closer to some major destination, mountain, coast, farm?

If it were me, I'd consider Arles in France and Verona in Italy.

Hi Julia, I'm not sure about France but there are plenty of interesting monasteries/convents in Italian villages. I found this site which looks to have lots of places www.monasterystays.com. You might find something of interest off the beaten track
Regards
John

I loved Arles. It was a great base to travel around the Provence region.

Wow, thanks for all of the replies. That will keep me busy looking all of those places up. Way to go fellow travellers. Some useful information. I may be able to narrow my search after this initial start. Thanks again, Julia Adelaide

We just got back from spending time in Cinque Terre in Italy. They are 5 small villages on the coast that are perfect to explore, do hiking, experience a different kind of Italy. We stayed in Levanto which was 1 more city south but you can easily move between the villages by train. Rick gives good information on the villages in his Italy book. There are hostels that you can look up. I would advise seeing if you can get a place with a kitchen, there are quite a few markets that you can buy amazing local food to make yourself. I have a friend who went there in October and loved it as much as we did in June. Good luck!

We were in France September 2 years ago and loved the small villages. Our favorites were Rocamadour, Sarlat and La Roque Gageac. September was the perfect time to visit - no huge crowds! Researching these small villages is half the fun. Good luck and have a wonderful trip!

2 years ago I took a RS trip starting in Paris and taking in Provence. We stayed in Vaison la Romaine, a small town with gorgeous Roman ruins in the middle of town. We stayed at the Belfry Hotel, just gorgeous. I LOVED the Tuesday morning market in town, it was the highlight of my trip. THe freshed food, cheese that was beyond belief in taste, fruits and veggies, some scarves. I had several lunches and a dinner from that market shopping trip. We also stayed in Villefranche sur Mer, right on the water, another beautiful town, good bus and train service to Nice.

September is a lovely time in France. We are photographers and always travel there in September and October. We fly into Paris , stay for a period of time, taxi to Orly Airport, get our car at Hertz, get on the A6 and head south. Burgundy is wonderful with many small villages like Montreal, Flavigny,Noyers, Chateauneuf en Auxious,Semur, etc. The Burgundy Canal is wonderful this time of year.Don't be afraid to drive in France. The roads are excellent, the back roads are as well. They have picnic tables everywhere for you to use to picnic. We then drive south on the A6 and A7. There are wonderful wineries and Chateaus on the way south. We then drive to Isle sur la Sorgue and use that for our wanderings around the Luberon and the Cotes de Rhone Villages.There are many ,many villages to explore there.

Julia, we loved the French wine Route , although we are not wine drinkers. It was beautiful with all of its little villages.
As someone mentioned, don't worry about driving in France. It was quite similar to here but the tolls are expensive.