My wife and I live in Califronia, We have traveled quite a bit in Spain and some in france and Italy. this trip is about going to places we haven't been and possible places to spend longer periods of time in like 3 -6 months in the future.
We prefer villages and small cities like Bordeaux, San Sebastian, Granada, Ronda and Cordoba.
we are in our 50's and 60's so we aren't into night life, Just walking around, sitting in Cafes and seeing the occaional muesum. We love nature, Lakes, Rivers, Biking, Hiking, Canoeing.
Our biggest question is Montpellier and Languedoc. Is it worth checking out? Should we skip it? and go straight to Provence?
We are also wondering where else to go in Italy.
So we have 28 days and this is what it looks like so far but we are not booking anything more than the first 4 nights hotels. the rest will be spontaneous.
Day 1. fly into Barcelona take train to Girona
Day 2 Girona
Day 3. Rent car go to Cadeques
Day 4 cadeques
Days 5-8 free
Day 9 take train to Montpellier Thi sis a big question mark for us. Should we avoid it or spend two days there.
Day 10 Montpellier or start exploring Languedoc area
day 11 - 12 rent car and explore Languedoc
Day 13 keep car and drive to to St Remy in Provence
day 14-18 explore provence
Day 19 drop off car in Nice and take train to verona italy
day 20 Verona
Day 21 train to Abruzzo or some other part of italy. Where we go depends on wht we are looking for at that particular moment. Beachs, mountains, Lakes, cities, we dont know yet. ALl we know is , we love all of the above and we've both been to Venice, Sienna, Florence. End up in Rome on day 25
Day 25 - 28 Rome, fly home on Day 28
Posted by
120 posts
Songman; you sound a lot like my husband and self. From CA and we love the same types of activities you mentioned. In your itinerary you did not mention two of the VERY MOST favorite places/things we did on our 3 week trip to Italy 3 years ago. (1) We spent 3 nights in Manarola in the Cinque Terre, spending one day hiking on an absolutely gorgeous trail through vineyards and high above the ocean, from Manarola to another village, and the second day taking a ferry to Portovenera. AND (2) we spent a week at Cretaiole Moricciani (Cretaiole.it). Check out the website. RS states in his Italy guidebook that it was one of the very best things he ever did in that country. That was enough to convince me to book it, and as you will read in the reviews online, Rick is not alone in his commendation. It was FABULOUS! The family who runs it have lined up enough activities to fill four weeks, so there is NO WAY you can run out of things to do there in 7 days. The difficulty is choosing which ones to do in the time you have. I also kept thinking, when we were there, that it would be wonderful to be able to come back and stay in Pienza (or another of the hill towns) for a month or more (as you have stated you may one day do). Anyway, on our trip, after we left Italy we spent another 6 days in Provence. We rented a car in Nice and stayed in Isle Sur le Sorgue, because from there we were able to visit Roussillon, as well as St Remy, Les Baux, Aix, Avignon, the Luberon, Arles, and eventually we turned in the car and caught a train in Nimes to Barcelona. While staying in Isle Sur le Sorgue we rented bicycles and rode a gorgeous dedicated bike trail for 22 miles round trip through vineyards and tiny villages to an ancient Roman acquaduct. Just thinking about all this makes me jealous of your trip. You will have a WONDERFUL time. We went in September. You didn't say when you were going, but I assumed Spring or Fall.
Posted by
Washington DC
28094 posts
Languedoc is very worth visiting. It covers a lot of territory; you won't be able to see much of it in the time you have available, especially since Montpellier is not centrally located in Languedoc. I assume you won't want to double back very far to the south, taking places like Perpignan and Narbonne off the table. Pezenas might be reasonable. It's a picturesque craft town south of Montpellier, but not terribly far away. Sete, on the coast, is also worth a look, but I found Pezenas more interesting. (Full disclosure: I love looking at crafts.)
I also enjoyed Montpellier itself. It's a university city with a relatively non-touristy historic district. It does not, however, feel like a small town, so I think it depends on what sort of environment you'll be looking for at that point in your trip. I didn't get to any of the small towns close to Montpellier, so I can't be of much help.