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Provence itinerary

We are flying in and out if Marseille and only have a total of 8 days on the ground.
I want to rent a home with a view of the Mediterranean. The focus of our touring will be Aix, Arles, Avignon and Nimes. The problem is that if you want to stay on the coast and travel to those towns, you are doing daily round trips to the same area. I know the easy answer is to get hotels in 3-4 of those towns but I want to have a more relaxing home base. I found a nice condo in Cassis at Homeaway.com, Any sugggestions on how to make this work better without so much driving would be appreciated!

Posted by
4132 posts

If you can't your desire for a seaside view than you are stuck with the long commute. Provence is primarily a dry, inland area. There are plenty of relaxing home base places away from the sea, some with river views. You can have a great time and see more with less drivingbut no maritime views.
I've never been to Cassis but it sounds like a lovely spot.

Posted by
3250 posts

It would be a bit of a drive for day trips to the places you mentioned but Cassis would be my choice! It's a beautiful seaside town with a great market on Wednesdays and Fridays! You can use googlemaps to check driving times to Aix, Arles, Avignon, and Nimes to decide if it's doable for you. Eight days in a condo in Cassis sounds perfect to me!

Posted by
7025 posts

I guess it all depends on how far you're willing to drive for a day-trip. All of your stated destinations are within my max drive time for a day-trip, all <2 hrs each way. Nimes is the farthest at probably 1-3/4hr, Aix is the closest at about 45 mins. If you want to stay in one place on the Med then go with that condo in Cassis, I would. If you do four day trips and spent the other days hanging around Cassis and the water it wouldn't be too much and you could always check into maybe taking the train somewhere for one of the days to reduce the driving. Sounds like an amazing vacation to me.