Provence

Bonjour Bonnie!
I too will be in provence in September. I've explored the coastal areas of provence quite a bit along with Grasse, Mougins, and Saint Paul-de-Vence (all of these are nice day trips from Nice). These areas are quiet and lovely when not mobbed in high season. This time I am going to the Northern edge of provence to Vaison-la-Romaine. Ricks book on Provence describes great car based travel in this area and we will be close enough to explore some great Rhone wine areas like the village of Chateauneuf de Papes. I've been to Avignon in this area and that is a good town for train or car. I've never been to Aix-en-Provence perhaps someone could comment if they think this would be a good central base for you...?

Hi Bonnie... Provence is lovely in the Fall. We are photographers and like to photograph there. We stayed in Isle-sur la- Sorgue at the Hotel Nevons. It is very reasonable and very well located for all the villages in the Luberon and the Cotes de Rhone. If you stay there get one of the annex rooms . It is very inexpensive. Also, it's Sunday maket is one of the best in France. It is very hard to find a parking spot for the market., but the hotel has its own parking lot where no one else can park. We rent a car at Orly and drive down to Provence. There are some lovely places in Burgundy as well. If you want some other places around that area, look in Steves Provence book. All these places fill up fast so book as soon as you can. Send me a PM if you have any questions. We go to France every year and drive everywhere. Couldn't be easier. The roads are great.

Hi Bonnie, yes I agree with the previous poster. L'Isle sur la Sorgue is beautiful and depending on the weather, hopefully the sidewalk cafes lining the canals will still be busy. It's pretty centrally located, and you can easily do St. Remy, Les Baux, Roussillon, Gordes from there. Here is my France blog post with 3 of my favorite villages in Provence, including photos of L'isle Sur la Sorgue,
http://enchantedtraveler.wordpress.com/category/provence/

L'Isle is great, especially on market days and especially if you love antiques. Much has been written on that part of Provence. Mayle has made a franchise out of it and helped boost tourism there immeasurably. Some of his books are pretty instructive and at very least will give you a feel for what is to come.

Have been many times and will no doubt return. I won't go into major tourist sites, which are all in books. Bonnieux is nice town near Gordes and Lacoste. Ruin of the de Sade castle there is a great picnic spot (and private property). The little village Lacoste may be ruined now that Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has bought in in a big way.

More later when I have time.

Beaucaire and Tarascon (south of Avignon) are nice towns across the Rhone from each other and are off the beaten path for American travelers. Very near by car are Pont du Gard, Nimes, Arles, Avignon, Apt, Les Baux, St. Remy, Camargue, several beaches, and Aix en Provence. Hotel Robinson in Beaucaire and a three-bedroom apartment at www.mybeaucaire.com are nice places to stay. Hotel Robinson is in the country and the apartment is in a very old and senic part of Beaucaire, overlooking the Rhone. Both have easy parking. Beaucaire and Tarascon both have good street markets, as do the surrounding towns.

Dear Bonnie,

We rented a "Studio Cottage" in St. Remy for a week and used it as a center for day trips to Aix, Avignon, The Camargue et al... Les baux is just outside St. Remy and there were special exhibitions of Van Gogh when we were there. It is very doable and I agree with the others, there are many towns which could serve as your base. Finally, we especially loved walking n into the village of St. Remy every evening , having a pastis or beer at one place and then eating at another.. The Wednesday market is also exceptional. Bon Voyage- George, Pittsburgh

Thanks to all who have responded. We will be staying in Nice for 2 or 3 days and then we will rent a car. Should we stay in one town for 6 days and do day trips, or are we better off staying a couple of nights in different towns. Rick Steves book does not make it real clear on which we should do. Thanks again for all your help. Bonnie

I would look for a base for the entire 6 days. There's nothing like getting to feel that a town is your own. I agree that St. Remy is a good base.

Another enthusiastic vote for L'Isle and the Hotel Nevons. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful...seeing that we were bringing back food for a picnic (gotten at the market, which was fabulous), they lent us a corkscrew and wineglasses. The room was clean, modern, and reasonably sized even by US standards. Driving from there to Avignon, the Pont du Gard, hill towns like Gordes, Sault (we were there in lavender season) was easy. I would suggest in response to your second question that you spend a couple of nights in Arles. Arles feels old, old, old...more so than Rome in some ways. You can walk from the place du Forum (where the Roman Forum was, same shape) on narrow alleys where the Roman cobblestones lie just beneath the asphalt, to a magnificently preserved Roman Arena. We stayed at a little hotel near the river, the train station, and a Monoprix...off the top of my head, Hotel Regence...which was both inexpensive and delightful. From Arles, you can easily do Les Baux and St Remy as day trips, and we actually did the Pont du Gard from our Arles base (about 45 minute drive). Anyway, don't stress over choice of base---I sweated over Rick's book for months trying to pick the perfect itinerary...but no such thing exists. You will have a great time and regardless of what you see & do there will be things you won't get to on this trip.
I do agree that it is worthwhile to coordinate being in a town on market day, and RS lists these in his Provence book. The only disagreement I had with RS was that we were not all that impressed by Rousillon (sp)...we were expecting Sedona AZ, and it wasn't...anyway, have a wonderful trip!

We have stayed in both L'Isle and Arles and loved both - agree with the other posters. We've also stayed in Vaison, Roussillon, and Sault, but they aren't as centrally located. I would suggest visiting on market days, which is where we picked up picnic supplies and found spots with killer views to set up our picnics. http://www.frenchentree.com/france-provence-living/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=16808
I would recommend the Hotel le Calendal in Arles, which is right near the Arena and Roman Theater.