Arles

We have enjoyed Hotel Regence in Arles twice. It is very central with some street parking and walk thru the old city easily. You can enjoy alot of lovely villages with a car from Arles. Look into Les Baux, St Remy close by. With more time see Rousillion, Isle sur La Sorgue, Gordes.

Jim, I very much enjoyed my stay at Hotel Le Calendal in Arles, and would highly recommend it. It's in fantastic location, only a short distance to the Amphitheatre or to the main part of town. I don't know if they offer parking, but their website may have details. As I recall, there's a small (but interesting) art gallery just down the street as well. As previously mentioned, Les Baux de Provence makes an interesting day trip, especially if they're holding demonstrations of the Catapults or Trabouchet. It's a very historic location and there are some awesome restaurants in the lower part of town. Happy travels!

Like JS I stayed at the Hotel Regence. It was very reasonably priced and the free parking across the street was very convenient. It was easy to do day trips throughout Provence from there. In addition to the towns mentioned you might want to consider a trip to Cassis.

Thanks for the good suggestions although we are having some difficulty reserving a room on-line at Hotel Le Regence's web-site. Jim

On the hotel website - www.hotel-regence.com - you can go to the 'rates & booking' tab. On the right-hand side of the page you enter your dates to make the reservation.

RS recommends Hotel Le Calendal and d'Arlatan at the $$$ price range in his book. If you don't mind a question to your question, where is a better base for seeing the sites mentioned here. Is it Arles or Avignon?

We loved Rick's rec; the Hotel de la Muette. Great location,(short walk to everything) super friendly and helpful staff, good BFast, parking garage,quiet, etc. We felt it was great value for the $$. If you are driving don't even attempt to drive into Arles without bringing your GPS!...and bring a GOOD map of the town.

Nimes, Avignon and Pont Du Gard are good possibilities for day trips. Do spend a day wandering around Arles itself.

Hi Jim A lot is to be seen in Provence and your days will be quite full. I am a native from Provence and depending of your interest I can suggest you some days trip. As a owner of a bed and breakfast near Avignon I try to convince my customers that moving from one place to another is not worth it and can be time consuming. Coming from a big country as yours you most probably do not realize that all is quite close by. From where we are you can really visit it all for example ! ther are diffrent option from staying in town or in village and renting a car or not. Driving is not that complicated specially if you have a car with a navigator in it. For you to have an idea we are at 10 minutes drive from Avignon but ther is a bus going sevral time a day. Then some of my customers take the train and can visit easely Arles, Nimes, Orange. with the bus the Pont du Gard and several more villages. If you have a car and stay in town be ware that parking can be a budget. As I say all depend on you interest into heritage, village life, wine...
Christine - TAVEL (wine village 12 km from Avignon)

Last year we stayed in Arles at the Hotel d'Amphitheatre and liked it a lot. The people were friendly and helpful. It was well located for walking Arles. We took some day trips by train. Toward the end of our stay we rented a car. The hotel had a deal with the nearby municipal garage for reduced parking rates. Other parking closer may have been available but we had no need to navigate the streets in a rental. The Calendal was listed as more expensive and was booked prior to our departure. When we got to Arles it was available and cheaper than I had seen. Looked nice...we often stopped in their small cafe during the day , but no regrets with our hotel of choice. Safe travels.
We visited Avignon for the day by train, and also trained to Isle sur La Sorgue for the market day...that was fun. With the car we spent two days. Got to St Remy, Aix, Rousillon, Les Baux and others. Distances between places are not great and you can spend a pleasant day or so driving around to any destination of choice pretty easily.