Bonnieux, Vaison la Romaine or La Cadiere d'azur as a base?

I don't think that I would recommend any of the three. Vaison la Romaine is the only one of the three to which I have been. It is very nice and would make a wonderful place to stay. However, it is on the extreme north side of the two main areas, Provence and Cote d'azure. It is also quite a bit off the main north-south road. Bonnieux is the most central, but is on the extreme east edge of the primary Provence sights. However, of the three, it offers the best driving proximity to Provence and the Cotes d'azur. La Cadiere d'azur appears to be quite distant from Provence and any of the Cotes d'azur highlights. I would choose something west of Bonnieux, closer to the A7 to provide greater ease of north-south travel.

I would choose the one that works best for your family - size, layout, etc. Vaison is north but not that far that you can't drive to other places. It has a nice market and I love the medieval section of town. Mourchon Vineyards are not far away in Seguret and is highly recommended. Bonnieux would be central and is beautiful, only quibble is there's no real town square. I'm not familiar with the third location. I would recommend getting a place with a pool, more than A/C, especially if you have kids. Lots of villas in Provence have swimming pools. You really can't go wrong with any of these towns. You'll have to drive farther to some sites, and others will be closer depending on which you choose.

Okay...we only have one child with us ..actually the range is 8-84! Lots of villas around but trying to find one that meets our purposes, i.e., last 2 weeks in June so AC and pool right? And how does one know which company is reputable from this distance? So we are going with options in our price range from Abercrombie Kent. Did not have much luck with other companies. And family have dealt with AK before. Actually the d'Azur one is the most attractive but seems so far and 10 km from the closest town Bandol which I know nothing about..yet.Thanks for all the good advice.

I have not been to the other two towns, but we were in Vaison la Romaine last October. It is one of the places I would love to go back to. We were on a RS tour and visited local Roman ruins, a nearby Roman ampitheatre, and the Mourchon vineyard in Seguret. I would recommend all three and can recommend a restaurant in Vaison if you decide to stay there. I would love to hear about the villa in Vaison if you decide to rent it! Sounds like a great trip, have fun!

You might enjoy looking at French-word-a-day.com. This family just moved to Bandol.

We spent a week in Bonnieux and loved it, but it may not be the best location for a one-time trip to Provence. Vaison is great, although I guess you could call it quasi-urban. You also might want to also check Gites de France (http://www.gites-de-france.com/), which is by far the best site to rent by the week in France, at least if you speak some French.

Lots to think about. A good location but a bad lodging is not good as is the contrary. We have to find a balance and that may just mean driving a bit further to the sights. Thanks all.

Annemarie - I think it's more important to find an accommodation that fits your group first. We had four women in our group and found a three bedroom, three bathroom house to rent in Lourmarin which was perfect for us. We used France Homestyle and were very satisfied. We did day trips to various places in Provence and grouped our sites together to minimize overall driving, going north to Vaison la Romaine and surrounding villages, south to Aix en Provence and Cassis, west to Uzes and St Remy, and some places in between. I have stayed in southern France in July without a/c and was fine but your group may want it. I've stayed in various places and loved them all - Vaison, Arles, Carpentras, Lourmarin, and just haven't heard people say they stayed in a town in Provence that they just hated. I'm not familiar with Bandol and that area but maybe someone will chime in on what is in that area to see and do. I think you'll like whatever area you choose.

We stayed in Vaisson at Fete en Provence last May and loved it, but it wasn't very central. Still, it's lovely at night when you can trek up to the castle ruins in the moonlight. We moved around while in Provence, a few nights in Avignon, a few in Arles, Vaisson, and finally Axe, which I would not recommend, then a few nights in Nice.
We found it easier to explore by moving around. Of course then there is a lot of checking in and out.

Bonnieux is a quiet village, non touristy and hilly. It is well located for visits to other classic Provence villages by driving. It does not have the charm to me but the location is gd.
you might be happier finding something closer to Arles, if you are willing to keep searching for villas.

I would echo checking out gites-de-france. With Google translation, even the ones in French are fairly easy to figure out. We've used them several times for week-long stays. I love the Luberon, but places near Arles/Avignon might give you a more central point. We were in St. Remy de Provence for 12 days (part of a cycle tour) - I don't know about gites there, but the small town and wonderful market square is very central. We also enjoyed the Vaison area - all of Provence is really wonderful

One other suggestion, especially if you decide to stay in Bonnieux, but in general for Provence. We had great fun reading Peter Mayle's books - "A Year in Provence" is probably best known, but "Hotel Pastis: A Novel of Provence" is a very fun (and funny) book that takes place, in part, in Bonnieux. Enjoy.

A clarification to my comment about Gites de France and language. You can do the transaction pretty easily w/o speaking or reading French. The problem can come in when it's time to find the place and get the keys. We have had occasions where we just couldn't find the house and had to call the owners, and speaking French made it possible. Or calling ahead of time to make the arrangements to pick up the keys or to meet. But with email and Google Translator, that usually won't be a problem anymore.

We stayed in Avignon for a week (an apartment in the historic pedestrian area) and found it great for day trips in all directions: the Luberon, Arles, Orange, Pont du Gard, Les Baux, Cassis. Plus we were only 5 minutes from Les Halles marcket...fresh fruit, bread, lunch fixings, flowers, fromagerie, patisseries, and more! It was wonderful! (Then we took the TGV to Paris.)