Marseille, France

For hotels, the Accor chain (accorhotels.com) has many in the area. The Etap brand is the least expensive of the group that has all facilities in the room. Formule1 is the least expensive of all, but has only a sink in the room, but is still clean and safe. The most convenient Etap is just a couple blocks up the hill on the south side of the Old Port area of the city (where you'd probably want to be).

Day trips (within a one hour drive)

1 -- Nimes (three hours) with stops in Arles (two hours) and Pont du Gard (one hour)
2 -- Orange (three hours) with a stop in Avignon (three hours)

3 -- Aix (only 20 min north) do this on Saturday for the markets. Spend most of the day.

4 -- Stay in Marseilles and look around there.

Read up on these areas and you'll probably decide that they're pretty much the cream of southern Provence.

Sandy, Ed gave you good suggestions, i have stayed a few times at Etap hotels, works for us, nothing fancy but clean and affordable. You could take the boat to the Château d'If from Marseilles, that is the castle of the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I also agree with Ed's suggestions of Avignon and Le pont du Gard.

Visiting Cassis and taking a boat ride through some of the calanques would make for a great day trip. See here.

Marseille is a lovely city. You should visit the neighborhood called "Quartier du Panier", the old harbor and Notre Dame de la Garde. From the harbor you can also take a boat to visit the islands of Frioul and If castle. Day trips from Marseille would be visiting the calanques (beautiful inlets) that stretch from Marseille to Cassis. Cassis is a lovely harbor village and the calanques near Cassis are a gem. You could also visit Aix en Provence, very near but very different from Marseille.

Thank you to all with your great suggestions. I was originaly thinking about taking an overnight trip to Monnaco but have since decided to stay in the Marseille area and explore!