Provence, France

My recommendation would be to pick up the RS Provence guidebook. Excellent ideas in there.

There are so many wonderful things in the Provence area... I love it all. It would help if you give a little info...how long will you be there? where are you starting from? etc. and when are you going?
There are incredible hill towns, villages, abbeys, great food and beautiful scenery. If we know a general idea of what you want to do you will get lots of good ideas.

Hi! sorry for the short post :) I was trying to be multitask.
We are planning in being in Provence for 3 days 2 nights the first week of July. We will be backpacking with my husband so we are always open for any suggestion. We love to take pictures, meet people and eat good. Many thanks!

I recommend Michelin Green Guide to Provence in addition to RS. Watch the Russell Crowe film A Good Year which was filmed in the Luberon to whet your appetite. Here' a link to the list of plus beaux villages in Provence http://tinyurl.com/86ra37d

if you're backpacking, will you have a car? This is really the best way to experience provence. You can see some of the cities/villages by train, but you don't really get the "feel" for provence that way. St. Remy, Rousillion, Gordes, Lourmarin, Bonnieaux, and Lacoste are some of my favorite villages. Arls and Avignon are worth visits if you only have train plans, but these aren't really provencal villages.

Thanks a zillion!!! I appreciated you guys taking the time and sharing all of this inf. and experiences.
We still trying to decide if we should rent a car, it seems like we should...

We stayed in Provence for 3 days and 2 nights last fall. I can guarantee you that you won't see much of it unless you have a rental car. The train will get you to some larger areas but the smaller towns and villages were "must see" for us. For us, the best of Provence was in Luberon and other area shown on the link above to the most beautiful villages of Provence. One of our best lunches was at Loumarin. Parking is free nearby and you walk into the center of the village through a narrow street with shops. Once in the center, there are several restaurants with great Italian food.

We found the Rick Steve's guide very helpful in deciphering the region. A good, detailed information source is this blog: http://provenceblog.typepad.com/provence_blog_by_provence/
If you're only walking or biking, you will be limited to a couple of villages. That would be fine with us, but you may want to see more.

We've all got our favorites, but..you did ask. Pont du Gard was much more than we expected, weren't as thrilled as we'd hoped by Les Baux, will never forget sampling Chateau Neuf de Pape, loved Arles more than Avignon and wished we could have visited the Sunday market at Ile sur Sorge (I think this is the right one, Rick Steves does a piece on it in his book) on a dry day cause it was really amazing. See if you can find a market day somewhere along your travels. You'll get lots more suggestions.

Many thanks!

Hi The markets in the hillside towns are worth the visit and it pays to check out which day is market day as it varies from town to town. Our personal fav was the one in Ile Sur Sorge.
Agree with Larry that a car is really a must. RS book was very helpful as was this site.