Provence trip

Hi Jim Why don't you take a look at RS France or Provence Guide Book to give you ideas for towns to stay in. Your location also depends on where you want to go for your day trips or what kinds of things you want to see and do. A week is a wonderful length of stay in Provence. What do you like? Do try to work in some experiences. Grape harvest? Cooking class? Art class? Walking tour? I think RS also has suggestions for rental companies. It is important to give more information so we can provide the best suggestions! You aren't a generic traveler and we want to give advice to make the trip special for you! Bobbie

I would stay at Villeneuve les Avignon - it is the other side of the river from Avignon, and there are numerous day trips possible. There is an excellent Bed and Breakfast with mini-appartments - Les Ecuries des Chartreux.

Last summer we spent 2 weeks in a rural area near a small village called Mouries - that worked well for day trips to Arles, the Carmargue, Avignon, St. Remy, Les Baux, Nimes/Pont du Gard, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (for the Sunday market,) Aix-en-Provence, Roussillon, and Cassis. If I were doing the trip again, I'd probably stay closer to St. Remy. I'd decide on which towns/villages you want to visit and then pick a central location. Rick's Provence book was a huge help! You'll have a great time!

It almost doesn't matter much which town or village you pick, because Provence is easy to explore by car from almost any starting point in the region. Our approach is to find the most attractive B&B's in the region & just pick one of them, without worrying which town it's in. Last year we wound up at a B&B near Uzes, and it was great. We've found Karen Brown's "France B&B's" guidebook to be very reliable, but you can find many sources of Provence B&B information.

We stayed here last year in the small hilltop village of Venasque. http://www.masdukairos.com/site%20gb/index.htm Nice location in a great reasonable priced B&B. Great breakfast and comfortable room. The village is small with only two or three restaurants. Lots of hilltop villages close by, including Gordes and Roussillon. Hostess speaks pretty good English and provided us with ideas on things to see in the region. You can read about our stay there on our blog. http://gassawaysadventures.blogspot.com/2010/05/on-to-provence.html

We just returned from a week in Provence! We stayed in Arles, St. Remy and Isle sur la Sorgue. We loved Arles as it was small and easy to drive out of (this is where we picked up our rental car). We all agreed that if we return we'd like to make St. Remy our home base as it was close to many of the places we visited, and the Wednesday market was awesome! In St. Remy we stayed at the Hotel Canto Cigalo, about a 10 minute walk from the center of town, in a quiet neighborhood. Very clean and spacious rooms, with a beautiful courtyard and pool. The rooms even had mini bars with very reasonable drinks and wine. This is not a Rick recommendation, we found it on Trip Advisor. Have fun!

Jim - I agree with Tom that it doesn't really matter which town/village you stay in. You might consider renting a house - check France Homestyle, VRBO, Homelidays or Gites France for possiblities. We rented from France Homestyle and loved our house outside of Lourmarin. We also had a car and took daytrips. Enjoy!