Staying in Provence

You might want to consider splitting your time and spending some in an oceanside town.

While I greatly prefer Arles to Avignon, others on this site have different opinions. As to towns, I'd suggest St. Remy, Isle sur la Sourgue, or Vaison la Romaine, although none of them are really "small towns."

The magic of Provence is the quaint little villages: rousillion, bonnieaux, gordes , lacoste, etc. The luberon is spectacular, but none of the above offer much "to do" except lounge at cafes, sip wines, visit wineries,and take in Provence. Not sure how your boys are, so consider that. There is some hiking/biking, but you'll still have to come back to the village at night. I, too, prefer Arles, but my wife prefers Avignon, so that's not much help for you.

We have stayed in Arles on three different trips and in some small towns in the Luberon area. It really depends where you are staying where you would be staying in either Arles or Avignon. There would be more for the boys to do in the cities. In the small towns, they can close early. I didn't care for St. Remy but we did not stay there. Others rave about it. Are you going to Nice or any of the towns along the coast? We really liked Nice. If you have to return to Paris to the airport, going to Nice would take too much time. Have fun!

Thank you all for tips! I think we will split our time between the seaside and Avignon. We can all rent bikes for a couple of days and check out hikes and while we have our feet up they can check out the babes on the beach!