The Camargue or Aix-en-Provence?

They are very different experiences: wildlife versus urban cultural sights. It would come down to your personal preference, ideally after knowing something about both. The Camargue is a regional park with marshes, lake, and wildlife. Aix is (I guess you could say) at the opposite end of the spectrum, a city of about 150,000 with typical cultural sights in the core which are described in guidebooks (it's impossible to accurately describe a place in the space we have here). You would drive through the Camargue; whereas Aix is a city where you would park and explore on foot. It really depends on what kind of experience would be of more interest to you.

The center of Arles is not in the Camarque, so to go there you'd have to do a bit of back tracking or take a round about path. Arles to Cassis is about an hour and a half and Aix center ville is just a mile off the freeway. I can't knock Aix, but it's really just another town, although a fairly nice one. If you catch it on market day (Saturday?) it's even better. If you could kick the western Camargue boundry ten miles further west, the area would then include Aigues-Mortes. This little walled town and the marshes and wildlife of the Camargue proper would win hands down. The offset would be that it makes the driving time close to four hours to spend the maximum distance within the park.

Very helpful! Thank you!!

I agree with Kent - it really depends on what you like. I've been to Aix-en-Provence twice. I like cities but it's just not one of my favorites. We went to the Carmargue last June and I found it fascinating. It's rugged and beautiful with hiking trails and opportunities to see flamingos in the wild. The Carmargue might be out of the way for your travels - it's a bit of a drive west from Arles. I'd do some more research about each place, map out the distances, and decide what you might enjoy the most. If it's not too far out of the way, my vote would be for the Carmargue including Aigues-Mortes as Ed suggested!

I went to both places in April. Aix was neat for the fountains, but the Camargue was neat for the wildlife. We took a jeep tour from Arles and that may be something to consider since they know the roads and area. On the other hand, a car gives you the freedom to explore the area more than a jeep tour does. We saw flamingoes, horses and bulls....did not do any hiking or horseback riding but those are also options. I enjoyed the Camargue more because I like nature. To each his/her own.

The Carmague is very unique for the wildlife and the setting. It is a little out of the way, but it's worth the drive. I was very unimpressed with Aix. It's pretty, especially with the trees and flowered streets. But it lacks charm. It's another cookie-cutter tourist city with the same stores you've seen everywhere else.

Michelin (Green Guide) appears to agree with Doug on Aix: 2 stars (worth a detour) but not 3 (worth a journey). We will probably now hear from the Aix defenders. Nothing wrong with Aix, but if you've already seen a number of French cities, the Camargue might be a welcome change of pace. (edit: But see Ed's well stated defense of Aix, below!)

I can come right back and champion Aix. I wouldn't call it a tourist city except for the area along the Cours Mirabeau. The place is a couple of thousand years old, has a batch of universites with probably a hundred thousand students, and enough Cezanne stuff to keep you busy for a week. It also has some stunning architeture plus a fairly substantial commercial and industrial base. I can't say anything bad about it except for the darn one-way road with a thousand names that circles the historic center. The daughter of a buddy marched herself off to college there twenty-five years ago and has never come home except for brief visits to show off her kids. She seems to like it okay. The question, however, involved 'or', so .......

Loved Camargue, spent most of a day, in on and off rain, there transfixed and ate up miles of video and memory cards. Having your own car makes it easy. Liked Aix. Everybody is different.

Where do you plan to base yourself? We drove for a solid hour to find a parking spot in Arles(just returned) and the town did not appeal to me in the least. Parking was tight in most places and we ruled out Aix because of the dreaded parking situation and the size. The charm is in the smaller provincial towns and we were very happy that we chose St Remy for a base. Isle de la Sorgue looked good too for a base.