Too loose, Lautrec?

Knock knock Who's there? Toulouse Toulouse who? Toulouse trousers will fall down

Only you can determine if your plans are "too loose". Some people need to have things rigidly scheduled, others don't. I'm assuming that you have a general plan in mind for what you want to see. Check a wide variety of guidebooks, not just RS, for information. Because you have a lot of time, there is no need to make specific plans now. Just go, do what you feel like, and have fun!

We have a couple of guidebooks, copies of magazine articles, lots of ideas. I guess I was worried a little by a post a person did about English tours at Carcassone...... I assume once we are there, we can make arrangements. I know it's early in the season so most sites will not be overrun with tourists. I just tend to what if a lot. Actually, reading posts on the Helpline has given me lots of ideas on villages and places to see.
World wide humor....I love it! Thanks for the laugh.

If you rent a car, take lots of Monet. You need it to make the Van Gogh.

Giotto these things down: Rembrandt - don't Dali when purchasing Degas. You WILL need lots of Monet if you want your Van to Gauguin. Donatello you again.

Hi Terry,
When I've been in similar situations (month long rental in one place), I just do some research and make a list of everywhere I want to go before I leave. Then I plan my days based upon weather, day of the week, what I feel like doing that day, etc.

I think this approach is a delightful and intelligent way to travel in the shoulder season, but it's a good idea to arrive with some very clear ideas of day trips, activities, and sights. Then laissez the serendipity roll.

We do have some pretty good ideas: Avignon a couple of times Arles a few times Carcassone Monaco Marseilles The Carmague (which I know is spelled wrong) Nice and the pine cone train from there Side trip to Switzerland Pont du Gard Nimes Things we are looking to do are explore the French markets in the various towns, have coffee in the cafe Van Gogh painted the picture of; see the walled city of Carcassone; find the house with the yellow bedroom, do some biking and day hiking in and around the town of St Chamas (where we are staying); travel up into some of the hill towns. I do want to watch the bull fights, as cruel as that sounds. Please don't judge, I'll root for the bulls.
You people make me smile!

Nothing wrong with not having every day blocked out before you arrive. I actually think many people on this website do too much planning.

Terry - thanks for the indulgence ;-) Some of us should never sit together in church - we giggle, draw funny pictures for each other, mimic the 'challenged' singers behind us...just make sure someone sits BETWEEN us. I would be comfortable with this plan if I had a bunch of things mapped out for each town I wanted to visit: hours/days of operation and prices for museums or whatever, rough plan of how the sites were located in relation to each other (good, efficient touring route - leisurely wandering vs lots of aggravating backtracking), advance knowledge of train routes (hours and DAYS of operation, and prices for each type of train), etc. And I've learned to resist that ol' 'oh, I'll come back later; let's do (blank) instead'. "Later" OFTEN never comes! I rank things in matter of importance in order to not miss those not-to-be-missed sites. The rest is gravy. You can get TOO loose; a month isn't very long if you don't have ANY structure to it, in my very humble opinion.

Terry - Since you mention market days, it might help to have a list of market days in each town. I think Rick's Provence book mentions market days for the towns in his book, and if you Google Provence market days, you'll find others. My favorite is the Lourmarin market on Friday mornings.

I see Eileen and I have the same joke book-"Amuse and Amaze Your Friends with Art." It always helps me make a good Impression.

Too loose IMHO, but just based on our own experience. Our 1st trip to Europe we sort of did the same thing. Got home extremely frustrated at what we didn't get accomplished because of the lackadaisical approach each day. Made immediate plans to return the next year for a "do-over". I'd make some general plans for what you want to see each day. Group them together by location, etc. to save time and energy.
A general "blueprint" for your days should be very helpful and keep you from forgetting about something you really wanted to see/do.

I'm afraid I may disagree about the loosity. In fact after the recent itinerary post I think it probably has just about the right loosity. I like each and every thing you have said you want to do, and think that you have just about the right number of places to get to and days to do them. It looks like Monaco is your eastern limit along with Nice. Both very easy to do by train. Make sure that unless you have tickets or a mate in a trackside flat, you give Monaco and 100 miles around a broad berth the week of the Monaco Grand Prix. The Camargue is less easy to do without a car. We went when it rained, you would have better success if you can arrange to go on a sunny day. Have a wonderful trip!!

Hi Terry, I have done the same, rented a house for a month, mid May to mid June, and had no specific plans. We had a great time - one on the best trips I've taken. Like you, we had a list of places we wanted to visit and just planned the days as we went along. It was enjoyable and more relaxing than having an itinerary. The only thing you don't mention is a car rental. It's difficult to get around the south of France by train only. I would recommend arranging for a car. Have a great time!

Wow...great advice on the Grand Prix....I will check the dates. We have checked out car rental rates. We plan on renting for a short time (one or two days once or twice) to get to some of the out of train/bus range areas. We had thought about leasing also, but figured in towns like Arles, Avignon, Marseilles, and even some of the smaller towns it would be more hassle than it is worth. But we have not ruled it completely out.
Again, thanks everyone for your suggestions. I hadn't thought about lumping areas together, but that does make sense to minimize time spent traveling.

We were in Vence (not St Paul de) by accident one Saturday lunchtime and there was the remnants of a flower market on Place du Jardin (park under) and there was a guy making fresh Socca. It was absolutely fabuloso, in a charcoal fire oven on a trailer using a plastic barrel for batter mixing. We went back and back. It was nearly free and so scrumptious. The line just got bigger, everybody else was packing up and the Socca guy just got busier. We sat on a bench, under a tree, watched a two year old drive his mother up the tree because he wanted to take all the sand out of the Boules court and she didn't approve. Watched the old men come and claim the court back and start throwing the balls. It was a really cool day. We were loose that day; just happened upon it.