Travel in Provence

Both Adam and Kent have provided excellent suggestions. I would only add that a small town like St. Remy may make sense as well...you are centrally located to Les Baux, Pont du Gard, Arles and Avignon, you will have easy parking and you can do a day trip to Aix en Provence (or an overnight before going to your airport of departure). We spent a week in St Remy and really enjoyed our easy access to everything...I will also second the recommendation for Isle sur la Sorgue...the weekend flea market is fabulous and the town itself is quaint a friendly.

Arles makes a good home base, the town is smaller and hotels more affordable than Avignon. Avignon is another good choice if you want to be farther north in Provence or on the TGV line to Paris. Most travelers on this site rent a car to explore beyond Arles, Nimes, and Avignon.

We rented a small apartment outside of Aix en Provence. We rented a car at the Aix TGV station and did day trips for a week. We traveled from to St. Tropez, Marseille, Avignon and in between.

Ciel.. My husband and I are Driving to Provence after Paris. We always reant a car at Orly. It is very easy to hop on the A6 and drive to Burgundy and then down south. We are using Isle sur la Sorgue as a homebase for several reasons. 1) It is small and easy to drive in and out of 2) We arestaying at the hotel Nevons which is nice but not expensive and it has its own parking, and (3 it is close to the villages of the Luberon and the Cotes de Rhone. It also has a train station if we decide to train to the bigger towns and not drive.It has a famous food and flea and antique market on Sundays.

These replies all have good advice. A car will vastly extend your reach, and if you have one in addition to Arles or Avignon you can base yourself in any number of wonderful small towns.

The region is served by an international airport in Marseilles, so if it works for you, save some time by making that airport part of an open-jaws itinerary.

End of May is a great time to visit that part of France! Look for Transhumance festivals in some of the villages.

I second the car and St. Remy. A few other suggestions to visit - west of Pont du Gard is the midieval town of Uzes. South and west of Arles is the wild Carmague. East of Isle sur la Sourgue is the Fontaines de Vaucluse - very beautiful.

We stayed a week in Beaucaire, a nice town on the river and canal, south of Avignon. We rented an apartment for a week, but the Hotel Robinson looked nice. http://www.logis-de-france-gard.com/en/logis/11-le_robinson.htm You would probably need a car to tour this part of France. Do not miss Pont du Gard. If you find yourself in the Apt area, check out Pont Julien, a two thousand year old farm bridge out in the middle of nowhere (I like bridges). This is a great part of France to spent 5 days. Charlie Robinson, Lodi, CA

I would rent a car because it's much easier to move around. I would also take the side roads, instead of highways.
Visit a city called "Grimaud". It's the most beautiful small city I've ever been to.
You can check it out on line.

Thank you all for the wonderful ideas and suggestions. Looks like renting a car is the way to go.