Traveling in Provence and French Riviera

You will almost certainly want a car for day trips around Provence. However, for certain trips like to Monaco, a car drive will be long and parking is super expensive. Monaco is definitely a walkable place, so train would be a good alternative.

We rented a car at the Aix en Provence TGV rail station on arrival and dropped it back there when we left.

I agree with Eric. There are lots of places to visit in Provence that would require a car. We rented at the TGV in Avignon; made the arrangement through (I think it was gemut.com, a broker) Eurocar. Worked great, mostly manual drives though.

In Provence it is very difficult if not impossible to get to the villages without a car-train services between the bigger towns like Aix, Avignon and Arles is possible.
We took the train from Aix to Nice-short and easy...
From Nice we took local buses to all the local villages-very easy and cheap.
Happy Travels

I certainly agree you're best off with a car for visiting the villages and countryside in Provence.

While you could easily get by on the coast using public transport (especially if you are staying in Nice), you may want to consider dropping your rental car off on the coast. this way you can take some of the pretty back roads from Provence - maybe through the Gorge du Verdon if you are so inclined.

You can almost universally pick up a rental car anywhere in France and drop it off anywhere else without any extra charge. So by dropping it off in Nice, you get the advantage of an extra day's flexibility that a car affords.

Brenda We(husband & I) are also traveling to Provence and French Riviera at the same time as you. We will rent a car in Avignon from the train station(after a few days in the Loire) for our 8 day stay (staying in St Remy)so as to see all the wonderful villages I've been reading about for months now.It is best to have a car for this portion of your trip. I had thought of returning the car before taking a train to Nice as we don't want to be burdened with a car in the Riviera but we might keep it to get to Nice and drop it off there. I think the Riviera is quite doable by bus and/or train.

Thanks to all who responded. Your advice has helped a great deal.

Last yr we drove thru French Riveria the corniches and Provence with a economy car it was perfect. No issues with driving but prefer not to rent from Europcar, upon return at CDG airport it was very difficult to find a rep to turn car into. It took over an hr to get a receipt for a return car. Very poor customer service.

I have a similar question: we will have a rental car in Nice for a week with free parking in our apt's building. Is parking in the city of Nice a problem? We can use public transport but also want to know about the parking thing.

Rebecca: Do I correctly understand that you have free parking in your Nice apartment building? If you do, leave the car there, you won't want to use a car for getting around Nice, way more trouble than it's worth. And you also won't want to use the car to get to any of the major destinations that are on the coast and linked efficiently to Nice by rail, such as Monaco, etc. The only time you would even think about using the rental car is if you wanted to drive up onto the Middle or Upper to Eze-le-Village or to St Paul or some town not linked to Nice by rail.

Last summer I traveled in the same area for a week with an automobile before meeting a group for more travel. I highly recommend the car if you want to see the area. There is much more than you will see by the train, although the train is good also. Vaison La Romaine has a Tuesday market which is the oldest in the area - from the 1500's - stay in the citie medevial if you are there. The train station in Nice is central for the acquisition or disposition of your vehicle. Traffic in Nice is a problem! It took me almost two hours to get two blocks at rush hour - construction, detours, one way traffic, etc. I would not take the car to Monaco, however, for the reasons posted earlier here.
Have a great trip!!

Forgot -

Check out www.mappy.com for your travel...excellent site!

When you get to Nice, you can go to the TI to see what sort of excursions are available. There are half and full day minivan tours to Monaco, etc. Ashley

Hi Brenda,

My husband and I spent a week in the Riviera 2 years ago based in St. Tropez. We were glad we had a car. Driving along the coast is a wonderful experience, as well as the cornishes, and to and from the many towns in the countryside. We did not have any trouble finding parking and we made the trip from St. Tropez to Monaco twice during our visit. The only truly frustrating driving experience was in Nice - very little signage and impatient, aggressive drivers as we attempted to navigate to the freeway north of town from the coast during rush hour. But we would have missed much if we had relied on public transportation options. Have a great trip.

We rented a car at the TGV train station outside the city centre in Avignon. We returned our car (Hertz) to the main train station in Nice. It appeared all the car rental companies had offices there. One word of caution when driving on the main highway from Provence to Nice, make sure you get the right exit into Nice. I would say it is probably an exit that indicates city centre. I was looking for a sign for the train station and went past Nice, had to circle back, and had a really hard time finding the station winding back through the city, it is large. Part of the reason is the names of the train station on auto rental websites isn't the same as the name of station on city signs. I'm sorry this is vague, but I do remember the train station in Nice starts with TH, perhaps someone else can fill in the blanks. By all means drive to Nice if it isn't going to cost you an extra days car rental. The train from Avignon to Nice wasn't cheap as I recall. Several years ago we made this drive, and had no problems, just missed the exit this year. Don't want to scare you off, it is very doable.

Hi Brenda.. My husband and I are photographers and we have done this trip and will be doing it again at the same time you are this Fall. We stay in Paris and then go to Orly Airport and rent a Hertz car.Orly is south of Paris and it is very easy to get on the A6 auto route. It goes straight down to Provence. We lik e to stop in Burgundy on the way down and this year will be stopping also in the Bougelais- sorry, spelled wrong-region and then down to Isle-sur-la Sorgue. This is a very nice place to stay because it is close to the Luberon villages and the Cotes de Rhone villages.We are also going to the Var wnich is between Provence and the Riviera.Then we are going back to Paris and staying some time and then flying home. Last year we rented a Prius and it really saved on gas. Let me know if you want some great places to stay.