We are planning a 5 night stay in Provence the in July. We were going to stay in Avignon, but realized there big festival is at the same time. We will have a car. I would like some suggestions of hotels possibly in Arles? Other suggestions for cities and hotels? Thank you!
Posted by
Tucson
4183 posts
Have you tried TripAdvisor to answer this question? Just look for hotels in Arles and click on the options to the left to refine your search. One of the options is "free parking." Take time to read the reviews and be sure to click on Nearby Cities in the left frame to start to explore them. You might also try this trick with Nimes to the west to get some options from the lovely Languedoc-Roussillon towns that are along the border with Provence. Interestingly, Nimes is a "nearby" city for Arles and vice versa. Have fun!
Posted by
Lake Oswego, Oregon
1329 posts
If you have a car, I'd stay outside of cities such as Avignon and Arles where parking will be a problem. Consider Carpentras (recommend Hotel Comtadin) or St Remy or Isle sur la Sorgue or one of the Luberon hill towns. Have you considered renting a house/apartment for your stay? You could check France Homestyle or VRBO or Gites de France. Some may allow stays of less than a week.
Posted by
99 posts
Hi Janet,
We stayed at the Regence Hotel in Arles last summer and I can highly recommend it as one of the best hotels of our 7 week trip. The owner is very friendly and Arles is a wonderful sleepy little town that made a great base for us. The hotel is on the river and super close (5 minutes) to the bus and train station which you may want to use instead of your car to travel to Avignon. We only rented a car for one day and used the public transportation the rest of the time. Enjoy your travels. Provence was very hot while we were there but we absolutely enjoyed the area.
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
If you have a car my favorite place is St. Remy. Close to everything and an easy and beautiful drive into the town. Arles was a bit difficult for me with a car... It is bigger and busier than St. Remy, so a different feel. St. Remy has a beautiful market, great shopping, restaurants and everything I want in a french village. But, no matter where you stay it is beautiful.
Posted by
Boston, MA, USA
250 posts
I have to second Brenda's recommendation for the Hotel Le Regence. We had a car all the time we were in Arles. The hotel is positioned just inside the city wall/gates on the north side by the river. Ample public parking was right on the outer side of the wall adjacent to the roundabout. So all we had to do was pull out, head north on Ave. de Stalingrad, and we were on the way to Avignon, St. Remy, Pont du Gard, Les Baux, etc. The hotel was great too.
Posted by
Lima, Perú
126 posts
My husband and I had a wonderful time in Arles. It's quite a romantic town; we loved walking around and our stay coincided with a market day. We stayed at http://www.hoteldumusee.fr. It's located in the heart of the historic district; we had a car, but walked everywhere. (The hotel owners will tell you where to park). The hotel is a former restored mansion and it houses an art gallery, which we enjoyed. The building dates back to the 16/17th century, and despite the building's age (a feature we appreciated), the facilities were excellent. We had comfortable beds; the bathroom was small, but very clean. Our room had a view to the street down below, and we could also see the Rhone (sideways view). We definitely appreciated that rooms were air-conditioned. It was very hot! The owners are welcoming; they speak perfect English, and I remember we had a nice breakfast on a lovely courtyard. The hotel owners also had great recommendations for dinner (we had excellent fish and food throughout our 1-week stay). Avignon was a relatively easy drive away and we also drove to Marseilles and Sisteron, a really charming pre-Roman town with a 13th-17th-century citadel.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA, USA
24 posts
Thank you to everyone that replied. I did check the Regence Hotel already and they were full. We had a number of people give great suggestions so I will follow-up in both Arles and St Remy.
Posted by
Overland Park, KS
102 posts
We stayed in both Avignon and Arles. We liked Arles better. If you are still looking there for a hotel, we stayed at the Hotel de la Muette. We had a nice room, good location. We had considered a couple of other hotels there and one of them was on a town square and we were very glad we didn't stay there because there was a bullfighting special weekend that weekend and that square was the party place and lots of activities and I think it would have been quite noisy if you wanted to go to sleep before the partying stopped for the night. So just something to keep in mind while searching for a hotel. ;)