Which French Hilltop Villages?

You don't say how much time you'll have - or if you'll have a car. If time is not an issue, I'd certainly visit them all. Uzes is wonderful, although it's not a hilltop village. It's close to Pont du Gard.

Look into Les Baux, as well and St. Remy nearby.

For those destinations around Nice that you listed, you'll want a car. Not for getting around Nice, however. Re Eze, you want Eze-le-Village on the Middle Corniche, not the coastal Eze (two different places).

Thanks for the replies. We will visit Villefranche sur Mer, Cap Ferrat and Eze-le-Village by bus from Nimes. Monaco possibly by train. Is Menton worth the time to take a peek? We plan to rent a car when we leave NIce, but we could get it a day sooner for the trip to Vence and St. Paul de Vence. I understand that the countryside around these two towns is worth seeing. With a car, we could spend the night in the area. We plan to stay four days in Nice (part of this is for business), one night in Cassis (boat to Calanques), one day and night in Aix, one day and night in Arles, and three days and nights in Avignon. We will have a car and plan to stop in Uzes on the drive from Arles to Avignon. And we will have a car when we visit Roussillon and Gordes on a day trip from Avignon.

Avignon and Arles are so close that I would choose just one - I think Arles has more character. I would cut a day off and use it for one of the other one-night stops that you have planned. I second Doug's suggestion of Les Baux. We were there at the end of the day and had it all to ourselves. Try to time some of your days to coincide with market days. You can find schedules by googling 'market days in provence.' It's a great way to start out your day and shop for picnics; we found beautiful places to picnic on our drives. You'll have a great trip!