surrounding cities & villages from avignon fr

Are you driving?

I would look at some guide books. There are SO many places to potentially visit in the area of Avignon, and it really depends on your priorities and taste in activities, and whether you are relying on public transport or driving, and if driving, how far is too far to drive (would an hour away from Avignon be too far, for example?)

RS' guidebooks are very clear. He selects and highlights, so you're not reading a dissertation with every possible thing. Then you can fill in missing info with other guidebooks and by coming here....

edited to add: Isle sur la Sorgue, Rousignon, Viason Romaine, Arles, Fontaine de Vaucluse ...

We didn't have a car when we stayed in Avignon in 2014. We used Provence Panorama for a couple of day trips. I don't think you can go wrong with anywhere in Provence, but I especially loved Les Baux and Roussillon. If you're into Roman ruins, don't miss Orange, or the Pont du Gard.

http://www.provence-panorama.com/en/tours-reguliers.html

Pont du Gard, Les Baux and St. Remy (Combine for one day) Do not miss the show in the quarry in Les Baux, or the olive trees of the St. Remy abbey.. Gordes and Roussillon ( Combine for one day)
If you have a car and are "into" the Tour de France... take a drive to Mt. Ventoux, stop in Bedoin (on market day. buy some picnic lunch and drive up to the top of Mt. Ventoux) it is unlike anything you'll see in Provence.

Oh, if you are not staying in Arles... then this is an absolute MUST! If possibly take in the bull running ... not bull fighting, but young local guys run after a ribbon on the bull to try to grab it. Very exciting.
We stayed outside of Roussillon last June. I could spend an entire summer in the area.

I'll add to the Roussillon chorus. Also enjoyed Les Baux (with a stop at Glanum if ruins are your thing). Pont du Gard. Arles. Nimes. Aix.

To clarify - we had a car, and we stayed in Salon en Provence for 4 nights.

Orange, nice Roman ampitheatre that still functions, with an opera festival in the summer. Near enough to Chateauneuf du Pape, although there's not much of the building left but the brand's still potent for wine-drinkers. Went to both on a bus day-tour.

Many thanks to you all! I'm writing down all your suggestions and putting them into my plan. We will be going in Oct of this year and will not have a car so
taking tours will do it. Has anyone ever hired a driver. And. please, if there are any other recollections, let me know.

Some of the places mentioned can be reached easily by train or bus, so you do not need to incur the expense of a private driver or the somewhat lesser expense plus lack of flexibility of a bus tour. Some of those places will, indeed, require other than public transportation, especially in October. I highly recommend Rick's Southern France guide book (possibly not the exact title) for its valuable information not only on what to see but also on how to move around the area.

We used Provence Panorama the first time we went, as we didn't have a car that time.

I was not overly pleased, but I would give them a go again if we ever wanted another tour. Why was I not pleased? The guy who usually did the tour was sick (to Pont du Grad, Uzes and Arles). The other guy was about 15 min late. Fine, ok. Did the Pont. Fine. We only had about 45 min in Uzes...he had trouble with the parking and parked in a no parking zone and was told he had to move it (while he was trying to tell us about what we could see in our scant 45 min). Then...to Arles where we were supposed to have a tour of the arena. It was early Oct, and apparently no one informed the driver that the arena last entry time changed at the start of Oct. We arrived 10 min after final entry...had he known or checked beforehand, he would have know to take us there instead of Maison Carree (spelling) first. So Arles was a wash.

I would def look at a longer or more in depth tour with them. Maybe one that went to a few spots over a longer day (I think ours was those 3 places over 6 hrs or so, which was not enough time to see much).