I'll be travelling to Paris the first week of June and would like to take a trip down to Meyreuil, just outside of Aix en Provence. My grandparents were married there at the end of WWII and I'd like to see the church where they were married. Is it best to take a train to Marseilles or Aix en Provence and rent a car from either of these cities? We're planning on staying 2 nights in either M or Aix. Merci!
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Pensacola
9110 posts
The TGVs run to Aix in about three hours, about the same to Marseilles. With only two nights, I'd stay in Aix. Save Marseilles for when you have a week or so. Getting in and out of Marseilles with a car can be a bit hard due to traffic density, especially to the north. Hoping you've settled on Aix, here's one thing you've got to do or you'll go nuts: Using google maps, zoom in real close on Aix with the natural history museum in the middle of the display and the first batch of yellow roads at the edge. Notice that these yellow roads all have different names, but form a beltway around the historic center (proabably where your hotel will be, where a really great market is, etc). This 'beltway' is one-way counterclockwise. Most of the roads inside the ring are one-way as well. Be warned, make a plan, turn off the gps. A pretty good hotel is the Cardinal on the street of the same name just south of the Cours Mirabeau main drag. It's fairly easy to hit from the damned mini-beltway. It'll stiff you about a hundred bucks a night. TripAdvisor doesn't like it, probably because it's old. I've stayed there off and on for years - - I'm old - - we're a match. Neither of us has any plastic, we both have a lot of charm If you're trying to save a buck, there's a couple of ETAPs on the freeway a couple of miles east of Meyreuil. They'll run sixty bucks or so and have zip for ambiance, but they're clean. I've stayed in neither, but use the chain all the time on solo trips. My wife doesn't care for them that much.