We (couple, early 60s) just got back from 8 nights in Provence. We had a great time and hope this trip report helps someone- when i was researching i didn't find that many trip reports from the area we stayed in so hopefully this can be a resource for someone!
I had a very hard time picking our destination village and decided to split the difference- we stayed the first 4 nights in Bonnieux in the Luberon, and the next 4 nights in St. Remy
We had roundtrip tickets from SF to London which we booked with miles - after that we decided to add on France, so we decided to make a 2 night stop at the beginning of the trip to visit London and recover from jet lag. We took the tube to Liverpool Street Station where our hotel was located (booked a Hyatt on points). It was interesting staying in this area - new to me- because it was full of regular people going to and from work as it's in the financial/business district. Lots of great people watching. We had a great meal one night at a restaurant called the Humble Grape. It's a tiny wine bar/restaurant with small/large plates and very friendly service.
After our 2 night stay, we were back out to Heathrow to get a plane to Marseilles, where we were picking up a rental car for the week.
I waffled over what car rental company to use, as most of them at the Marseilles airport had terrible reviews, and lots of mentions of charges added after returning the car for dings that weren't there, etc. This was stressing me out, so in the end i went with SIXT, which had the best reviews by far, though they were not the cheapest. For me it was better to have the peace of mind. And we had good service and no issues with the pickup or return!
The last time we rented a car was in Scotland, so it was so easy driving on the familiar side of the road! we were happy we got the smallest size car (with auto transmission) because driving in the Luberon towns often required squeezing through very narrow spaces with not much clearance.
Bonnieux: we stayed at the Clos du Buis, a hotel in town which had rooms and studios. we booked somewhat late, so we got the Studio Leonie, which was across the street from the hotel with its own entrance, full kitchen and separate sleeping area with a cute little balcony with a view. Breakfast was an addition 15 euro, and we did that 2 of the 4 mornings. the breakfast room had an amazing view of the hillside/valley. Bonnieux is very vertical (which is why it has such great views) so be prepared for some climbing if you want to see the whole town! Restaurants we enjoyed were Bistro Francis, La Flambee for wood fired pizza, and a restaurant called Le Kosy for great views and excellent food. We had no bad food in Bonnieux! (There is also a Michelin star restaurant called JU which looked fancy but we didn't go). We made reservations everywhere we ate -either online or by stopping by the day before or the day of - the first night we saw people being turned away without reservations even though there were several tables open.
We decided that they must be holding that table for a later party, or that they just know they can only service a certain number of customers at a time? Anyway, after that first night, we made sure to reserve everywhere. Especially if you want a special table like outdoors,etc.
Bonnieux has a very cute market on Thursdays. The other days we drove around to the neighboring towns, Menerbes, Rousillon, and Isle Sur La Sorgue among others.
My favorites were Rousillon and Isle Sur La Sorgue. Rousillon has the beautiful ochre colored buildings as well as their cliffs. It was busier and more touristy than Bonnieux, so i could see it might be tough to walk around in high summer. Very pretty though with a lot of cute shops. Parking is always an adventure in the Luberon towns because it can be limited. We could see that in summer it would be necessary to get out early!