Please comment on my itinerary

Hi all,

My husband and I will be starting our journey from Nice near end April, spend 3 days there before driving down to Provence. We will spend 3 nights in Provence. After researching on the forum and other websites, I have come out with a rough itinerary but I am still not very sure if it is too ambitious (still trying the gauge the distance between the villages) or if it will work out and hope my fellow forummers can help to comment on it.

Day 1: 26 April (Sat)

- Depart Nice in the morning and drive towards our B%26amp;B at Cheval Blanc.

- Arrive Aix-en-provence for lunch and see Cours Mirabeau (Not sure if i should skip this)

- Check in at B%26amp;B at Cheval Blanc before touring Avignon, Pont du Gard. After that head toward Chateauneuf du Pape, visit a vineyard or head to the wine cave in town.

Day 2: 27 April (Sun)

- L’Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue for Sunday Market

- Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Saumane-de-Vaucluse, Gordes, Abbaye de Senange

- Roussillon and Ocre cliff

Day 3: 28 April (Mon)

- Visit the Luberon villages of Gordes, Lourmarin, Bonnieux, Lacoste, Ménerbes, Robion, Saignon and Cavaillon.

I will appreciate any suggestion or changes to the itinerary, i.e. anything in addition i should see, anything i should skip? We are not so much museum people, but just like to visit the villages and take in the beauty of the place and abit of shopping. I am also hoping to visit st-remy but not sure where i can fit this in..probably the 3rd day?

Thanks!

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Chateauneuf de Pape is quite a drive from the Pont du Gard. Not sure you%26#39;d want to take that on after your drive from Nice. I would do a %26quot;mappy.com%26quot; search to see what the miles/kilometers would be between Pont du Gard %26amp; Chateauneuf. You could visit St. Remy instead and stay in that area.

If you have lunch ON the Cours Mirabeau, you%26#39;ll have done those two things.

The L%26#39;Isle sur la Sorgue is FABULOUS, so don%26#39;t miss that!

The lavender will not be in bloom at the Abbaye de Senanque. If that%26#39;s what you were going there for, you could skip the Abbaye.

Monday is a very full day!! If I had to skip one, I%26#39;d drop Cavaillon. That%26#39;s just a big city. I would start in Lourmarin and work my way up through Bonnieux and then on to the others. You could print out %26quot;mappy%26quot; routes from each village to another and see how far apart they are.

You%26#39;ve got Gordes on for two days. So if you drop Gordes from your third day, that will give you more time in each village. I%26#39;ve not been to Robion so I don%26#39;t know where it is in relation to the others. I%26#39;ve also not been to Saignon. I believe that%26#39;s more north and east of where you will be, but not sure of the travel time.

Enjoy!

joy/luvparee

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Hi Joy,

I will be staying around cheval blanc, so do u think i should go st remy instead of Chateauneuf de Pape

Thanks, think i will give the Abbaye a miss.

Oh yes, noticed that gordes is replicated. if i can cover gordes on sunday then i need not go there on Monday

I actually thought the Monday%26#39;s itinearary is pretty short as i supposed the villages are close by and I thought there%26#39;s not so much to see

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To help you plan your trip times, check out www.mappy.com. I have found the times given for travel to be extremely accurate and it really helps me plan what is reasonable to do in the time I have.

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Try to get to l%26#39;Isle by 8am Sunday as the roads out of town get parked up a long way out and you%26#39;ll have to walk a long way. I stayed there in April too, when I was there, you wouldn%26#39;t have thought it was out of season.

When you do the Luberon try to get to Apt, I really liked it, it%26#39;s very untouristy and quiet and there was a great restaurant there with laundry hanging in the window that I can never remember the name of.

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Apt has a weekly market that is really good. Shop with the locals and find really interesting things. I can%26#39;t remember which day of the week it is, but you can easily find out. Most of the towns in the area have a weekly market and it is always fun to visit them. We used to pick up a roasted chicken and vegetables, some cheese and fruit and, voila!, lunch!

I bought my provencal linens at the local markets. Don%26#39;t miss at least one of these in one of the towns you visit. These are not the same as the L%26#39;Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue Sunday market.

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Personally I would spend all 6 nights in Provence and forget about the Cote d%26#39;Azur - but to each his own.

The Markets are really a wonderful representation of Provence and you might want to consider doing at least two or three during your stay since each one is different and representative of the specific locales. Also, think in terms of doing a Market in the morning, doing lunch locally and then visiting a nearby historical site or vinyard ... on the way back to wherever you are staying.

Markets worth visiting are :

Sunday - Isle-sur-la-Sorgueue

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Personally I would spend all 6 nights in Provence and forget about the Cote d%26#39;Azur - but to each his own.

The Markets are really a wonderful representation of Provence and you might want to consider doing at least two or three during your stay since each one is different and representative of the specific locales. Also, think in terms of doing a Market in the morning, doing lunch locally and then visiting a nearby historical site or vinyard ... on the way back to wherever you are staying.

Some markets worth visiting are :

Sunday - Isle-sur-la-Sorgueue (great Mkt. and fab

antiques Mkt too)

Tuesday - Vaison-la-Romaine (fabulous Roman ruins)

and a good starting place for visiting

the Cotes du Rhone vinyards and viewing

the Dentelles de Montmirail

Wednesday - St. Remy (big in town mkt. with lots

of provencal specialties including

some nice antiques, esp textiles).

Good restaurants and neardy ruins too

Thursday - Nyons (Large local mkt with loads of

local products including local honey,

olive oil, and olive wood bowls etc.)

The drive to Nyson will give you a

wonderful feel for the various types

of Provencal landscapes.

Saturday - Arles or Apt (either one is a great

Provencal experience and each has its

+++) Arles has a substantial flea mkt

and loads of wonderful cafes where you

can do lunch before visiting some of

Roman ruins etc. Apt is a wonderful

jumping off spot for spending the

afternoon exploring the Luberon

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Hi,

thanks for the great advice!

I will be driving down to Provence on Saturday morning, will the saturday market at Arles or Apt be closed by the time i get there?

Thanks for the tips on Apt, will try to visit it. Anyway, was just wondering about the flow of the places to visit..is it ok?

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I will be there from Sat and leave on Tues, will try to see if there%26#39;s any market to visit on Monday..but they are likely to be closed on Monday?

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Sorry to have to tell you that you will entirely miss both Saturday Markets since virtually all Mkts. throughout the South of France are morning events and they all begin the breakdown process between noon and 12:30 PM.

Depending upon your arrival time, how long it takes you to get your car, and the route that you take out of Nice you might be able to check out the Satruday Market in St. Tropez and then head up to Aix bu even if you don%26#39;t try to do St. Tropez it seems to me that you are trying to do WAY too much on your first day in Western Provence. You should take a good look at your maps as doing so will give you a good idea of the distances. Folks keep suggesting using Mappy to plot out routes and driving time so you might want to take a look at that site too. Personally, I love wondering around the countryside on the smaller roads through the smaller towns and villages and just getting a feel for the place - but I am not under the type of time constraints that you seem to have for this trip.

Hope this is helpful