A trip to Provence

[Berin]

Mrs Berin and I find we have never really been to Provence, except as a coincidence en-route elsewhere, and so we've decided to take a nice car down next year, departing Portsmouth for St Malo on the 4th July, and returning back on the 11th.

We'll do limited motorways, one overnight stop on the way down, and one on the way back, and the main objective is, apparently, lavender.

So what advice do the Francophiles have? Is is best to stay in one place and do day trips, or do a couple of days here and there? What are the recommendations for places to stay, and towns, restaurants, balcony roads, gorges or whatever to see. And of course, some lavender.

 

[glenn2926]

We have stayed in Buis-les-Barronies a couple of times. Once on the municipal campsite in the motorhome and once in a rather faded glory air b&b on a bike trip. Lovely village with a few decent restaurants. There is via ferrata nearby and we had a ride up mont Ventoux. Quite surreal as there’s no vegetation around the summit area. There are loads of cyclists around there but they’re much better than U.K. cyclists as they tend to ride single file so other traffic can get passed. I think it’s a bit of a rite of passage for cyclists.

 

[Wapping]

Provence is a huge area, stretching from the sea at Nice / Marseille / (near enough) Montpellier, up past Mont Ventoux, right to Grenoble.



The heart of Provence, with all the attractive villages, is centred on the Luberon.

Now to the dull detail:

You arrive in St Malo on the 5th (?)

One overnight stop, to arrive in Provence on the afternoon / evening of the 6th (?)

You have an overnight stop on the way back on the 10th (?)

You return to UK on the 11th (?)

Three days in Provence. Is that correct?

 

[wessie]

Avignon is a very pleasant city to use as a base. Things to see on foot and in range of other places nearby. I did a trip to Mont Ventoux and it certainly lived up to its name on the April trip. Northern side still iced up so had to go up and down the south side.
The main lavender area in the Luberon is nearby.
I used a cheap hotel where I had to park on the street inside the walled city. Some years ago and I would choose something more salubrious now.

 

[Wapping]

My parents lived in the Luberon (close to Apt) for 25 years, so I was a regular visitor there, I would guess over all the months, one way or another.

If going to the sea (and you don’t want Nice / Monaco) I’d head to the coast a bit west of Marseille, in the Camargue. You’ll not meet too many English there. There’s a very nice beach at Ste Maries de la Mer.

 

[glenn2926]

If as has been mentioned you would like a few days on the coast I can recommend La Grande Motte. Popular with the French and very few Brits. Distinctive architecture and a nice marina to sit by watching the boats arriving, departing over a beer or two.

 

[John Armstrong]

I'm a fan of the Alpes de Haute Provence. In this area the places I'd stop at would be Sisteron, Barcelonnette and Briancon. Orange is a quiet lovely little town without quite as many crowds as Avignon. Menton on the coast is lovely. Moustier St Marie is convenient for the Gorges de Verdon, and is surrounded by lavender fields.

Maybe stop in Limoges and then head cross country?

 

[wilbjr21]

A must visit is the beautiful hilltop village of Gorde - the base for the film "A Good Year"

The restaurant featured in the film is there and the Chateau is in the vicinity.

You can buy a bottle of the CP (Coin Perdu) at the winery on the estate but the chateau itself (featured in the film) is private and behind a wall/hedge.

 

[leadfarmer]

A must visit is the beautiful hilltop village of Gorde

If you’re going to Gordes, pop across to Roussillon just next door and visit the ocre cliffs

 

[Wapping]

I remember the village before it got a huge makeover, funded by the makers of a ‘A year in Provence’, even though the author of the book never lived there.

Hard to imagine that a huge fire swept across the area.

 

[Wapping]

Whilst we wait to have it confirmed how long (how many days) are available to spend in Provence.

1. There are lots of GPX files and / or trip reports on Provence.

2. A Google of ‘10 best things to do and see in Provence’ and ‘Best towns and villages in Provence’, will turn up all the places. Yes, there will be repeats in them. But, somewhere appearing more than once is a sure indicator that it’s ‘nice’. Have in mind though, that you’ll not be the only tourist, visiting ‘nice’ places. I mention this, only as bods often say: “I want to avoid tourists”, sounding more and more like Greta Garbo each day. The small village of Roussillon is an example. 30 years ago, there was one small car park in the middle, a couple of very basic bars and one reasonably upmarket restaurant. Such was the popularity and impact of ‘A year in Provence’ (and the rise of the internet) that there are now two more car parks, one of which is a walk into the village. The place can now be heaving in summer.

3. Do have in mind that (even by not avoiding motorways) it’s a long way from, say Mont Ventoux to the coast at Nice or Marseille. And it’s an equally long way back at the end of the day.

 

[er-minio]

pop across to Roussillon just next door and visit the ocre cliffs

I think that is a given

I was dragged there by the lady in charge at the time. It’s very pretty.

There is a beautiful (fairly fast) road that goes around the area and next to mount ventoux.

I have a few GPX tracks of the routes I did over there over the years. I can fish them out and post later.

There should be a post about it (at least about the gorges a bit more east) somewhere, but let me fetch the data again.

I also have a route all the way south (but goes a bit more towards leadfarmer’s direction I think) that I took with the car a couple of years ago on my way to Italy. Car was brand new and had a nice break in across France and intentionally avoided motorways as much as possible for that very reason.

Let me get Basecamp

 

[er-minio]

Here. The "loop" area on the left (where the straight line is, bottom part) is the D94 that is the road that I mentioned before, goes by the Ventoux.
This also extends the wat to the Mercantour park, D28 (the bit I think I posted in another thread).



D94 sample:

D28 (more east)

But this covers just part of north and eastern section.
There is a couple of nicer bits and a couple of towns we visited before (but do not have GPS tracks of those, have to ask the names) bit more south, between Roussillon and Aix. All part of the "must see" lavender bits.

On the way down, since it is a route I do often (screenshot is from the car trip mentioned above), the direct way goes roughly alonside the usual Troyes, Dijon, Lyon directive, but it's a lot of French D roads (just a few bits of motorways) and it's enjoyable both by car and motorbike. 1 day stop from London.



Nice option is to go towards Nancy from the UK and then come south from that direction, a lot of interesting riding/driving, but will definitely take more than one day.

 

[er-minio]

The other place I mentioned is (I am told) Les Baux-de-Provence. From Dante's writing

 

[Lord Snooty]

Make sure you visit the spectacular Gorge du Verdon, the French Grand Canyon

 

[Wapping]

Or maybe easier, the vey impressive Nesque gorge….

 

[gerarddwatts]

We stayed at Greoux-les-bains, which was a good centre for the area...too long ago to suggest hotels.
Need to watch the lavender fields...wizzed past lots on the way to sights such as Verdon, and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie(worth a visit), and went back a couple of days later to get photys and they'd harvested the lot!
Lots of oriental birds in wedding dresses getting photys in the one last field we eventually found.
Look at 'Lavender Harvest Provence' in google and you'll know as much as I do!
Lovely part of the world whatever.

 

[Redboots]

Make sure you visit the spectacular Gorge du Verdon, the French Grand Canyon

Or the lesser known Gorges du Daluis

 

[Guru Gora]

RDC and surrounding lakes

 

[Berin]

Provence is a huge area, stretching from the sea at Nice / Marseille / (near enough) Montpellier, up past Mont Ventoux, right to Grenoble.

View attachment 463735

The heart of Provence, with all the attractive villages, is centred on the Luberon.

Now to the dull detail:

You arrive in St Malo on the 5th (?)

One overnight stop, to arrive in Provence on the afternoon / evening of the 6th (?)

You have an overnight stop on the way back on the 10th (?)

You return to UK on the 11th (?)

Three days in Provence. Is that correct?

Hmm. When you put it like that, it's not as long as I'd thought, so I made some amendments!

Leave UK Friday 3rd Evening, arrive St Malo 8am Sat 4th.
Overnight stop on the 4th, so arrive in Provence on the 5th, afternoon/evening

Leave St Malo on the 12th at 10.30, so stay somewhere near St Malo on evening of 11th
one overnight stop on 10th, so leaving Provence on the 10th.

Which leaves, I think, 6th-9th, 4 full days, in Provence.