I will be in France in September. I want to stay in Provence for 7 Nights give or take. A few nights in Nice/Cannes/Monaco haven%26#39;t deciced really. I want to visit the %26quot;Palais des Papes%26quot;, maybe check out Chateauneuf-du-Pape if open to the public. I was thinking 3 Nights in Avignon, is that to many? Should I put all my time in just staying in Nice and taking a Day Trip out to see %26quot;Palais des Papes%26quot; and other sites of interest. First time to France.
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A day trip from Nice to Avignon for sightseeing wouldn%26#39;t give you much time, as the train or car trip takes about 2 hours each way. So best to stay at least a night in Avignon to see the principal sights.
As for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, do you mean the town and wine region or the ruined fortress? If the latter, the nearby Fort St-André is much more interesting.
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%26lt;%26lt;staying in Nice and taking a Day Trip out to see %26quot;Palais des Papes%26quot; %26gt;%26gt;
You may want to stick with staying in Avignon for 3 nights. As a day trip from Nice, plan on almost 3 hours (2+40 nonstop) each direction by car and to make it that fast you%26#39;ll incur toll charges of over 20€ in each direction.
By train, it%26#39;s over 3 hours from city center to city center in each direction (depending upon the train from 3+14 to 3+38). Due to the condition of the tracts, the TGVs do not travel this route at full speed.
As this is your first time to France I recommend you either purchase a couple guide books or check at your library for information which might help you plan a practical itinerary.
If I had a month in France (and I do so at least once a year) I%26#39;d rent a car and travel at a leisurely pace in what ever direction seemed suitable at the moment. Of course a bit of planning will insure important sights are not inadvertently missed what you might want to avoid is hopscotching around with only a loose idea of places to visit.
Doing a forum search using the terms %26quot;travel guides, France%26quot; should yield many excellent suggestions.
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Hi Kprunella, if you want to see both Avignon and the Nice area you%26#39;d be best to split your stay between the two, as others have said they are a long way apart. Provence is a big place and Nice and Avignon are more or less at opposite ends of it. I don%26#39;t know if you are planning to be back in Provence again soon, but if you are you might decide to stay in one place, and save the other for another time. Chateauneuf du Pape would be a great place to visit in September because as a wine village it will be very busy at that time of year.
Let us know if you need more help, it%26#39;s always a bit mind-boggling planning a holiday to a place you%26#39;ve never been before!
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I%26#39;ve been to the area a number of times and there are many places to see within a sort car journey of Avignon. Avignon itself is a number of interestesting historic features including the Palais des Papes, you also have Orange, Nimes, Uzes, Arles and the Roman aquaduct at Pont Du Gard. This assumes that you will be hiring a car.
When you mention Chateauneuf-du-Pape being open to the public, I suspect you mean the vineyards rather than the town. If this is the case then the area that you will be in is surrounded by many vineyards and at present I am also looking at a vineyard tour, so if I find somethingI%26#39;ll pass it on.
I suggest getting a guide book such as michellin. It will certinly aid you exploration, but generally speaking you%26#39;ve picked a good area for your first visit.
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Tallpiq, I see you are looking for a wine trip. We did Avignon Wine Tours with Francois Marcou in March 09. I reviewed it here. We did tour #2 but he has 6 and I think one of them is to Chateauneuf-de-pape. You might want to check him out and the reviews. The web is www.avignon-wine-tour.com.
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Hi kprunella,
Since you only have %26quot;7 nights, give or take%26quot; for all of Provence I hope that you will look upon this as your first visit to the region rather than your one and only trip. I also hope that you will have a car for your entire stay, since your access to important sites, if you have to rely upon public transportation (bus/train), will be really limited.
That having been said, you seem to be more interested in checking out areas in Western Provence as opposed to those areas in the area more frequently referrad to as the Riviera/ Cote d%26#39;Azur.
Accordingly, I suggest that you establish a base in Western Provence. Naturally, since I%26#39;m an AlpillesGal, I am going to suggest that you base yourself in or near St. Remy or one of the nearby towns situated amongst the gorgeous limestone hills known as %26quot;Les Alpilles%26quot; - these include towns/villages such as Maussane, Les Baux, or Paradou. All of these places are well situated for doing day-trips to Avignon, where you can visit the Palais du Papes and the other important sites in Avignon. Basing yourself in this area will also provide you with a more %26quot;Provrncal%26quot; feeling to your trip.
Please be assured than it is not that I don%26#39;t like Nice and the area that is generally referred to as the Riviera/Cote d%26#39;Azur, but I do know that the concept of a %26quot;day-trip%26quot; to Avignon from theat area is not a good idea especially since the areas in Western Provence that you are interested in checking out (Avignon and Chateau neuf du Pape) are at least a 2.5 - 3.0 hour drive from Nice and you will end up spending a rediculously long time just getting to them.
AlpillesGal
PS - Hope you make the right choice, since we think that September is a perfect time to enjoy Provence, and we want you to enjoy all of the bestas we will begin to do in another 153 days.
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Thank you. I%26#39;ll follow up your suggestion.
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Three nights is not too many. I stayed over two weeks across the bridge in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon
and spent alot of time in Avignon. I walked across the bridge or took the bus and sometimes the boat. I loved it!
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