six days in one place?

My husband and I are planning six days in Provence in October before taking the TGV from Avignon to Paris. We%26#39;re booked at

Bastide,d%26#39;Eygalieres in a small village south of St. Remy. Are we

centrally located enough to explore the Luberon villages, Aix, Sanary-sur- Mer, and the Pont du Gard as day trips from Eygalieres or should we stay further south for a few days, then move closer to

Avignon. Is Eygalieres perhaps too rural and small for evening strolls and dining. I know there is a fine bistrot there. Any suggestions are most welcome.

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The following is of course personal preference based upon many years of French travel. As a %26quot;general rule%26quot; I:

1. Stay in the same place as long as possible. I do not like continually packing and moving my base. The effort envolved in finding a list of hotels with availablity and moving about ultimately yields few if any rewards. Europeans are well known for spend their summer vacations in a Gite or rented cottage for a month. This is a concept with which I completely agree.

2. Rent a car, using it for travel and exploration from my main base(s). This concept does not preclude taking the TGV from Paris to and from my bases of exploration. Sometime we take the train one way and drive back to Paris for our return home.

3. Try to stay in a larger city with multiple restaurant possibilities. It is not that I dislike the smaller hotel restaurant establishments, quite the contary I search them out when applicable. My overwhelming concern is to avoid driving to a restaurant. The French laws about driving and drinking are very strict and it is best not done. The delimma is of course how can one dine without a glass or two of wine? My solution is to stay where there are a number of excellent eateries within walking distance of my hotel.

I recommend that for a six day visit, stay in no more than two seperate locations. One location is ok if you do not mind eating in a limited number of restaurants. Provence is not so large that one could not drive in a reasonable amount of time to any location there.

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Sarastro-Thank you for your response. I too prefer to stay in one place and may take your advice about a larger town. St. Remy is

close and was another option for us.

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Hello Lovetheisland, from a former Bay Stater now basking ( literally ) in the Texas summer heat ( but we do love it here! ).

Agree with Saratro%26#39;s comments in the most part. A car is, of course , a given. And the benefits of an extended stay in one, or at best two,locations cannot be exaggerated. We have made multiple trips over the years to Europe and France in particular, and what I call the %26quot; bag drags %26quot; are not what i would ever recommend ( tho we had our share early on.) So much time is wasted in checking out of one place and then diligently seeking the next, time that would be much better spent in more enjoyable pasttimes.

Provence can be relatively compact if you narrow the scope of your travels. We visited Provence last October and stayed in Les Baux for four nights ( at Mas d%26#39;L%26#39;Ouilivie--loved it, especially at off-season rates--no restaurant but we didn%26#39;t want one anyway--- we prefer to have our main meal midday and found having breakfast ( which they do serve )and then midday meal too much) .We did visit Eygalieres--it is a charming village, but it is small and a bit removed. It%26#39;s probably only 30 mins from Les Baux. Similarly, from Les Baux, St Remy is not much further and Arles under an hour. Fontvielle is maybe 10 mins with some fine restaurants ( had a truly excellent, %26quot;typically %26quot; French meal at a charming restaurant in a Logis de France hotel on the outskirts of town ) We had fun walking around Maussane-les-Alpilles in the evening. In short, Les Baux was a good location for branching out and exploring .St Remy may be comparable in qualities but can%26#39;t say because we didn%26#39;t stay there. But if your schedule permits, a visit to their Wed A.M. market is highly recommended

We then travelled to the Avignon area the next two nights and visited that city as well as Uzes ( another excellent marketplace there as well--on Sat, I believe).Can%26#39;t recommend a hotel tho, as ours was not up to our expectations. But the plan worked---unhurried pace, ample time to explore sites we wished to visit, and the ease of returning to a comfortable room ( in Les Baux at least ). It%26#39;s an beautiful area we thoroughly enjoyed as I%26#39;m sure you will as well. Hope this has been useful.

Happy Travels!!!

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Thanks so much for your reply, Bingville. We may consider relocating to a larger town although we do know that Eygaliere has a two Michelin star bistro that we hope to enjoy. We%26#39;ll post a trip report when we get home.

Best wishes from the Bay State.

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Hello again, Hingham:

. Just a couple of additional thoughts as I would presume you are interested in fine dining as evidenced by your mentioning the Bistrot D%26#39;Eygalieres. We did not dine in any Michelin-starred restaurants in Provence, but we did have two memorable dining experiences that we would put in the %26quot; gastronomique %26quot; category. One is east of Aix ( check out www.auberge-provencale,fr) and the other was west of Uzes ( www.l-olivier.fr ).Both were exceptional--equisite cuisine perfectly prepared and friendly, knowledgable service. If your travels do take you in the vicinity of either, i think you will be pleased with their offerings.

Additional note---October 2006 issue of Travel and Leisure magazine has article of interest on this area--you can access on internet.

Again, have a great trip!!!

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