Which base in Provence?

[Harleyboy]

Hello everyone,

Looking for some input please? Quite keen to take a villa in Provence in September but I’m struggling to home in on a location. My wife and I would take a couple of days to drive down and invite grown up kids and partners to join for the villa week.

It would be nice to be able to walk to a restaurant but not crucial as we’ll mostly be feasting/bbq etc at the villa. A couple of day trips out to towns/markets etc would be good but the villa bit is for relaxation/pool/family time and the culture bit will be (possibly) covered by what we do on way down and then back home (possible into the Alps)

Lots of guides point to the Luberon and so had thought of Gordes as a place to be near. Perhaps it doesn’t really matter based on what we want to do?

Anyway, any guidance would be welcomed.

Thanks

[Doofus]

We're fond of Avignon

[Boxster5]

St Remy de Provence (just South of Avignon) is pretty good - plenty of places to visit from there plus there’s a good market.
We’re in Provence (as well as Languedoc) next September and have based ourselves in Salon de Provence - never been but looks decent with plenty of places to visit too.

[towser44]

We stayed at a villa in Saint-Romain-en-Viennois, which is a couple of miles from Vaison La Romaine last year for a week in August. Thought Vaison was absolutely lovely. Nicely placed for Mont Ventoux which I cycled up one day too.

Travelled down from Cheshire with a child and dog in tow and stayed in Tours and Lyon on the way down, so 2 days travelling and then Reims on the way back.

[Harleyboy]

Thanks folks, will check these places out.

Am partial to a bit of cycling myself so Mont Ventoux could be an interesting excursion to add in. I’d need to rent a bike though…

[littleredrooster]

Doofus said:

We're fond of Avignon

Seconded. We too love the place.

[Stella Tortoise]

We aways enjoy Loumarin.

Edited by Stella Tortoise on Monday 6th January 13:55

Edited by Stella Tortoise on Monday 6th January 13:56

[TeeRev]

Le Isle sur la Sorgue is a lovely town with a river running through it, lots of character and full of antique shops and nice restaurants.

[Huntsman]

Stella Tortoise said:

We always enjoy Lourmarin.

Loumarin is delightful.

[Boxster5]

TeeRev said:

Le Isle sur la Sorgue is a lovely town with a river running through it, lots of character and full of antique shops and nice restaurants.

Yes we’ve been there - agree it’s a lovely town!

[DeuceDeuce]

Harleyboy said:

Hello everyone,

Looking for some input please? Quite keen to take a villa in Provence in September but I’m struggling to home in on a location. My wife and I would take a couple of days to drive down and invite grown up kids and partners to join for the villa week.

It would be nice to be able to walk to a restaurant but not crucial as we’ll mostly be feasting/bbq etc at the villa. A couple of day trips out to towns/markets etc would be good but the villa bit is for relaxation/pool/family time and the culture bit will be (possibly) covered by what we do on way down and then back home (possible into the Alps)

Lots of guides point to the Luberon and so had thought of Gordes as a place to be near. Perhaps it doesn’t really matter based on what we want to do?

Anyway, any guidance would be welcomed.

Thanks

We do a couple of trips to Provence every year, mostly driving so hope we can help. My wife’s the person that remembers the names of the all the villages, hotels & restaurants so I’ll ask her and update but for now:

I think somebody mentioned Lourmarin which is lovely. Chez Gaby is a great spot to eat/drink and watch the world go by. Quite a few tourists though.

Gordes is one of the quintessential provincial towns. There’s a very fancy hotel (Bastide de Gordes maybe?) that had terrific views from the terrace. Food excellent but even stopping to have a coffee there is worth it.

If you want to be closer to the sea it’s obviously going to cost more but Sainte Maxime is not as expensive as some places and can get a boat to Saint Tropez which is very dear but well worth visiting.

Cotignac (A Year in Provence) is a delight and although quite far from the sea offers a bundle of charm. Not really touristy and has a good selection of bars and restaurants. Le Tuf is always a good night.

I could go on…. I keep a spreadsheet of everywhere we’ve stayed in Provence as well on the way down & back.

Knowing what sort of budget you have for hotels/villa would help with more specific recommendations.

[Harleyboy]

Useful intel here folks. However, it may be making my choices harder!

DeuceDeuce, let me try and offer some specifics:

Not bothered about the coast as we have a few days in Menton in June.

So what would be my ideal: mid September and a villa with 3 beds/3 bathrooms and a pool. It would be nice to walk into a village for something to eat, morning croissants, market etc but equally happy if we’re further out. Grown up children would join us. Day trips might be harder as we can’t all fit in one car.

We have a few other breaks this year that will be activity based so this can be just for relaxation. We’ll take our time driving down and back.

The places I’ve seen so far are between £2500 and £3500 which is fine.

Thanks for taking the time everyone

Thanks

[therams]

Yep this is the place in gordes

https://airelles.com/en/destination/gordes-hotel

Usually some nice cars parked up opposite

Needs deep pockets for a stay here!

[Huzzah]

Aix always used to be a lovely base, handy for the TGV too.

[Harleyboy]

Update - booked a place close to Roussillon. Lovely house on its own but close to to the main hot spots. Many thanks for the input and suggestions.

Adult Kids and partners all coming albeit flying to Marseille and renting a car. Cue the rose and copious feasting

Now, the question is where do my wife and I stop on the way down? Outline plan is tunnel late Wednesday and stay somewhere just in France.

Would like to spend the next two days getting down to Roussillon with some chateaux stops on the way. I want to the trip down to be a real part of the holiday rather than my usual ‘go as far as I can in one day’.

Am really excited to be doing this in a 911 Targa rather than previous family X5’s, 535d’s etc so any can’t miss roads also on the list.

Obvs I’ll be researching this now I’ve got the main accommodation sorted but once again, would be good to get any recommendations

Thanks!!!

[NDA]

You're not far from L'isle sur la Sorgue which is definitely worth a visit.

I go to Provence pretty much every year and nowadays take 3 days down and 3 days back - I figure on roughly 250 miles a day, which takes a surprisingly long time! This years car is a 911 which should be fun and I'm heading down at the end of June.

My trip down is staying in a variety of Chateaux or 'boutique' hotels - I'm happy to share specific spots if you PM me.

Tour down is:

Crespy-le-Neuf

Les Avenières

Cucuron

Cotignac (2 weeks)

And returning via

Taluyers

Provins

Sainte-Preuve

[z4RRSchris]

we stayed here end of september. decent for Ventoux.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1034638929965071269...

[Harpoon]

Seguret is a lovely old, little village. A great place to bimble round as a lot of the streets are too small for cars. It's many years since we've been but had a super meal at Côté Terrasse which has a lovely outside terrace. Just up the hill is a vineyard - they used to rent out the main house and we stayed there in 2017.

https://www.domainedemourchon.com/

When we were heading for Grenoble in 2023, we detoured off the A6 into the Morvan park for an overnight stay here at at auberge by one of the lakes.

https://www.lavieilleaubergedulac.com/

Had a great meal in the restaurant. The whole park felt off the beaten track a bit and some of the roads would be good fun in a 911 (as opposed to a Volvo estate full of luggage and two bikes on the towbar rack!).

[Stever]

My wife and I did Provence in May last year in our 911, rented an airbnb at St Saturnin Les Apt, lovely village up high with several restaurants. Handy for Gordes, Rouissillon (our favourite) and Avignon etc.

Took 3 days travelling down, 1st night Chateau was not so good so won't promote that but night 2 we stayed https://www.commanderie.fr/en/hotel-spa-grenoble. This was excellent, reasonable room rate and food was really good. It's a good 10 minutes away from Grenoble which we thought was awful.

On the way home we only stopped one night at Hotel Golf Chateau de Chailly also very good.

Another option for homeward bound would be Chateau de Courban https://chateaudecourban.com/fr/?utm_medium=hotel&... I stopped here in July with a mate after an Alps tour it was simply sensational. Amazing room and the tasting menu was probably the best meal I have ever had. we had the 5 course but with several amuse-bouch it was stunning.



Have a great trip we loved Provence and will return to do some more probably 2026, Mrs would like to go to Lake Garda this May.

[Puggit]

As a child, growing up in Paris, we used to holiday in St-Cyr-sur-mer in the Bandol area. Very happy memories.