South of France - Provence, Montpellier, and Nice

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd ask for your thoughts on the South of France, say places like Provence, Montpellier, and Nice.

Thanks.

Yup, they all appear to be in the south of France.

If you're anywhere near Carcassonne, it's definitely worth a stop. It's not far from Toulouse. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but it's a cool little town nevertheless. I've only taken a bus to and walked through Nice once, but it mostly seemed like a dump to me. Perhaps I just walked through the crappiest part of it, though. If you're into camping, Gorges du Verdon is a beautiful area with lots and lots of outdoor sports. There's fantastic climbing all around a little town called La Palud, and there's a little shop in the town next door, Moustiers, that does canyoning trips, hang gliding, rafting, etc.

Anyway, that's pretty much what I know about southern France.

If you don't like the smell of lavender then don't go in July.

Otherwise inland there is so much good countryside and so many untouched villages that it's hard to go wrong.
But have a look at Entreveaux, touristy as it may be, and take a drive up Mont Ventoux.
Then of course there's Avignon. And the Ardèche gorge. Quite a lot of gorges around there in fact. And and and.
Oh and not to forget the Côtes du Rhône wine area. It all depends what you like to do.

Provence is heaven. Simple as that. Read some Marcel Pagnol books to get you in the mood for the place. It is idyllic.

I'm with don_riina, Provence is awesome. I've spent many months in my mother's apartment in Nice, and travelled all over the area. St. Paul de Vence is a cute little fortified village up on a hilltop with tons of art galleries. Eze is another one of those cute little villages... Hell, it's all very cute. And I actually enjoy staying in Nice as a base station for the area as you have a ton of restaurant/cafe selections for the evenings, and more convenience in general.

Dordogne every time.

We owned a house down there 8 years. Fantastic countryside. People there very friendly too. Famous prehistory everywhere - Lascaux caves et al.

it's a truly beautiful part of the world (outside the high tourist season of july to early september and even then it's still possible to get away from the crowds).

my personal experience is with the area around and to the west of st tropez. my wife's parents have a little place about 10 kms from st tropez and there are plenty of great beaches, beautiful seaside towns, 'unspoilt' hill towns and stunning scenery.

i can also recommend the red wine from chateau de pampelonne (by st tropez). we go every year and we have a case of each vintage from 2000 through 2003 now. by the way, pampelonne is also the beach where all the celebs go to be seen. fortunately it is huge, so you don't have to look at them.

Ronin was filmed in Arles. The car-chase was filmed by the collaseum (sp?) there...

We travel there on business once or twice a year and I love it down there. The Alpilles are great for cycling, the camargue, the old roman towns... fantastic!

I thought Ronin was filmed in Paris? The car chase definitely was, maybe it was filmed in different places.

Well I was asking about the collesium scenes. The second car chase was filmed in Paris.

Hmmm might watch this tonight actually.

I'm trying to find some cheap flights from Hamburg but they seem to start up in December and go until April.

I can't wait to take a look around. Everyone seems to rave about the south of France.

http://www.manoirdessources.fr/

My first ever journey to the provence led me to this wonderful 'little' place near Uzes. It's one of the best places I've ever stayed in but it is a little costly. However, if you are after that special treat, I can fully recommend it. Was thinking of marrying there but that once again is a totally different (and sad) story.

If you want to go that far west, Béziers is a nice Romanesque city with an imposing silhouette. Not wanting to seem xenophobe, but there is a large Arab population, and there had been riots when we were there in 2001 (pre-9/11). The main attraction is the canal du midi with a fascinating lock system, you can spend hours just watching the boats go up and down the "steps". Nice for cycling, too, and there is an impressive cave system between there and Montpellier, slightly to the north, the grotte de clamouse.

Reviving an older thread... but has anyone stayed in / rented a villa in the area? Thinking about near Avignon... and any pointers on the cheapest/best way to get there from Munich

cheers

we've rented in the provence/languedoc area the past two years with great success. the first year, a gang of eight of us rented a friend's place in a tiny village outside of avignon and had a blast. we drove down from munich so we could haul a ton of wine back and that's something i would highly recommend doing if at all possible. we did a fair amount of tasting - some really nice chateauneuf du pape, for example, and other stuff as well. we were really in a great spot between avignon and nimes, in languedoc, which is one of the loveliest towns i’ve ever spent time in, with an amazing roman arena. the romans were allover the place down there and there are tons of theatres and arenas to check out. our days were spent touring and shopping for fabulous food in the markets and our nights were spent cooking it and drinking copious amounts of wine. highlights were arles (great great food market – best i have ever seen anywhere – hands down) and isle sur la sorgue where on sundays they hold a wonderful open air antique market. i could go on and on about the wealth of things to see. the town of orange is a great spot to check out some ruins, eat some good food and soak up the atmosphere. avignon is wonderful too – the papal palace is a must see – and you have to go on the bridge and sing the silly song “sur la pont d’avignon� …

last year, we poshed it up and rented a really cool place in the hills above cotignac with a pool. it was great and there was a lot to see, but in terms of cultural stuff of interest, i thought the avignon area was better. there was a great deal of hiking and so forth to be done and some of the more hale and hearty of our gang walked the gorges du verdon.

we ate some great food both times. we had a fantastic evening at an alain ducasse place as well as some less luxurious evenings at home.

aix-en-provence is a great place, with a ton of shops and things to do and see. it should be on your list. nice is wonderful too and we always spend a night or two there at the end of the trip.

i could go on and on, but in the interest of brevity, i'll force myself to stop here! have fun and send me a pm if you need some specifics.

jane

p.s. we actually hired a fun scottish woman to drive us around from vineyard to vineyard one day so we could really *taste* the wine without worry. well worth it. she was fun and got us into some neat tiny places we might not have found otherwise.

also, lots of picnics are in order down in that area! get yourself a picnic knife at a market and use it!!

My family is ocming to visit this summer and would like to visit france for a few days...more coutnry side than city. Any recommendations?

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A couple of years ago my parents came over and we rented an apartment in a small town in Provence called Entrecastaux. Stayed there for about a week and did day trips to Monaco, St Tropez, and inland Provence. It was a nice and quiet town with a winery that sold wine for 1 euro a litre. The locals all rocked up with their big 40 litre plastic tubs.

Provence yay and i can smoke in the office

Just wanted to say thanks boss