Southern France Suggestions! Help!

Ok I need help....been researching for hours and I still cannot figure anything out....

I am going to Barcelona for 5 nights starting on May 29th. I am ending my trip with 6 nights in Tuscany. I have a middle 6 nights to plan.... and would love to go somewhere in Southern France. I think the things most important to me would be walking towns/cities..living and experiencing the way of life there.....beaches if they are really very different than the Florida beaches I am accustom to..I am not opposed to renting a car and/or taking trains/public transportion where possible......Any areas or cities, along with places to stay, that anyone can advise would be awesome! Just to add over the last 2 years I had my first experiences with bed and breakfast places and I have found that thos places have been the best part of several vacations.

|||

There is plenty to keep you occupied for 6 days in and around Nice.This is an ideal city for walking and it has good rail and road transport links. Local bus and tram travel is cheap and comfortable.The beaches couldn%26#39;t be more different to Florida%26#39;s as they are pebbly and quite steeply graded. To walk on them you need footwear even if swimming.No need for a car in Nice in fact one would be an encumbrance.Use the TA Hotels and B%26amp;B boxes to search for accommodation which is plentiful.I would invest in a good guidebook and then ask further questions on this forum where there are many willing helpers like NiceLife and LondonBob.Lonely Planet Guide to Provence is a starting point.

|||

I hope that you will consider spending the major part of the six days that you have between your stays in Barcelona and Tuscany in Western Provence. It is an area filled with historically significant sites, including some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world. It is also very beautiful and the pace of life there is luciously easy.

If you want to get a taste for what various places look like you might want to rent a couple of DVD%26#39;s -%26quot;A Good Year%26quot; will give you a good look at the beauty of the Luberon, and for a look at the beauty of the Camargue take a look at the old movie %26quot;A Man and A Woman%26quot; starring Jean-Louis Trintingnant and Anouk Aimie - please forgive me for what is, without a doubt, totally incorrect spelling of their names.

You may want to consider settling down in one place and using it as a base for making daytrips throughout the area. This will save you the need to keep re-positioning yourself every day or two and, if you are in a town, will allow you to become familiar with the pace of life there and, perhaps even known to the various merchants and to other residents. When you look at a map I think that you will find St. Remy and the nearby area known as Les Alpilles to be well situated for exploring Western Provence all the way from the North right down to the shores of the Mediterranean.

Regarding how to get around, I urge you to consider considering renting a car, especially while you are in Provence and, if possible, for the entire duration of your trip. Why, because doing so will allow you the really explore the entire area at your own pace and will enable you to visit the many places that are not easily accessible via public transportation.

I am especially pleased that you are beginning your research efforts this early. Please let me know if you would like a copy of my Traveller%26#39;s Aid for Provence, it is a Word doc. that I prepared some years ago for some friends who were visiting France, specifically Provence, for the first time - just need your e-mail since it is sent as an attachment.

I hope that this input will be helpful as you continue to plan your trip.

AlpillesGal

|||

ApillesGal...

I would love a copy of your guide.

eab64@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Erin

|||

Hi Erin

It%26#39;ll be on the way in just a minute or two.

AlpillesGal

|||

AlpillesGal

Thanks so much for the information. That sounds exactly what I am looking for. Please send me the information you have to hockeyn96@aol.com I will be looking at the cites you said and research them later today!

Thanks Again!

|||

Hi Rinkman

It%26#39;ll be on the way shortly

AlpillesGal

|||

I would very much appreciate a copy of the guide too.

|||

Hi Maryamir -

Just need your e-mail as the word docs. will be sent as attachments

AlpillesGal

|||

AlpillesGal

I would love to have a copy of your guide. Please send it to me at galapagoz@hotmail.com

Thanks

|||

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

TripAdvisor staff removed this post because it did not meet TripAdvisor's forum posting guidelines with prohibiting self-promotional advertising or solicitation.

We ask all of our members to keep their forum messages free of self-promoting advertisements or solicitation of any kind - members affiliated with any tourism-related business should not include commercial contact information or URLs in their forum messages.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 1:02 pm, September 04, 2009