Cote du Rhone and Luberon

My wife and I are heading to Provence in mid September. We will have 9 days to explore the area. A couple of days will be devoted to the obligatory Arles and Avignon. We want to spend the remaining week exploring Cote du Rhone and Luberon. Here%26#39;s my dilemma. Should we stay a few days in both areas or find a central location and not move? Is there a nice place to stay that is convenient to both Cote du Rhone and Luberon? We will have a car. We don%26#39;t mind driving but would prefer to avoid traffic.

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Here%26#39;s the real dilemma for me, finding a base where I will not need to drive to find restaurants. The reason is I will often want to share a bottle of wine with my wife with dinner. If you consume more than two glasses of wine with dinner (just two for many women) - do not drive in France. Police checkpoints are everywhere, even on lonely roads in the Luberon and it does not take long to reach .05% blood alcohol levels.

If you have a designated driver or do not consume wine with dinner, this will not be a concern for you. If it is, you%26#39;ll want to either stay in a metropolitan area (Arles, Avignon, or Aix-en-Provence) or consider two bases, at least I would simply on the restaurant aspect of the situation.

One solution would be to stay in one of the above mentioned cities for a couple of days and then move to one of the many Chambres d%26#39;hotes or small country hotels this region is famous for.

In either event, having a car will open up great flexibility in choosing where you want to stay.

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I totally sympathise with Sarastro%26#39;s point of view! Our answer is self-catering - a nice meal out at lunchtime, with a small carafe of wine, then buy a good bottle and other goodies to take back and eat in. You are staying long enough to do that if you wanted to, and assuming you%26#39;re interested in the southern Cotes du Rhone, you could stay almost anywhere. However, if you%26#39;re also wanting to visit the northern area (around Crozes Hermitage), it would be better to move on. You can use google maps or viamichelin.com to check distances.

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Drinking is not a problem for us; one glass with dinner and take the rest home to finish before bed (wink, wink). Metropolitan areas are out of the question. We loathe the city driving. Last year we drove in Verona and Padua and hated every minute of it.

Or ideal location would be picturesque and centrally located equadistally between southern part of Cote du Rhone and Luberon.

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When we stayed in Aix en Provence we spent a day touring the Luberon villages in our hire car.All a matter of personal opinion I know but I liked Bonnieux the most-a bit hilly walking about as it is on different levels-and I vowed that next time I took a break in Provence I would stay there to experience the rustic tranquility as a temporary resident rather than a day visitor. So I looked for %26quot;an ideal place to stay%26quot;. And I have found it, so roll on the next time-probably May 2010. It is Le Clos du Bois B%26amp;B and everything I have read about it on TA Reviews (including glowing reports from your fellow Americans) makes me all the more determined to use it as my base.Although I can get by with a basic knowledge of French it will be a help that Madame speaks excellent English because I will be looking to her for alternative dining recommendations.

%26quot; A dinner in France without wine is like a day without sunshine%26quot;.And I don%26#39;t mean just 1 glass!