Provence and Tuscany - Help!

[neversay]

We (two adults, 11yo and 8yo) are taking the Eurostar to Avignon in August and have a hire car for 18 days. That's pretty much how far our holiday planning has progressed (!) other than my wife wants to see Provence and a friend has floated an offer of some accommodation in Verona and/or a vineyard in Tuscany.

Are there any experts out there that could offer tips to help us narrow down an itinerary?

- kids don't mind the road trip as long as we do fun activities
- ideally keeping accommodation costs (ahem) 'affordable'
- gite, B&B, hotel, self-catering all options, but where to start?
- perhaps a base in Provence for a week then a stop off point en-route?
- any classic road trip routes or travel guides?
- split our time between France and Italy?

Any tips gratefully received!

Thank you,

N.

(PS I have done Monaco/Nice etc in the past, and most Italian cities, but not seen much of the countryside in between)

[Slarti]

A useful site is http://beyond.fr/ for Provence beyond the beaches.


Slarti

[neversay]

Thanks @Slarti - what a great site.

I'm adding 'want to go' flags on the key sites on Google Maps to see if a route emerges.

N.

[zico]

A few lesser-known places.

Verdon Gorge (Europe's Grand Canyon) is worth a drive round (full-day trip).
St.Raphael/Frejus are two nice low-key French Riviera places right next to each other with beaches/history respectively.
Alassio (east of Nice) is a nice town with long promenade walk into next village.
Toirano caves (a bit further east) have prehistoric man and cave bear footprints.
Liguria has very nice coastal towns, Portofino is a world-famous harbour village, best reached by walking from Santa Margarita. Slightly further south, Cinque Terre trail between 5 towns is good - though best reached by rail.
Siena is a quieter medieval town than Florence.

If you decide to base yourself in one area for a few nights, AirBnB places are far better value, and often nicer, than self-catering or hotels.

[Slarti]

A more general thought and covered by Provence Beyond is to take a ride on the Train des Pignes which goes from Niece to Digne-les-Bains, though that is quite a long ride.

But, along the way is Entrevaux which is well worth a look if only for the citadel http://beyond.fr/villages/entrevaux-pro ... rance.html.
Also, if it is still there, the bicycle/motorcycle museum, in a house! Small but crammed with things.

Going by train lets the drive look at the spectacular scenery.

As there is no long term parking near the terminus in Nice, we picked the train up at Nice-Saint-Isadore https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/NIC ... 3082?hl=en where the somewhat limited parking was free when we were there.

Cheers
Slarti

[BobbyD]

Genoa would be a logical consideration. It's en route from France to Tuscany, worth a visit in its own right (although I've not been there yet), and it's also 'the turn' to use if you want to pop down to Cinque Terre.

Tuscany has no shortage of opportunities.

Pisa Airport would be my first choice of exit, it's a 1km, 5 minute 1 Euro train journey* from the centre, which means you an evening flight can give you most of a usable day in the town and a hassle free exit run, although depending how you move around, where you end up and where you have to get back to there maybe better options.


* It appears the train has been given a major overhaul and been redesignated a 'people mover'.

[neversay]

Thanks @BobbyD, @Slarti and @Zico.

Your suggestions are highly appreciated as due to my crazy workload we're just getting around to finding AirBnB locations for 18 days. My thought is 5 days in Provence, 5 days in Tuscany and 5 days en-route in-between. We're taking the Eurostar to Avignon so that's our entry/exit point, collecting a hire car from there. Your tips to help narrow down the locations are exceptionally helpful and help take some pressure off me right now.

Thank you,

N.

[BobbyD]

We're taking the Eurostar to Avignon so that's our entry/exit point, collecting a hire car from there.

Ah, sounded like you'd only fixed the in not the out... Given the chance I'll always open jaw to cut the amount of time spent travelling.

[neversay]

We're taking the Eurostar to Avignon so that's our entry/exit point, collecting a hire car from there.

Ah, sounded like you'd only fixed the in not the out... Given the chance I'll always open jaw to cut the amount of time spent travelling.

That would have been a good idea! (assuming I could hire the car in France and drop it off in Italy).

[Howard]

To get you in the mood for Provence, if you haven't seen it, I recommend watching "A Good Year".

Mrs H and I have the dvd and have watched it a few times. It's actually shot in the Luberon which is near Avignon just North of Provence. Every time I see it, I'm tempted to return to Provence. It is based on a book by Peter Mayle which is also an enjoyable read.

regards

Howard

[UncleIan]

Thanks @BobbyD, @Slarti and @Zico.

Your suggestions are highly appreciated as due to my crazy workload we're just getting around to finding AirBnB locations for 18 days. My thought is 5 days in Provence, 5 days in Tuscany and 5 days en-route in-between. We're taking the Eurostar to Avignon so that's our entry/exit point, collecting a hire car from there. Your tips to help narrow down the locations are exceptionally helpful and help take some pressure off me right now.

I missed this last time, Nimes is great, as is Arles, though if you end up in Verona, you may get Roman Amphitheatre fatigue.
On the way, I'd second the Verdon gorge, Castellane is a nice little town, and the Lac du Castillon nearby is a pretty almost luminous blue reservoir that's great for canoeing and pedalos etc.

[neversay]

@Howard - I missed it years ago but will certainly watch it now. I'm under way too much stress with business/life right now so anything that can get me to shift down a gear would really help.

@UncleIan - many thanks for the tips which are really helpful as we are still narrowing down an itinerary and, even more worrying, accommodation for a small family - which seems to be booked-up, disappearing very quickly or eye-wateringly expensive...

N.