ISO great itinerary for South of France -Provence - Aude - Languedoc

Thinking about a trip for spring 2023 back to France. Trying to tie in a 10 night trip, fly in/out CDG, TGV to Aix or Marseilles, back to Paris for final night.

Thinking Provence and antiques, Cathars and castles, etc.
We’ve been separately on different trips to Carcassonne, Pont du Gard, Les Baux, Avignon, Arles, Collioure, etc. but not since 1998-2002. Food and wine is always important, but touring wineries less so. Although I’d love a tasting at Domaine de Trevallon if that’s even possible.

We prefer to drive, back roads and out of the way places are preferred. Small, exclusive hotels. Nothing crowded. A good spa somewhere along the way is a must.

Any great places??

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Amelie-les-Bains-Palalda Is a spa town. We haven’t done the spas, but we really like the town (plus it’s close to Céret—the art museum is a must).
We like to stay in Collioure or Canet and do day trips inland.
We have done some winery visits.

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We visited the area about 10 years, absolutely loved it, visited a lot of those places. Very few tourists (we went in March), the Cathar castles are awesome. Don’t miss Peyrepertuse. The ancient run down castles are much cooler than Carcassone (though you should stop there too).
We flew into Toulouse and spent a night there. Then drove to Limoux which was nice, we were there during the Carnival which was very fun to see. A night in Tautavel at an awful bnb that we left early but that’s where the Cathar castles etc are. Plenty of little towns in that area. Originally planned to go further south from there but the weather wasn’t looking good and I didn’t want to be driving around all day visiting wineries (was supposed to visit Gauby) and ruins in the rain so we spent a few nights in Montpellier instead, which is a lovely little city. Sete is a great stop for lunch on the water going towards Provence. We then based a few nights in Uzes which we loved, the Hotel de Vignamont was a great b&b. Finished off with a night in Ampuis and flew out of Lyon.
Except for Montpellier all the driving was super easy, no traffic, no issues parking in any of the towns.

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I use Le Fooding to try and find unique spots.

In Les Baux-de-Provence, I have stayed at Domaine de Manville.
Not a tiny property, but very nicely done.

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Why not fly into or return Marseille or Nice rather than go back to Paris for one night?

I just love Nice and the surrounding area. I assume you deliberately excluded the Cote d’Azur (which is tops for me).

I had a great trip based in Villeneuve les Avignon. Easier for day trips, but close to Avignon. Arles is not far, nor is CdP or the Vaison la Romaine (Roman ruins). But sounds like you’ve been there.

It was a long time ago, but the market in St Remy was a high point.

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i was last there in september of 2019 and cannot recommend st remy de provence enough as an excellent base for the area. 1 hour southwest is arles, 1 hour north is avignon, 1 hour east is bonnieux and vaucluse. we stayed at the hotel de tourrel in the heart of st remy. they have a private parking lot just 2-3 blocks away.

we much preferred the quieter provence towns like apt, menerbes, bonnieux to the ones overrun with tourists like gordes and roussillon.

we fly in and out of nice. we prefer cote d’azur honestly but had a great time. i sound like a broken record but dinner outside at l’oustalet in gigondas is a dream. trevallon is an 8 minute drive from tourrel.

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Avignon is a great base. Good hotels, good restaurants. Hire a wine guide for a day or two and enjoy CdP and Gigondas.
Arles (a Rick Steves favorite, which we found is a kiss of death) for us is an easy pass. We found it touristy.
Gordes is cool. Much of A Good Year was filmed in and around the area. A movie to stream if you want to get a feel for the area.

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If antiques are a priority, then the Sunday antique market in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is your place. We were just there. Check the calendar to make sure it’s on when you go as I don’t know if year round. Stay nearby in Le Thor with Pascal, the owner at Les Domaine des Carmes and Spa. I can’t speak for the spa part. Pascal speaks English and French and is very lively and engaging (likes CA Zinfandel). He has wine at 7pm for guests and breakfast in the morning. He’ll book your restaurant. We ate at Cafe Fleurs in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and enjoyed it. There is a Michelin star restaurant in the same town, but we didn’t think much of it. If you plan to do Nice, then PM me and I can fill you in with a few ideas. Nice is our second city.

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Big second for the antiques market in Ile-sur-la-Sorgue.

In the town of Narbonne, Petit Comptoir is an excellent restaurant hidden behind a bar and wine shop.

For a really nice, low-key, out-of-the-way hotel with an excellent restaurant, try Hostellerie du Grand Duc in Gincla. This is in Languedoc just west of Roussillon. They have a very cool wine list of top Languedoc wines with bottle age, most of them never imported to the U.S.

The drive from Carcassonne to St Paul de Fenouillet, through Limoux and the Gorges de Galamus is spectacular… the road won’t accommodate anything larger than a minivan.

If you are interested in winery visits for anybody represented by Hand Picked Selections, please send me a message. We represent growers in Chateauneuf, Pic-st-Loup (just north of Montpellier) and Roussillon.

Dan Kravitz

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I was in Isle sur La Sorgue in July and would also recommend visiting. We ate at Le Jardin du Quai and would highly recommend.

https://www.jardinduquai.com/

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In Collioure - I liked Le 5eme Peche (Le 5ème Péché – Collioure - a MICHELIN Guide Restaurant). Run by a Japanese guy - he’s into motorcycles so was fun chatting a bit about that.

The Le Neptune restaurant had a great view across the water to the castle.

Driving down to Banyuls is nice. Some neat spots down there, Les 9 Caves and Xadic (never managed to make it to Xadic, was closed when I was by last time, friend’s reccie).

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You’re right - decided to book flights in/out of Marseilles instead of Paris, so we’re now committed. Flights were less expensive than going to Paris as well! Appreciate the recommendation.

Yes, excluding the Côte d’Azur on purpose this trip due to overlap with the film festival.

Agree on Arles - we stopped their on a previous trip due to Rick Steve’s recommendations that I used to find spot on. Couldn’t get over the amount of dog feces everywhere. We moved on quickly.

Will do thanks Dan!

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We haven’t been since 2000, but loved every minute that we were there.

The antiquities market at L’Isle sur la Sorgue is fun. If you go, there is a very easy hike along the river there that leads past waterfalls and a stunning lake. Shouldn’t take more than an hour. We loved that.

St. Remy is super cute and very centrally located. The only thing is I found that we were in the car for the nicer dinners traveling to and from. St. Remy was fine for casual dining, but the nicer places were further away and required a car.

Roussillon may be touristy these days…I haven’t been in years. But the red soil and quick, easy hikes with spectacular views made it well worth it.

As a side note, I got hit in the head with a potted plant in St. Remy. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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If convenient, 17 place aux vins in L’Isle sur la Sorgue is worthy of a lunch. They have a nice wine list (also retail) and outdoor/indoor tables. Agree on Roussillon and would add Gordes as worthy. We spent a day driving roundtrip from Avignon to all three towns.

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Details details details - so I thought I would post some details from our trip as it turned out a little different from what we originally were thinking, but all in all a great experience.

Flew in/out of Marseilles and picked up rental car. Airport around rental cars was under construction but fairly easy to navigate.

First three nights at Les Roches Blanches in Cassis for the Voiles de Cassis sailing races. Unfortunately had rainy weather for the first two days, but a lot of fun to see sailing races and be out on the water around the boats. The view of the Calanques was muted with the weather, but I would love to see them in sunshine. Many of the sailing captains were staying at our hotel which made for an interesting mix of people from around the world. We dined at the hotel for two evenings - one was arrival night as we arrived late in the day after travel from the US and the second was the big dinner for Voiles de Cassis. Hotel did an excellent job with great Provençal flavors, fresh seafood, and an excellent local wine list. Staff was excellent bringing around tastes of liqueurs, etc. They also had a very good breakfast spread. Their spa was just ok - very small and limited facilities, but staff was very good. The last evening we ate at the newly awarded 3* La Villa Madie. I think the hotel dinners were better meals overall, although La Villa Madie’s cheese cart, desserts, and their staff were excellent. Very surprised to see jeans and boat shoes in the restaurant - they had sent an email earlier in the day reminding us that pants were required. :woman_shrugging:t2:

We drove down to Marseillan for a private tour and tasting at Maison Noilly Prat - fun for a few hours and interesting to taste the different vermouths and learn to mix some of their cocktails. The late afternoon was at Abbaye Fontfroide which was has been beautifully restored and was serene. We hit it at the end of the day so their wine tasting was closed, but it was nice to see with only a few people on property. Then onto Carcassonne.

Two nights at Franck Putelat’s 2* place in Carcassonne. outstanding lodging value with a gourmet breakfast (have it delivered to the room and order everything). We went back to La Cite that evening as we stayed there on our last visit and walked the floodlit ramparts. The next morning was off to Montsegur to hike to the top! and then a late afternoon visit to Rennes Les Chateau for some conspiracy theories. Dinner at Putelat’s started out amazing with lots of bites with champagne and a number of amuse, but we were too tired after the morning hike to really enjoy all of the courses. I skipped the last two entrees, but the cheese TREE was worth waiting for. The desserts were strange - combining too many savory components for me. While I get the olives with chocolate I’m not sure the roasted onions in dessert is a flavor I will ever enjoy.

Then off to Beziers with a shout out to a small cafe Le Mathi’s for an amazing pea shoot, carmelized melon, raspberry, pomegranate, mozzarella, prosciutto, cherry tomato, and pistachio salad with a citron presse that was perfect for a warm day. With an afternoon at the Locks of Fonseranes to indulge my engineer hubby.

The next few evenings we spent in Aigues Mortes at Hotels des Remparts - highly recommend. Staff is amazing and the hotel has been completely restored in a style we enjoy. They offer spa services that were very good in a few rooms off the lobby and have an indoor thalassotherapy pool with very strong currents available at no charge. The family has also restored a hotel in Carcassone. Their resident pup - Petrus - became a friend and companion. No restaurant, but provided a sumptuous breakfast with salty and sweet options, squeezed juices and hot drinks including aged Comte, smoked trout, egg choices, pastries, cream puffs, and the local orange blossom fougasse. They arranged tours and tastings for us in Roquefort and we spent the next day visiting a number of the houses Societe, Papillon, Verniers, Coulet, et al. I love blue cheese so this was a treat! We grabbed snacks for dinner of different local apps and local wine and wandered enjoyed the local atmosphere in Aigues Mortes. The last day was at the Féria in Nice - touring the ancient ruins then enjoying the festival and Féria. What an experience to see the activities in the old Roman amphitheater.

We had missed Aix on our earlier visits to Provence so stopped for lunch and market day before heading to Alain Ducasse’s 1* La Bastide Moustiers. I had wanted to visit on earlier trips and we couldn’t make the itinerary work, so was excited to stay this time. You drive through lavender fields and around the lake to arrive at Moustiers Ste Marie which is a beautiful village to wander, and shop, and snack. We dined two evenings on different menus at Ducasse’s 1* here. Simple dishes, perfectly executed, sommelier that recommended local wines to pair with the local foods. Small dining room and you have a chance to really know their staff. My only complaint as they are so local they only did local cheese and I would have liked to see a larger selection (no blue cheese for me :confused:). Likewise the breakfasts and happy hour here are done with the same nod to local ingredients, simple, yet well done - a little different each day. The rooms are spread about the property and it is as if you are staying at the home of a friend instead of hotel of a Michelin chef!

If you have never been to this part of France, it is worth a day on the lake and in the Gorge du Verdon - lots of opportunities for rafting or kayaking and the water is so very blue!

I really loved this part of France - we purposefully stayed away from the Côte d’Azur looking for a more relaxed, slow paced, and less touristy trip. With exception of Carcassonne and lunch in Aix, we rarely ran into Americans, although we did run into quite a few English.

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Speaking of Les Baux-de-Provence, we thought Carrieres Lumieres was an awesome experience, Projection art on the walls of an underground quarry. We were there for the Van Gogh exhibit in 2019. Looks like that is back at the moment:
https://www.carrieres-lumieres.com/en

Cheers!

Edit: didn’t realize the OP was from 2022! Hopefully the info will be useful for future travelers.

We visited isle sur La Sorgue on an early May day in 2019. It was beautiful, but unfortunately the Sunday Antiques market was closed due to the 40+ mph Le Mistral winds that day!