Provence: Avignon, the Luberon, Arles and the Côte d'Azur

1. Day 1: Arrive in Avignon

   Avignon TGV station or Marseille Provence Airport to your hotel inside the ramparts of Avignon

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Avignon
   Day 1 details

   Make your way to Avignon: the TGV from Paris takes about two hours forty minutes, and Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) is about an hour's drive south. We meet set afternoon arrivals at Avignon TGV station and at the airport (times confirmed with your final itinerary), so plan to arrive by about 4 pm. Your hotel is inside the ramparts, the 14th-century walls that still ring the old town, so everything on the first two days is on foot. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: what the days look like, where the hills are, and what to pack for the Luberon. Then we walk up to the Rocher des Doms, the garden on the rock beside the Palais des Papes, for the view over the Rhône and the four surviving arches of the Pont Saint-Bénézet. Dinner together follows at a restaurant in the old town.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Avignon TGV station or Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) at set group times
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk to the Rocher des Doms
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 6 pm briefing

   Activity: The drive figure is from Marseille airport; from Avignon TGV station it is about 15 minutes.

2. Day 2: The Palais des Papes and the Pont du Gard

   Avignon on foot, then out to the Pont du Gard and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Avignon
   Day 2 details

   We are at the door of the Palais des Papes when it opens, ahead of the tour groups. Seven popes lived in Avignon in the 14th century, and the palace they built in under twenty years is one of the largest Gothic buildings in Europe; a licensed local guide takes us through the great halls, the papal chapels and the frescoed rooms, then up to the roof terraces. From there it is a short walk to the Pont Saint-Bénézet, the bridge of the song, where four arches of the original span still reach into the Rhône. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the old town, followed by a free early afternoon out of the heat. Around 4 pm we drive half an hour west to the Pont du Gard, the Roman aqueduct bridge of the 1st century AD that carried water to Nîmes, three tiers of stone nearly 50 m above the Gardon. The light is warm on it late in the day. From November to February, when the site closes earlier, we go straight after lunch.

   Included

   • The Palais des Papes at opening with a licensed local guide
   • The Pont Saint-Bénézet (Pont d'Avignon)
   • Sit-down lunch in Avignon
   • The Pont du Gard and its museum

   Easier option: Sit out the Pont du Gard walk in the visitor centre café, or stay in Avignon for the afternoon.

   More active option: At the Pont du Gard, walk the waymarked trail over the hill to the upper channel of the aqueduct, or swim in the Gardon below the bridge in summer.

   Free time: Early afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in the palace, with many stairs, and up to an hour on gravel paths at the Pont du Gard.

3. Day 3: Arles and the Camargue

   Avignon to Arles, then the Camargue, then north-east to the Luberon

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Luberon
   Day 3 details

   Luggage goes in the van and we drive forty minutes south to Arles. Rome built its arena here around AD 90, and it still holds bullfights and summer events; we go in at opening and climb its medieval tower for the view over the roofs to the Rhône. A licensed local guide then walks us through the Roman theatre, the carved Romanesque portal of Saint-Trophime and the streets Van Gogh painted in 1888 and 1889: the café on the Place du Forum, the garden of the old hospital where he was treated, and the river bank of his Starry Night over the Rhône. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Arles. In the afternoon we head into the Camargue, the delta between the two arms of the Rhône, past rice fields and salt lagoons, white horses and black bulls. At the Pont de Gau bird park, raised paths run between lagoons where flamingos feed. Then about an hour and forty minutes north-east to the Luberon, arriving early evening. It is about three hours of driving in all, broken by the stops.

   Included

   • The Arles amphitheatre at opening
   • Walking tour of Arles with a licensed local guide: the Roman theatre, Saint-Trophime and the Van Gogh sites
   • Sit-down lunch in Arles
   • The Pont de Gau bird park in the Camargue

   Easier option: Stay on the benches at the bird park's first lagoons, where flamingos are usually close, instead of walking the full loop.

   More active option: Walk the full network of the bird park's paths, several kilometres around the lagoons, while the group takes the shorter circuit.

   Free time: Evening free in the Luberon

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in Arles on cobbles and steps, and 1 to 2 hours on flat paths in the Camargue.

   

4. Day 4: Gordes, Sénanque and Roussillon

   The Luberon villages: Gordes, Sénanque Abbey and Roussillon

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Luberon
   Day 4 details

   An early start, because Gordes fills up from mid-morning. We stop first at the viewpoint below the village, where its houses climb the rock to the castle, then walk up through the lanes while the cafés are still putting out their chairs. A few minutes north, Sénanque Abbey sits alone in a narrow valley: Cistercian monks founded it in 1148 and still live there, so we see it from outside and in its grounds, and inside visits depend on the community's schedule. From about late June to mid-July the lavender in front of it is in flower; the rest of the year it is green or cut. Lunch is a sit-down meal in a village. In the afternoon we go to Roussillon, built on hills of ochre, where the Sentier des Ocres winds through cliffs of red, orange and yellow earth that were quarried for pigment. The evening is free in your base village.

   Included

   • Gordes in the early morning with your guide
   • Sénanque Abbey from its grounds
   • Sit-down lunch in a Luberon village
   • The Sentier des Ocres in Roussillon

   Easier option: Walk the short ochre loop, about 30 minutes, or wait in a café on the village square.

   More active option: Walk the long ochre loop, about 50 minutes, with more steps and the best views of the cliffs.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Steep lanes in Gordes and sandy paths with steps on the ochre trail. The ochre stains: wear shoes you do not mind turning orange. The trail can close in heavy rain.

5. Day 5: A market morning and Les Baux

   A Luberon village market, then Les Baux-de-Provence and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Luberon
   Day 5 details

   Provençal markets run in the morning and on set days, so your guide takes you to whichever is on today: Apt on Saturdays, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue on Thursdays and Sundays, Lourmarin on Fridays, or Gordes on Tuesdays. Expect olives, goat's cheese, honey, melons and peaches in season, lavender soap and woven baskets, and time to buy a picnic or just watch the village shop. Late morning we drive about an hour west to Les Baux-de-Provence, a village on a limestone spur of the Alpilles with the ruins of its castle at the top. Lunch is your choice in the village. Below it, the Carrières des Lumières fills a former limestone quarry with projected art on the walls and floor, set to music, a show that changes each year. Back in the Luberon by late afternoon, with the evening free.

   Included

   • A weekly village market with your guide
   • Les Baux-de-Provence village
   • The Carrières des Lumières

   Optional experiences

   • The Château des Baux, the castle ruins above the village (entry not included)
   • An e-bike ride along the Véloroute du Calavon in the Luberon on the free afternoon

   Easier option: Stay in your base village after the market and spend the afternoon there.

   More active option: Climb to the Château des Baux for the view over the Alpilles and the plain towards Arles.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The Carrières des Lumières is cool inside all year; bring a layer. It closes for a few weeks in January to change its show.

   

6. Day 6: Aix-en-Provence, then the Riviera

   Luberon to Aix-en-Provence, then east on the A8 to Nice

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Nice
   Day 6 details

   We leave the Luberon after breakfast and cross the hills south to Aix-en-Provence, about an hour and ten minutes. The produce market fills the Place Richelme every morning, so we start there, then a licensed local guide walks us down the Cours Mirabeau under its plane trees, past the moss-covered Fontaine Moussue, into the Mazarin quarter of 17th-century town houses, and to the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur. Cézanne was born in Aix in 1839; your guide points out the places he knew, and his studio is a short walk north if you want it in your own time. Try a calisson, the almond and candied melon sweet of Aix. Lunch is a sit-down meal together. In the early afternoon we drive about two hours east on the A8, past Mont Sainte-Victoire and through the Var, and come down to the sea at Nice in the late afternoon. Your hotel is close to the old town and the Promenade des Anglais. The evening is free.

   Included

   • The Place Richelme produce market
   • Walking tour of Aix-en-Provence with a licensed local guide: the Cours Mirabeau, the Mazarin quarter and the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur
   • Sit-down lunch in Aix-en-Provence
   • Drive to Nice

   Optional experiences

   • The Atelier de Cézanne or the Musée Granet in Aix (entry not included; the studio has been closed for renovation, so we confirm it is open)

   Free time: Evening free in Nice

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in Aix on flat pavements.

   

7. Day 7: Old Nice, Villefranche and Èze

   Nice on foot, then east along the coast to Villefranche-sur-Mer and Èze, and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Nice
   Day 7 details

   The morning starts on the Cours Saleya, where the flower and produce market runs from Tuesday to Sunday (on Mondays it is antiques). Your guide leads you through the tall ochre lanes of old Nice, past the baroque churches and the Place Rossetti, with a stop for socca, the chickpea pancake of Nice, then up Castle Hill, by steps or the lift, for the view over the Baie des Anges. Late morning we drive fifteen minutes east to Villefranche-sur-Mer, a fishing harbour on one of the deepest natural harbours of the coast. Walk the Rue Obscure, the vaulted 13th-century street under the houses, have lunch where you like, or swim. In the late afternoon, when the cruise and coach groups have left, we go up to Èze, a village on a rock about 430 m above the sea, and climb its lanes to the Jardin Exotique, whose cactus terraces look down the coast. We end with a farewell dinner back in Nice.

   Included

   • Walking tour of old Nice with your guide: the Cours Saleya market and Castle Hill
   • Socca tasting in old Nice
   • Villefranche-sur-Mer and the Rue Obscure
   • Èze village and the Jardin Exotique
   • Farewell dinner in Nice

   Easier option: Stay in Villefranche for the afternoon and meet the group at the farewell dinner, or skip the climb to the garden at Èze.

   More active option: Walk down the Chemin de Nietzsche from Èze village to Èze-sur-Mer, about an hour on a steep, rocky path, then take the train back to Nice (ticket included).

   Free time: Midday free in Villefranche

   Activity: Steep stepped lanes at Èze and Castle Hill. In winter, when the Jardin Exotique closes earlier, we go to Èze after lunch.

   

8. Day 8: Departure from Nice

   Nice to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport or Nice-Ville station

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   The last morning is yours. Walk the Promenade des Anglais before it gets busy, swim from the pebble beach in summer, or take a last coffee on the Cours Saleya. Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) is about 20 minutes from the hotel along the seafront, with direct flights across Europe and some long-haul routes, and Nice-Ville station has trains along the coast and TGVs to Paris. We run drop-offs to the airport and the station at set times through the morning and early afternoon, and your guide checks everyone's flight or train before saying goodbye. Any flight time works. If you want the full morning in Nice, book a flight leaving after about 1 pm. If you want to stay longer, we can book extra nights at the Nice hotel, or send you on by train to Monaco, Menton or Cannes, each well under an hour along the coast.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) or Nice-Ville station at set times

   Free time: Morning free

   Activity: Book a flight after about 1 pm for a full last morning; earlier flights are met with an early drop-off.

   

Wildlife and weather: July and August are hot, often above 30°C, so we start early and rest at midday. Spring and autumn are milder but the mistral can blow cold for days. Flamingos live in the Camargue all year.

• Avignon2 nights
• Luberon3 nights
• Nice2 nights