Too ambitious an itinerary for day trip?

[sjde]

We will be in Marseille for a day in November and are considering this tour with a private guide. Does it seem too much driving/rushing? We are still considering just staying in Marseille and going to the old port.

 

We have been to Arles, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and St Remy. We especially liked the last.

 

8:30am Pick up at the ship

 

Drive to Lourmarin

 

9:45 Tour of the charming village of Lourmarin, considered to be among the most beautiful of France

 

10:30 Drive to Bonnieux

 

10:50 Panoramic view from the hilltop village of Bonnieux, on the whole Calavon valley

 

11:30 Drive to Roussillon with a photo stop at the roman bridge of Pont Julien

 

12:00 Visit the reddish village of Roussillon and lunch

 

02:30 Drive to Gordes

 

02:45 View on the most incredible hilltop village of Provence, and on the famous cistercian abbey of Sénanque

 

03:45 Drive back

 

05:00 Drop off

[Hlitner]

Well, it is certainly an itinerary that will have you driving along several hilltops and getting a view of the valley below (we do like the view from Bonnieux. If your idea of touring Provence is driving around and gazing out at views then you will be a happy camper. Others might argue that there is a lot more to Provence then just driving around (such as actually visiting places) but its one of those different stroke kind of things.

 

Hank

[sjde]

I was starting to think it may be too much time in the car and maybe it would be better to just go to one or two of the villages. Or stay closer to Marseilles and go to Cassis and Le Castellet. I also posted on tripadvisor and this comment seemed to make sense though-

 

It is actually not that bad an itinerary. The ride to and from the port is 1 hour 15 minutes. Then the drive between the villages is relatively short.

 

The key word here is village. In each one you are spending an hour or so which can give you sufficient time to have a good feel for the place, obviously you will not be able to write a thesis on Lourmarin but that is not the point.. In your case after being in restricted space on a ship, I would definitely go for the maximum to see even if a bit of a whirlwind. What benefit would there be to spend all day in one village? or 5 hours?

 

So yeah-we'd get a feel for it and maybe decide where we might like to return some day.