Advantages: sun, great food, scenery, wine
Disadvantages: cold in Winter, hard to get around on local transport

...or resistance. From the ruined walls of the chateau the view of the valley and mountains beyond is magnificent. Vineyards and rows of fruit trees are laid out in orderly fashion in the land below. We spent each day exploring the region and beyond and have great memories of visits to Apt, Gordes, Bonnieux, Menerbes, Lacoste (Peter Mayle country) the beautiful city of Aix-en-Province and the busy but fascinating city and port of Marseille. Property prices are high in an area also populated by film stars, movie directors and authors, so we did not bother with our usual holiday fantasy of "oh if only we could live here". There are lots of rural Gites for holidays, many with the Gites De France logo. Also campsites seem plentiful. We loved the way of life, the friendliness of the Provencal people and the only downsides I can think... Read review

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Advantages: Great views, great food, great dink, historical and artistic attractions
Disadvantages: Those Roads, Expensive generally

........if only! Just back from one of the best holidays of my life. Two weeks in Provence, and how I wish it had been a year as in Peter Mayle’s book….. We booked our hotel, car hire and accommodation independently. We found our cottage by leafing through a Blake’s Cottages – France book, and we were actually able to book on line, so we instantly knew which cottages were available for what weeks. However, we booked six months in advance and many of the cottages which we liked were already gone, so my advice is to book as early as you can, not that we were disappointed with our accommodation at all, quite the contrary. Our gite, which would have slept four, was a tad over £800 for two weeks, although the prices rose quickly after this, as is the norm for accommodation of this kind. We booked flights through British Airways... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic scenery, hot weather, 'interesting people'
Disadvantages: Hard work to organise, a very long way to drive

..., one other thing to remember while driving on French motorways are the tolls... these sort of surprised us at times with a mad scrabble for a few Euros - they arent too hot on letting you know about these things in advance, or indeed how much they are likely to be! Ours ranged from 1.50 euros up to 20 depending which stretch of road you are on... they do take credit cards though so no need to panic if you dont have the cash. But you soon get used to all the French ways, expecially after 12 hours of driving!!! This is not for the faint hearted I tell you... on our journey we drove over mountains and went from sea level up to 3000ft! **ACCOMODATION** On the way to Provence we stopped off for the night to break the journey. We chose to stay in one of the Formula 1 hotels.. this is a huge chain in France with one in pretty much every... Read review

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Advantages: great views and fab food
Disadvantages: a bit isolated

...In September I went on holiday to the Var region of Provence, France for two weeks with my partner. We found a place to stay by searching on the net and didn’t know anything about it before we went so we were pretty pleased with what we found. Our criteria were as follows:- - somewhere with a pool not shared by many people - a good base to explore the region (near cote d’azur) from - near vineyards - somewhere fairly quiet i.e. not a large apartment complex - not outrageously expensive - nice, tidy apartment The apartment The apartment itself was very nice. We had a 2 person apartment in the main building which comprised large double bedroom with en-suite, kitchenette with dining area and a balcony with seating. The apartment was adequate for us. The only minor point was as we were in the eaves... Read review

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