Luberon villages - practical question

Hi

I%26#39;m finalising the itinerary for our upcoming Dec trip, including 6 days to Provence. One question - we want to see the hilltop villages of the Luberon including Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Roussillon, Gordes, Menerbes, Bonnieux etc. My question is, how many villages can you realistically see in a day (travelling with car). I really don%26#39;t want to rush things - I can%26#39;t see that you can do more than two or (maybe, if you push) three per day?

Is it a question of seen one or two seen them all, or is it worth to go for maybe two days to get them all in?

We are staying in St. Remy.

Thanks

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Hi Iris99,

I%26#39;d suggest that you allow 2 days to cover the villages that you mention. A route that we enjoy (although we start from Beaumes de venise, not far from Carpentras) is to call at Fontaine de Vaucluse in the morning before it gets busy then continue on to Gordes, and then on to Roussillon, maybe via the Abbaye de Senanque. On another day you could follow the N100 from Ile sur Sorgue to see Menerbes, Bonnieux, Oppede etc. Fort Buoux, not too far from Apt, is worth a visit. Personally, I don%26#39;t find Ile sur Sorgue that attractive but a lot of people do.

Greg

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Hi

If you want to see the Luberon hill villages why are you staying in St Remy de Provence ???? You can cover St Remy and Les Baux in 2 days possibly 1, after that you are driving for everywhere else !!

rgds

Wilko

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Hi Wilko1

Only started research in earnest after I booked place to stay (although I did read a lot of posts in this forum to decide on St Remy as base). It does not look like to much of a drive in any case?

My original post was because I saw a number of itineraries doing a couple of these villages in one day. If it is anything like for example Toledo outside Madrid (which we happened on by accident) we spent a full day walking through the tiny streets and enjoying the wonderful old village. So maybe it is worth picking one or two Luberon villages and spend decent time there.

Thanks

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I think you have the wrong idea of the Lubéron villages. They are REALLY villages and really small.Toledo is almost as big as Avignon and bigger than Arles. Arles has a population of about 60K. Most of the villages number their populations in the hundreds — a couple of thousand at most — and you can walk from one end to the other of any of them in ten minutes.

What takes time is driving the narrow roads that link them — and stopping every few hundred meters to admire the view. And then there%26#39;s the sitting in the café and soaking up the atmosphere...

Don%26#39;t forget to include the abbey at Sénanque and the Pont du gard in your itinerary...

And have a great trip!

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