Best way-Toulon to Aix

[ronswife]

What is the best way to travel from Toulon to Aix? Train, taxi, bus??? Or should we hire someone????

[moyaroo]

The best way from Toulon would be to hire a car and drive. French roads are easy to drive and havingthe car givesyou some flexibility to go off track a bit and perhaps visit a winery (look for signs advertising Degustation and Vins - if no Vin on the sign you may be degusting honey or something else)

[taxatty]

We've looked into this trip and it appears to take about half the time to drive to Aix from Toulon versus the train. We haven't driven in that area, but spent a lot of time driving in Provence last summer around Arles, Vaison la Romaine, Mont Ventoux and Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue and found the roads generally excellent and very well marked. Although the car isn't cheap, it's significantly cheaper for 2 than the RCI full day Aix excursion.

 

Les

[ronswife]

Does anyone know how close the car rental company (and which company) is to the port?

[ollienbertsmum]

It is £35 each for a ship tour to Aix, there are 4 in our party.

 

Hiring a car sounds like a good idea, but probably not with my DH in the car beside me.

 

I have costed a private tour and that is going to set us back 390 euro.

 

So I think that I will be giving up on doing my own thing and taking the ship tour. :( We don't have to follow the tour guide around in Aix if we don't want to. It will give us the chance to see something of Provence.

[texancruzer]

When we stopped in Toulon, it was our last port stop before disembarking in Barcelona the next day. We decided to do the 1/2 day Aix-en-Provence tour with the ship. We chose it so we could have some time in the afternoon to pack and prepare for the next day. We enjoyed it ALOT !

 

The ride was quite scenic and the guides gave us some history and back ground info on the area. Once in Aix they showed us the meeting point and the time to be back. Then they had a short walking tour - which dh and I quickly strayed from ;) and we explored on our own. It was quite nice and we found a wonderful old book store (of course everything was in French), a small but interesting church - virtually empty except for the organist practicing for services the next day (it was Saturday) and a wonderful gourmet cooking shop where I purchased my dd a cookbook. Of course there were also the sweet shops (the windows look like pieces of art !) and the main boulevard where we strolled and had a french crepe and coffee. Aix is a wonderful town and the ship tour gave us exactly what we were looking for: an easy ride :rolleyes: I would do it again !

[ollienbertsmum]

When we stopped in Toulon, it was our last port stop before disembarking in Barcelona the next day. We decided to do the 1/2 day Aix-en-Provence tour with the ship. We chose it so we could have some time in the afternoon to pack and prepare for the next day. We enjoyed it ALOT !

 

The ride was quite scenic and the guides gave us some history and back ground info on the area. Once in Aix they showed us the meeting point and the time to be back. Then they had a short walking tour - which dh and I quickly strayed from ;) and we explored on our own. It was quite nice and we found a wonderful old book store (of course everything was in French), a small but interesting church - virtually empty except for the organist practicing for services the next day (it was Saturday) and a wonderful gourmet cooking shop where I purchased my dd a cookbook. Of course there were also the sweet shops (the windows look like pieces of art !) and the main boulevard where we strolled and had a french crepe and coffee. Aix is a wonderful town and the ship tour gave us exactly what we were looking for: an easy ride :rolleyes: I would do it again !

 

Texancruiser, that is a real help - I was thinking that I had made the right choice (for my family) and what you did sounds just like the sort of day we need.