Help with DIY Rental Car Itinerary for Provence/Marseille

[kdrdallas]

My husband, 3-yr-old son, and I will be in Marseille on Wednesday, August 17 (ship is in port for 10 hours from 8 am to 6 pm). Because we’re traveling with a toddler, we decided to rent a car for the day to give us more flexibility in the event our son becomes cranky or tired. I’m looking for feedback on whether the following itinerary is doable in a day…

 

- Take ship’s bus to the old port (assuming they have one… we’re on Princess)

- Walk to rental car agency near Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles train station

- Drive to/through Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

- Drive to Abbey Notre Dame de Senanque

- Drive to/through Roussillon

- Drive to/through Bonnieux

- Drive to/through Lourmarin

- Drive to/through Aix-en-Provence

- Drive to rental car agency and make same walk/bus trip back to ship

 

Google says it’s about 217 km (135 miles) of driving with an estimated travel time of 3 hours and 47 minutes. We tend to like to tour the countryside and are interested in seeing lavender and sunflower fields, architecture, etc, but would like to get out and walk around at some of these places including maybe some shopping in Aix. Thoughts?

 

Another option I looked at was Marseille - Arles - Les Baux - St Remy - Aix - Marseille, which Google says is 233 km (145 miles) with an estimated travel time 3 hours 27 minutes.

 

Thoughts on either of these? Thanks so much for your help!

[Hlitner]

Not sure what to say :). If that is what you want to do with your day...then go for it. Not sure we would go to L'Isle sur la Sorgue...except on Sunday mornings (when they have an amazing market), but the town does have it's charm. The area around Bonnieux (and the town) is quite nice and picturesque. If your goal for the port day is to simply drive around...then your itineraries will certainly fulfill that dream.

 

Hank

[LINGBER]

My husband, 3-yr-old son, and I will be in Marseille on Wednesday, August 17 (ship is in port for 10 hours from 8 am to 6 pm). Because we’re traveling with a toddler, we decided to rent a car for the day to give us more flexibility in the event our son becomes cranky or tired. I’m looking for feedback on whether the following itinerary is doable in a day…

 

- Take ship’s bus to the old port (assuming they have one… we’re on Princess)

- Walk to rental car agency near Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles train station

- Drive to/through Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

- Drive to Abbey Notre Dame de Senanque

- Drive to/through Roussillon

- Drive to/through Bonnieux

- Drive to/through Lourmarin

- Drive to/through Aix-en-Provence

- Drive to rental car agency and make same walk/bus trip back to ship

 

Google says it’s about 217 km (135 miles) of driving with an estimated travel time of 3 hours and 47 minutes. We tend to like to tour the countryside and are interested in seeing lavender and sunflower fields, architecture, etc, but would like to get out and walk around at some of these places including maybe some shopping in Aix. Thoughts?

 

Another option I looked at was Marseille - Arles - Les Baux - St Remy - Aix - Marseille, which Google says is 233 km (145 miles) with an estimated travel time 3 hours 27 minutes.

 

Thoughts on either of these? Thanks so much for your help!

 

Which rental car company are you using? We are looking for a rental for our day in Marseille as well.

 

Thanks!

[Hlitner]

We would just add one caution about rental cars in France, Italy and much of Europe. Most of the lower cost rentals are manual shift cars. For those that want or must have an automatic shift should be forewarned that they may not even be available....and when available, the cost can often be double (or more) of standard shifts.

 

Hank

[Bowie MeMe]

Have you checked for the availability of car seat for 3 year-old. You will have to have that if it is like most countries. Check your credit card for coverage of the CDW -- we gave decided that for us (10 day car rental before cruise in France and Germany) we were covered and we are not doing more. (That will pay for the baby's car seat.) We also found it is just easier to rent from an American company (Hertz or Avis) because if there is a problem then you can work from USA easier. Small rental agency and you have a problem hard to communicate/laws different/time zones etc. I have not had the problem but others have that damage claims are made and they are hard to fight.

 

A great fun when traveling with the very young is to just find a playground and let the child free. Ask on the destination board or on trip advisor for parks. Don't overestimate how far you want to drive and how much you want to do. Things tend to take longer and cost more than what it looks like in the planning stage. Estimates of time driving can vary a bunch and so can time to get to the car and to return it. All aspects of the car and driving are "just a little off" and so tendency is to take more time than what those "estimates" average. The estimates are for NO traffic No obstructions and No bathroom breaks ! When we have done a rental car for a port stop only one day, we found that many others were also renting and returning at the same time schedule. Slow paper work process. Watch the rental price too -- it can go down or extra fees get added --Ask about extra driver fee too -- I believe really need at least 2 drivers on policy --one gets sick or hurt you have to be able to drive to return car! (AAA rate usually gives free 2nd driver). Know the rules -- age limits kept us from getting a car (A LONG time ago but still).

 

Have a blast. Little days of exploring and just having fun as a family are so worth while. At my stage of life, I am enjoying seeing my daughters (who we starting traveling with at age 6 weeks) now taking their kids (our grands) all over the world -- my 15 month old granddaughter just returned from a Baltic Cruise and the whole family had fun. Their tip -- have the kitchen double cook the green beans (mushier) and the baby would eat the whole plate full.

[kdrdallas]

Thanks for the responses. We're currently holding a reservation with Enterprise for a 5-passenger automatic vehicle. Rate was $139 USD, but we also reserved a GPS and a car seat. Total comes to $167 USD.

 

Still not sure if this is a good idea versus just taking the ship's transportation-only excursion to Lourmarin and Aix. We just don't want our toddler to disrupt anyone else's fun, if he should become a little cranky.

[Chercheloi]

Hi i think if you take taxi on the port to lourmarin And to aix it cost a round 350€ but you pay 165 + petrol And tolls tax+ taxi to the rent car company And taxi when you came back i think a taxi it will be cheaper