Yes, Provence at this time of the year can be a delight. Here are some suggestions from the Irish Independent.
My husband and I will be married 20 years this year and are thinking of travelling to France for a week in the autumn. Cassis near Marseille in the south of France looks lovely. We like a hotel called Les Roches Blanches. The trouble is, you can only fly direct from Ireland during summer. Could you recommend somewhere near Nice that we could fly to from Cork or Dublin. We need some relaxation and walking, nowhere too built up, and we don't want to hire a car. Mairead
You can fly directly from Dublin to Nice with Aer Lingus and Ryanair, but without hiring a car it would be tricky to travel the 200 or so kilometres west to Cassis. While much of the coastline around Nice is developed, there are some gems that should have a similar charm to Cassis.
Antibes is a lovely town about 10 miles west of Nice. It has bags of character, with an old town, a picturesque port, and the Picasso museum and landscaped gardens. There are also plenty of beaches and miles of stunning coastline.
A hotel that you might want to consider is the Auberge Provençal (aubergeprovencale.com), a romantic, old Provencal inn with six rooms, each with a four-poster or canopied bed. Double rooms start at €95. If you want to splash out, the chambres d'hôtes Val des Roses (val-des-roses.com) is the place. It is a stone's throw from the beach. A room costs €250 a night.
Alternatively, you could fly into Nice and spend a week in Provence, staying at one of the villages in northern Var, such as Seillans. I found the Hotel des deux Rocs (see hoteldeuxrocs.pagesperso-orange.fr), which has double rooms at €78 in high season. You need to be dedicated to reach the area, first taking a bus to Cannes and then another to nearby Draguignan, but it should be worth it, as Seillans is considered one of the most beautiful villages in the country.
If your heart is still set on Cassis, the best I found is a flight from Dublin to Marseilles via Stansted with Ryanair, which is a total journey time of five hours, 25 minutes.
- Tom Hall
Irish Independent
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