Made-to-measure Classic & Convertible road trips – Location 2CV Provence

Classic & Convertible custom tours

3 days, 2 nights minimum

In the Provence & Côte d’Azur the sun shines at least 300 days per year on average! The great climate, the many sights and the diverse landscape make the southern French Provence & Côte d’Azur the ideal place for a convertible or camper road trip! We have had over 10 years of experience setting out the trips in the Provence , Côte d’Azur. We set out a unique, made-to-measure trip for you on the basis of your wishes regarding sights and needs regarding accommodations.

In your classic convertible or camper through the Provence

Fields of purple lavender, vineyards, winding (mountain) roads, picturesque villages, squares with fountains, terraces under plane trees and sun, much sun! The Provence offers a great and diverse landscape for a lovely road trip.

In the Luberon nature park time has stood still. You will only find small back roads and every ten kilometres an authentic village on top of a mountain.

In the adjacent Vaucluse you will find a couple of touristic sights such as: Gorders (wonderful mountain village), Fontaine de Vaucluse (natural spring), Rousillon (red-coloured earth and ochre quarries) and of course Mont Ventoux.

In the Alpilles you will find the good life, based on the wine and olive oil from this beautiful region. Of course you can follow in the footsteps of Van Gogh, who stayed in Saint-Remy and Arles.

The Camargue offers wonderful long beaches, and you can also admire bulls, (wild) horses and flamingos there.

For water sports you can go to the sea but also to the (Gorges du) Verdon and the lake of Saint-Croix, in the middle of a protected nature area.

Of course the Provence also has beautiful cities such as Aix-en-Provence, Saint-Remy de Provence, Arles and Avignon.

The climate in the Provence

The Provence has a sub-tropic climate. Spring arrives early in the Provence, which means the fruit tree can blossom as early as the beginning of April.

The climate is Mediterranean but more continental than on Côte d’Azur. This means the nights are usually a bit cooler than on the coast. Typical of the Provence is the Mistral. This cold wind can emerge suddenly through the Rhone valley and can bring delicious coolness during summers.

In your classic convertible camper along the Côte d’Azur

Follow the breathtaking coastline of over 400 kilometres through authentic port towns such as Cassis, Bandol and Sanary-sur-Mer and classic bathing resorts such as Saint-Tropez, Cannes and the jet set city of Monaco.

Enjoy the sea, waving palm trees, the beach and delicious fish dishes on the terrace in one of the harbours. The Côte d’Azur has a varying landscape of forests, beaches, mountains and valleys. The coast is characterized by rocks, beaches and bays. The sandy beaches are found at Le LaVandou and Fréju, among others.

Outside the coast lie small islands, with the Iles d’Hyères and Iles de Léris being the best known.

The climate on the Côte d’Azur

The Côte d’Azur owes its name to the azure sea water of the coastal strip. The region is famous for its sun-bathed Mediterranean climate with an average of 3000 sun hours per year.

As early as mid-March spring begins, and in May the first summer temperatures are measured. From April onward the chances of precipitation decrease. During the summer months it is warm, but rarely too hot.

Sometimes the Mistral emerges, a cold and hard win blowing through the Rhine Valley towards the Mediterranean sea from a north-westerly direction. The mistral causes a considerable drop in temperatures, both of the air and the sea water.

Sights you must have seen in the South of France

Aix-en-Provence and surroundings

Aix-en-Provence is an extraordinarily elegant city. This elegance is found in its always lively streets, squares full of restaurants and terraces under lovely plane trees. In Aix-en-Provence history is visibly present with architectural beauties and baroque wonders.

Follow in the footsteps of Cézanne (one of the founders of modern painting) and admire the places and landscapes that inspired his paintings by following the ‘Route Cézanne’ in the city or along the Sainte-Victoire. A limestone massif rising up from the green landscape.

Visit the vineyards and wine domains in the environment of Aix-en-Provence (no less than 5 wines wear the AOC label) or the olive groves and oil mills.
Some highlights of Aix-en-Provence

Enkele hoogtepunten van Aix-en-Provence

Meet Paul Cézanne in in his largest paintings. Visit Cézannes studio and go back over 100 years in the painter’s life. Discover the house where he became a painter and walk through the garden of the family home ‘Jas de Bouffan’. Admire his works in the Musée Granet and visit the quarries of Bibémus, opposite the Saint-Victoire. Here he painted eleven oil paintings and sixteen water colours
Wander through the city. Aix-en-Provence is known as the third city of baroque architecture, after Paris and Versailles.
Relax on one of the terraces on the Cours Mirabeau. The former driveway for coaches has become the liveliest spot in Aix-de-Provence.
Visit the Musée Granet. This museum is in the old palace of Malta and is among France’s most beautiful museums, with a permanent collection of art from the 14th to 20th centuries.
Visit Provençal market. In Aix-en-Provence there is market every day: fruit and vegetable market, book market and flower market. The market is the place for encounters and discoveries.
Enjoy the warm evenings. Thanks to the mild climate the terraces of Aix-en-Provence remain busy until late. In addition, you can visit the many restaurants, bars, pubs, theatre rooms, cinemas and theatres.

Luberon

The warm colours and the wonderful light of the Luberon. You can discover them during a trip under the Provençal sun.
The hills of the Luberon rise from the landscape just north of the Durance. The Luberon is known for its wonderful light, warm colours, walls of ‘pierre sèche’ (stones without cement) and facades that are coloured red or yellow by the natural ochre from the Provençal Colorado, terraces, shaded squares and fountains. Time has stood still there. On the mountain slopes are vineyards and fruit trees.

Vaucluse

The Vaucluse has a number of extraordinary nature areas and a very valuable cultural and architectural heritage. This area, where hills, mountains, lavender fields, rough canyons and cliffs of ochre follow one another.
The Vaucluse’s capital is Avignon, the city where the popes lived 600 years ago. The city walls and many other buildings are also from this era. Of course, Avignon is also known for the bridge of Pont St-Bénézet from the song ‘sur le Pont d’Avignon’.

Gordes is among the most beautiful villages in France, many celebrities and artists went to live here. Several invasions through the centuries forced the population to flee to the hills. It is because of this that this fortified village has such a wonderful location on the mountain.

A very special sight in the Vaucluse are the ochre cliffs and quarries of Rousillon. Discover how ochre colours the landscape. From bright yellow to even flaming red when the sun sets! The ochre was initially used for petroglyphs, rediscovered during the French Revolution and sold worldwide as a colour-proof colorant for over a century.

The Mont Ventoux is the only mountain in the Provence of this height (1912 metres). The difference in height with the foot of the mountain is 1614 metres! When the weather is clear, you can oversee a large part of the Provence and even see the Alps.

Les Alpilles

The Alpilles are a range of lime hills about 350 metres high west of the Luberon. In the valley near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence the Roman settlement of Glanum was built, the excavations and triumphal arch of which can be visited. Vincent Van Gogh stayed in the Alpilles for an extended period of time, painting a lot of pine trees and cypresses.

He lived in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he was treated in the still existing monastery of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, and in Arles. In both places routes can be followed in the footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh.
In Arles many traces are still visible of its rich history, including the amphitheatre, the Roman obelisk, Saint-Trophime cathedral and the 12th-century Romanesque church Notre-Dame-de-la-Major.

The village of Les Beaux-de-Provence is known as ‘one of the most beautiful villages of France’. The village was wonderfully restored and has 22 monuments. The medieval ruin of the Citadelle des Beaux is on the top of the village; you have a wonderful view of the area from here.

La Camargue

The Camargue is the outlet of the Rhone river into the Mediterranean Sea. The marshes and nature area are mostly known for the wild grey-white Camargue horses, the black bulls and pink flamingos. In the Camargue you can make lovely trips by bicycle or on horseback, and witness the (non-bloody) bull fights (Course Camarguaise), which can be visited in the arenas of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and others.

The lake of Saint-Croix and the Gorges du Verdon

The lake ‘Lac de Sainte-Croix’ is a wonderful lake with clear blue water and sun-drenched beaches. The lake was formed by a dam in the ‘Verdon’ river. On a depth of 40 metres lies the old village ‘Les Salles-sur-Verdon’. The old buildings can still be admired under the water. The lake is some 10 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide at its widest.

On the east side of the lake are the Gorges-du-Verdon. Steep rocks, winding paths and clear blue water. Lovely for hiking, climbing, pedal boats or canoeing. It is also possible to drive all the way through the canyon. However, this is a route of over 100 kilometres and takes a full day.

Cote Provencale

The Côte Provençale is the lovely coastline between Marseille and Toulon, with charming villages such as Cassis, Bandol, Sint-Cyr-dur-Mer and Sanary-sur-Mer.
Apart from its beautiful harbour, Cassis is known for its ‘Calanques’: rugged, but wonderful chalk cliffs on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Calanqeus of Cassis are part of the most beautiful nature areas in the South of France. To explore the Calanques of Cassis really well, it is recommended to hire a boat. But you can also make a wonderful tour with your classic car or convertible along the ‘route-de-crète’ for breathtaking views.

Bandol is another nice port town, but the Bandol is also a centuries-old wine region. In the hinterland around Cadiere-d’Azur and Castellet, the vineyards lie against the slopes of the hills. You can take lovely routes along well-known wine houses.
Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer is a classic bathing resort on the wonderful bay of Lecques. Here, a sandy beach, the marina and the centre give the town its typically Mediterranean allure.

(The bay of) Saint-Tropez

A place that is a symbol of the Côte d’Azur and the worldly life. The special light in the bay of Saint-Tropez has attracted artists and wealthy Frenchmen for a long time. Nowadays, the town attracts over 5 million tourists per year. As a results, you can get stuck in hour-long traffic jams when arriving in or leaving the town. It is therefore recommended to park your car in Port-Grimauld or one of the other surrounding port towns, and visit Saint-Tropez by boat. You will arrive in the attractive marina. Next, you can visit the harbour, alleys and nice squares on foot.

Route Napoléon

The Napoleon route follows the rout that the emperor Napoleon took after his return from the island of Elba. The former Route Nationale 85 was re-baptized ‘Route Napoléon’ in 1932, after which considerable work was done to make the trajectory better and more attractive. The route is 324 kilometres long and runs from Golfe-Juan to Grenoble, offering grand panoramas along the way. The most important places of this historic route:
Napoleon came ashore on the beach of Golfe-Juan on 1 March 1815 with his army of 1000 men. After the landing in Golfe-Juan, Napoleon marched to Cannes, where he slept on the beach with his army. This site was later called the Croisette of Cannes. The military column of Napoleon arrived in Castellane on 3 March. A plaquette on the facade of 34 Rue Nationale commemorates the Emperor’s visit. On 4 March, Napoleon arrived in Digne-les-Bains, where a plaquette in Rue du Jeu de Pume commemorates the Emperor’s visit. Sisteron was reached on 5 March by Napoleon who had lunch in Hotel du Bras d’Or. On 5 March 1815 Napoleon crossed the Roman bridge of Burle at Gap. On 7 March 1815 Napoleon made a triumphal entry in Grenoble, after which he could adVance to Paris without meeting resistance.