Which Tour? Luberon Villages or Lavender of Provence

GCBK10905 · March 6, 2023

We will be stopping in Marseille for 1 day on our cruise in late June. I'm torn on which of these tours to do. We love old, quaint, charming villages (not a big fan of big cities) that are pretty & memorable. We are in our mid-40s and no mobility issues. We like to see as much as we can during our travels...but also love to stop and enjoy a good glass of wine/food.

Anyone have any info that might help us make a decision between these 2 tours?

Luberon Villages: https://provence-amazing-tours.com/tour/the-luberon-villages-tour-8-hours/
Lavender of Provence: https://provence-amazing-tours.com/tour/sur-la-route-des-lavandes-8h/

The lavender fields look really pretty/unique but wondering if we'd see more on the other tour (would be curious if there are lavender fields on the Luberon tour)

(Or, if there is something better we should consider, also very open to hearing about it! Thank you!)

edinburgher · March 6, 2023

The Luberon villages are very scenic and there is a small chance of seeing some lavendar in the area, although it really only starts around late June with peak flowering more in July.

Having looked at your Luberon tour link which names some really pretty villages, you could internet search "lavendar fields in the Luberon" and compare the locations with those areas named on your tour, because if there is a match, you would probably be better with the Luberon tour, but of course that is only my opinion and others may disagree.

marazul · March 6, 2023

10 hours ago, GCBK10905 said:

We will be stopping in Marseille for 1 day on our cruise in late June. I'm torn on which of these tours to do. We love old, quaint, charming villages (not a big fan of big cities) that are pretty & memorable. We are in our mid-40s and no mobility issues. We like to see as much as we can during our travels...but also love to stop and enjoy a good glass of wine/food.

Anyone have any info that might help us make a decision between these 2 tours?

Luberon Villages: https://provence-amazing-tours.com/tour/the-luberon-villages-tour-8-hours/

Lavender of Provence: https://provence-amazing-tours.com/tour/sur-la-route-des-lavandes-8h/

The lavender fields look really pretty/unique but wondering if we'd see more on the other tour (would be curious if there are lavender fields on the Luberon tour)

(Or, if there is something better we should consider, also very open to hearing about it! Thank you!)

Late June is the time to see lavender in either tour. They are two very different experiences.

In the Luberon tour you will see a number of lovely villages and plenty of lavender. In the Lavender tour you will see more lavender, but you will also get to see Moustiers and the "Grand Canyon" of France. Moustiers is in a dramatic setting under rocky peaks and on the edge of a natural park area of the Loup river gorge. If you are interested in pottery, it is the center of some of the most beautiful and iconic faïence in France.

https://www.moustiers.fr/en

It is a tough decision. I love both areas and have visited both a few times when we lived in the area. For a first timer, you may have more to see in the Luberon tour. I am glad the Moustiers/Gorge tour is now offered. It is a spectacular area.

debbrilacy · April 29, 2023

Curious if you decided which one! We will be docked in Marseille on June 24, and I do want to see Lavender fields. Luberon sounds wonderful, but I don’t want to take the tour offered by the cruise line.

marazul · April 30, 2023

3 hours ago, debbrilacy said:

Curious if you decided which one! We will be docked in Marseille on June 24, and I do want to see Lavender fields. Luberon sounds wonderful, but I don’t want to take the tour offered by the cruise line.

If you check the links that the OP posted. You'll see that those are ptivate tours. That is a good company.

crewsgirl · May 8, 2023

We are in Marseille on June 11, and I booked the Luberon Villages. I will give an update as soon as we get home. I am very excited for this day, I was concerned that I would not be able to get a group together, so yes, I did book through the ship excursions, we only have until 5 p.m. there and I wanted to get priority debarkation with the ship's tour so we could get an early start. I hope that was a wise decision. I usually prefer very small groups and on our own, so we shall see.

NCteacherlovescruising · July 16, 2023

On 5/8/2023 at 6:15 PM, crewsgirl said:

We are in Marseille on June 11, and I booked the Luberon Villages. I will give an update as soon as we get home. I am very excited for this day, I was concerned that I would not be able to get a group together, so yes, I did book through the ship excursions, we only have until 5 p.m. there and I wanted to get priority debarkation with the ship's tour so we could get an early start. I hope that was a wise decision. I usually prefer very small groups and on our own, so we shall see.

How was it?

crewsgirl · July 16, 2023

5 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

How was it?

The Luberon Villages were lovely. We first went to the quaint village of Lourmarin, and while it was sleepy on a Sunday morning, I loved that we wandered without large crowds, and then, lucked out to find a beautiful small art festival/craft show with local french crafters. Our next stop was Roussillon, France and we had the most beautiful heirloom tomatoes with truffles overlooking a spectacular view of Provence, not sure how our day could have been better! It was a fairly small group, about 22 people, we had an excellent guide, and we enjoyed the day immensely. We stopped on the ancient Roman bridge on the way there, and had a great day overall. I would do this again.