[Table 5]

It's that time of the year where I start getting the itch to travel, and need to start planning our family vacation. Since the US dollar is strong, an the Euro is relatively affordable, we were thinking of going to southern France (most likely Provence or similar) in late May/early June for about 3 weeks.

The thing is, since I've never been to this part of the country, I really have no idea where exactly to stay or what to see. Everyone says Provence is beautiful, and it sure looks like it, but I need to start getting specific. So I'm wondering if anyone here has any thoughts on specific towns, hotels/b&bs, from anyone who's been there.

Roughly, we'd like to do 1 week city (Paris, since we'd probably fly there), 1 week country (some type of picturesque village/farm/agro-tour situation between Paris and the coast), and 1 week by water (a friend recommended Cassis?).

Since we have a child, we've found that it's easier when we have a home base that you can then roam around from, as opposed to hop from place to place every day or two. Any ideas what some good home-bases would be in that part of France? We're looking for a relatively relaxed pace.

Also, in terms of driving from Paris to, say, Nice or Arles, is there a scenic route on the way down? Are there any good towns/regions along the way that would be good to stay in?