A 10-day southern France loop: Marseille's Calanques, Arles' Roman ruins and the Camargue, Saint-Tropez's beaches, and three nights on the French Riviera at Nice.
Southern France is one of the great road-trip regions of Europe, and this Provence and French Riviera road trip itinerary earns that reputation in full. Starting and finishing in Marseille, the route loops anticlockwise over 10 days through four very different landscapes: ancient port city, Roman provincial capital with wild wetlands on its doorstep, glamorous Riviera resort, and the cosmopolitan Riviera capital at Nice.
Leg times stay between 90 minutes and three hours. Each base unlocks its own day trips, so you arrive with energy to spend.
Total driving: approximately 600 km. A standard hire car handles every road on this route. French autoroute tolls on the A7, A8, and coastal sections add around 30 euros for the full loop.
May, June, and September offer the best conditions for this route. Temperatures are warm but not oppressive, beaches are swimmable, and the Calanques hiking trails stay open. July and August are magnificent but crowded and expensive; book coastal accommodation three or more months ahead if you travel then. The Camargue flamingos are present year-round but most active in spring and early summer.
Fly into Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) and collect your hire car on arrival. Return the car there on Day 10, or at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) if you prefer a one-way rental. Petrol stations are plentiful across the whole route.
Marseille is France's oldest city, founded by Greek traders around 600 BC, and two days is the right allocation: long enough to understand the place, short enough to keep it purposeful.
Day 1: arrive at Vieux-Port (Old Port) in the morning. The fish market runs until noon on the north quay; stand at it even if you buy nothing. Walk north into Le Panier, the oldest quarter, where bougainvillea spills over whitewashed walls and street art appears on every second surface. The hilltop basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde sits 150 metres above the city; the view over the bay and the Calanques headlands rewards the climb.
A 10-day loop from Leeds through the Yorkshire Dales, Teesdale, UNESCO Durham and the chalk cliffs and gannet colonies of East Yorkshire: one of England's most varied driving circuits.
Day 2: take a Calanques boat cruise from Vieux-Port. The cruise runs 2-3 hours and follows the sheer white limestone cliffs east of the city, gliding into the most dramatic inlets. For hikers, the Luminy trailhead (20 minutes south by car) gives access to Calanque de Sugiton in 45 minutes on foot.
Note that trails in the park can close from June to September during high fire-risk periods. Check the national park website the day before.
The drive from Marseille to Arles takes about 90 minutes northwest along the A54. Arles sits at the point where the Rhone delta spreads into the Camargue, and the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site layered with Roman, early Christian, and medieval remains.
Day 3: the Roman Amphitheatre is the centrepiece. Built in the first century AD, it seats 20,000 people and still hosts events. Walk the upper terraces for a view over the Provençal rooftops. The nearby ancient baths (Thermes de Constantin) and the Arles Archaeological Museum round out the Roman story well. Late afternoon, follow the Van Gogh trail: a series of plaques marks the exact spots where the artist stood to paint the café terrace, the bridge at Trinquetaille, and the hospital garden.
Day 4: drive south into the Camargue. The D36 from Arles to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer passes through the wetlands where Europe's largest colony of greater flamingos gathers alongside the white horses and black bulls that define the Camargue's identity. The coastal village of Les Saintes-Maries is modest and atmospheric. In the afternoon, detour northwest to Pont du Gard (45 minutes on the D986 toward Remoulins): the 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct is best visited before 10am, but afternoon light turns the stone gold.
The drive from Arles to Saint-Tropez takes around three hours via Brignoles and the A57. The town's reputation for celebrity excess precedes it, but Saint-Tropez rewards those who arrive outside peak summer (particularly in May, early June, or September) with a genuinely beautiful fishing harbour and a pace of life that still feels manageable.
Day 5: walk the old port in the morning, when the fishing boats are still unloading and the pastis bars are just opening. The Annonciade museum, housed in a 16th-century chapel above the port, holds a surprisingly significant collection of post-impressionist and Fauvist work including Signac, Matisse, and Derain. Drive to Pampelonne beach in the afternoon: five kilometres of golden sand with free public sections alongside the famous private clubs. The beach is 4 km from the town centre; park at the southern end at Tahiti Plage.
Day 6: drive into the hills above Saint-Tropez. Gassin and Ramatuelle are hilltop villages 10-15 minutes from the coast with panoramic views over the bay and the Maures hills. Port Grimaud, a purpose-built Venetian-style village 15 minutes north, is best seen from the church tower at low tide.
The drive from Saint-Tropez to Nice takes around 90 minutes along the A8. Three nights gives Nice the attention it deserves and time to use it as a day-trip base.
Day 7: park near the Old Town and walk the Cours Saleya market, open from 6am. The flower and food stalls fill the square with cut flowers, olives, cheese, and socca, the thick chickpea pancake that is the Riviera's finest street food. Climb Castle Hill (Colline du Chateau) for the best free view over the bay. The Promenade des Anglais is two kilometres of palm-shaded seafront, best at first light.
Day 8: day trip to Monaco and Eze. Monaco is 25 minutes by road, and the view from the Rock above the old town is worth every minute of the drive. The medieval hilltop village of Eze sits between Nice and Monaco on the Grand Corniche road, clinging to a cliff 430 metres above the sea. Allow an hour in each.
Day 9: drive west along the coast. Antibes has the best-preserved old town walls on the Riviera and the Musée Picasso set inside the seafront castle. Cannes is 20 minutes further. Both are best in the morning.
The A8 and A7 link Nice to Marseille in about 2.5 hours. Leave early enough to stop at Cassis, 20 minutes east of Marseille on the A50. The small fishing port has excellent local white wine (Cassis AOC), a clifftop car park with views down into Calanque d'En-Vau, and coffee bars open from 8am. It rounds off the route with the same limestone and turquoise water that opened it.
A standard saloon car handles every road on this route. Driving in central Marseille, Arles, and Nice requires patience; park once and walk or use local transport. Saint-Tropez traffic in July and August is severe: budget 30-45 minutes extra for any movement.
Mobile signal is reliable throughout. Navigation apps work well on every section.
An 11-day Switzerland road trip that skips the ski resorts and explores the country's cultural heartland: Appenzell's painted facades, Basel's world-class art scene, the UNESCO capital Bern, lakeside Lausanne and cosmopolitan Geneva.
The full route — stops, maps, and driving times — is on Routebook by Kington.
A 10-day loop from Marseille through Arles and the Camargue, Saint-Tropez, and the French Riviera at Nice, covering the best of Mediterranean France.
