City to make my home base during visit to Provence, France?

Question

I'm in my early 20s and will be taking a trip to France and Italy and I have about 5 days in Provence. My itinerary now is to have about 1 day in Avignon, 1.5 days in Arles, 1 day in Aix-en-Provence, and 2 days in Nice. I'll be going from Paris to Provence, and then from Provence to Venice, and plan on sticking to the trains/buses while in Provence. Question 1: I think this is rushing it a bit, any ideas how to pare down the Provence part? Question 2 (more important): to reduce the number of hotel transfers that I'm making which takes time, does it make sense to have a certain city be my home base where I have a hotel, and then take day trips from there to elsewhere? If so, what should be my home base city?

Answer 1

I would say Marseille but it might be dangerous if you are young and travelling by yourself. Therefore, I suggest you to go to Toulon. There are many cheap hotels near the station, there are buses for Aix, trains for Arles, Nice and Avignon and the town itself is nice.

Answer 2

The south of France is really worth seeing, so if at all possible, I wouldn't pare down that part of the trip.  You could try having Aix-en-Provence be your home base, but especially if you're going to be taking public transportation, it might be a bit far to go back and forth every night.  I think the easiest thing to do would be to stay in Aix for a few days while you see Avignon and Arles and then move onto Nice and get a hotel there.