Avignon

Avignon needs 1 day: touring the Palais des Papes, the largest Gothic residence in Europe, home to seven popes during the 14th-century Western Schism, and walking to the Pont d'Avignon, the medieval bridge immortalized in the French nursery rhyme «Sur le Pont d'Avignon», the same afternoon. May-June and September bring the mildest weather, avoiding Provence's summer heat. It's mid-priced for France. It served as the seat of the Catholic Church instead of Rome between 1309 and 1377, a period known as the «Avignon Papacy», and its walled historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.