Provence

I would recommend TWO areas to base yourselves out of - how many days are you talking about?  You would need at least / min 2-3 days there to make it worth your time....since it's an AREA vs. just a city, the beauty of it is driving around all the quaint little hilltop villages and taking it slow.  Provence is an area where you definitely want to have a car.

It takes four hours to drive from Geneva to Aix-en-Provence.  If you base yourselves here, than you can easily access the "heart" of Provence - the Luberton hills, the medievel villages, the markets - you could actually hit Orange (famous Roman amphitheater) or Avignon on the way down.  Avignon has the Palais des Papes and famous aqueduct....it's a big tourist destination so can get crowded and it's very lively/festive.  Aix en Provence is the little Paris of the south.

The nice thing about Aix is that you can easily do a day trip to the coast...we love Cassis. IT's a seaside village that tourists don't seem to know about, but local French tourists love, and so do we.  That's where we are headed....so you can get that cote d'azure feel but still be in Provence.

If you wanted to actually be in the HEART of Provence where they have the Mas de PRovence homes - the lavender colored shutters, lavender fields, sunflowers - basically, all that the impressionists painted - then APT might be a good place to base yourself out of and from there you take drives and meander around the most gorgeous villages like Rousillon, and Gordes - other even smaller villages we absolutely love are Bonnieux, Lacoste etc.  Some of the most beautiful scenic drives are in this area - I remember one - windy and tiny roads but gorgeous is something like Tourettes sur Loup that Frommers recommended and I could find online if you chose to go to this area.

So the SECOND area I would recommend thought it's further from Geneva slightly b/c the way the roads are...would be the NICE / MONACO area.  Now of course this isn't Provence Provence necessarily so you're getting more the FRENCH RIVIERA area....but it kind of gives you both b/c all you need to do is drive inland a little bit and you access PROVENCE and the cobblestone villages....like Grasse and Vence and St. Paul de Vence.  These towns are bigger than the villages I mention above but you get the same feeling.  It's always so fun to go to Monte Carlo and people and car watch and see the palace.  Nice has some great museums - Matisse is my favorite there.  WAlking along Nice waterfront is nice...but the beaches are pebbly and cold.  From Nice it is fun to go into Italy for the day and have some pasta.  

CASSIS & provence

If you want a day at the beach, just an hours drive is CASSIS. This is my favourite port town b/c it is small, and not as touristy/famous as Nice or Cannes so it's mostly LOCAL French tourists, but this village has a bit of everything, a little market, little grocery store a few bakeries, restaurants right on the water....and a unique thing is that it has the CALANQUES so you take a scenic boat ride to see the limestone cliffs.  If you go here, definitely have lunch at my favourite place (you need reservations) for Villa Madie.

http://lavillamadie.com/en/

For Roman ruins, I'm sure you will hit Avignon (famous aqueduct / bridge Pont du Gard), or Orange (amphitheatre) or Arles.  

I have not spent much time in Marseilles, but my Paris friend loves it for art, architecture and old churches/cathedrals.

Constance, for you and your love for wildlife, Camargues region is just an interesting place with the wild horses and birdlife.  It's a very unique place.

But my favourite part of PROVENCE area are the tiny villages in the heart of Provence...the LUBERON area.

Rousillon is a very special place, there are a lot of artists who settle here and have galleries b/c of the OCHRE coloured soils so they take their paints and pigments from the land.

Driving distance from APT (a bigger town, medieval city, bigger market) are all the little towns like Bonnieux (famous little bakery here), Gourdes (lovely, sits on top of a hill), All these little villages are LOVELY!  You can always find a great place for lunch in the shade...a delicious bakery...etc.  These drives are so beautiful!

The best part is hitting the markets.  There are tons of websites saying which village has a market on which day, on any given day of the week, there will be a village with a market going on. WE love picking up bread, cheese, etc. and having picnics.  Summer is the time for amazing cantaloupes, peaches, etc. BEST FRUIT ever!!!

NOTES FROM ALMA FRIEND

To tell you the truth, we never took the boat to the Calanques. We would always hike there from Cassis. From the town, you just follow the signs saying "Calanques" up to the top where there is a bunch of parking (I'd definitely get an early start however!). From there you can hike to the first calanque (Port Pin) and it has a really great sandy beach and some decent snokeling. In our experience it doesn't get too crowded and we really love it. The hike is probably about 45 minutes and it's important to have good shoes. There are some slippery parts and the part where you go down to the beach is a little steep, but we have done it a bunch of times with our kids, and we survived! You can keep hiking past the beach and there are some spectacular views.