European Travel: Our Trip to Provence, France

Do you dream of visiting pretty little towns in the countryside of France? Today we’re sharing all the details of our trip to Provence, including the prettiest villages to visit, as well as where to stay!

Amazingly, this trip was a few years ago and I am just now finally sitting down to write about it. So many of you have said you would love more travel posts (especially when that travel involves France)! So, today I’m sharing our trip to Provence!

I did a ton of very thorough research and spent a lot of time seeking out the best of all the wonderful villages in Provence. So here is our 10-day itinerary, including the towns we chose to see, as well as where we stayed. And though I’ve tried to narrow it down, this is a photo-heavy post so grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in!

 

First Stop: Aix en Provence 

After all my research, we decided on staying in two different areas. That meant changing hotels once, but then using our second hotel as a base from which to travel to different small towns each day as there are so many to see!

Our 10-day itinerary consisted of two nights spent just outside Aix-en-Provence, followed by six nights in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, with a final night back in Nice to make the flight home easier. We rented a car so that we could drive through the beautiful countryside and do things at our own pace. To me, a car rental is essential there.

Our plan for our trip to Provence was to take it slow, visiting one or two small villages per day. We love driving in beautiful countryside (there was lots of that!), enjoying good food and wine, and antiquing. We did visit some of the bigger historical sites, but there are more that we chose to skip. We wanted some leisurely days of strolling and shopping and just taking in French life.

After landing in Nice we picked up our car and drove to our first hotel, Château de Fonscolombe. This château is absolutely stunning, having just finished a complete overhaul before we arrived. Our desire was to relax and not rush those first few days while adjusting to the time zone, etc., and it proved to be the right move! 

 

Fonscolombe is truly the quintessential French château – everywhere you look is another beautiful view of the building or grounds. And the fact that it was recently redone in a very pared down country French style didn’t hurt! If you’re looking for a classic château experience, it is perfect.

 

 

Day One 

• Explore Aix en Provence
• View the Château of Vauvenargues (castle)

After catching up on some sleep, our first day we drove into Aix-en-Provence, which is the former capital of Provence and one of the larger towns in Provence. It made for a wonderful day of wandering cobble stone streets, shopping, eating, and of course, photographing everything!

Later, we drove a short distance to get a view of a very famous castle, the Château of Vauvenargues. You cannot see inside as it is still privately owned so while we enjoyed the pretty drive and views, this is not an essential stop.

 

Day Two

• Head to Les Baux, visit the Château des Baux-de-Provence ruins

The second morning, we left our beautiful room in the château (sniff, sniff), and headed out for what turned out to be one of my favorite sites we visited, the Château des Baux-de-Provence. Located near the town of Les Baux, these are the ruins of a medieval fortress built in the 13th century.

 

The ruins are amazing, and we spent the good part of a day exploring them. The views of the surrounding landscape from the top are also stunning. A must-see.

 

Second Stop: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

At the end of that day, we landed at our hotel in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (St. Rémy for short), the Hotel Le Vallon de Valrugues. As I said earlier, our plan was to use St. Rémy as our base and we stayed there for six nights.

There are many beautiful and highly recommended hotels in and around this area, but we absolutely loved this hotel. And even better, it’s very reasonable for a hotel of this caliber.

It’s very close to town, literally a short 1/2 mile walk which was especially nice! It’s also a short drive to several of the top sites in St. Remy, including the Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole (where Van Gogh was a patient).

 

 

The service was top notch, the room and grounds were lovely, and the breakfast was beyond belief! Honestly, I’ve never had a breakfast of this caliber and it would be worth a visit to the hotel just for that meal.

 

Day Three 

• Explore the town and surrounding areas/sites of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
• Drive to the town of Arles to explore

 

 

 

Day Four

 

• Visit to a favorite winery for a tasting, Château Fortia
• Explore the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape
• Explore the town of Gigondas

Both Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape are towns as well as wine AOC’s (designated areas). As we love wine from this region, we knew we had to stop.

 

Both are smaller, charming villages and not as overrun with tourists as many of the others. There are winding cobblestone streets, with gorgeous views of the wine country. Perfect for a stroll, a few photos, and a lovely lunch.

 

Day Five

 

• Explore the town of Uzes, including a visit to the Pont du Gard
• Explore the town of Nîmes 

Many people stop in Uzes as it is close to the Pont du Gard, one of Provence’s main tourist attractions. The Gard is a Roman aqueduct constructed in the middle of the 1st century AD to bring water to Nîmes and is a World Heritage Site. 

 

 

Day Six

• Drive to the town of Gordes to explore 
• Visit L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, including the fabulous flea market there
• Quick visit to the town of Roussillon

If you’re researching Provencal towns to visit, Gordes will come up again and again as one of the most beautiful, and it absolutely is! The village is situated at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail, a small mountain range and it feels like the town was built right into the mountains.

 

Narrow winding roads lead up to this little medieval town, with people stopping to take pictures all along the way as the view is so spectacular.

 

Gordes was high on my list and did not disappoint. There are charming houses, little winding cobble stone streets, and jaw-dropping views of the surrounding countryside around every corner. Highly recommended. 

 

L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was also high on my list as it has one of the most famous flea markets in the area. The flea market is spread out and winding, wrapping around the waterway that flows through the town. There is a center area to the market that is more handmade wares, cheeses, and fruit, while the antiques dealers are spread out around that.

 

In addition to a wonderful flea market, this town had stunning antiques shops. In fact, there was an entire area of the town that was packed full of them. I was in heaven! We did a little antiquing in each town we visited, but I never saw the concentration of shops I did in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

And yes, I did buy some things! A few bread boards, a large demijohn, and come confit jars. We were going to ship them but as we were in the town on a Sunday, all the postal shops were closed. We ended up just packing some of them into suitcases, and the glass items we carried in our carryons. My husband was thrilled. 😉

 

The town of Roussillon was not on our original itinerary, but we finished a little early on this day so we decided to make a stop. I had heard the natural red rocks created a very unique and beautiful sight, and it did!

 

 

Day Seven 

• Explore the town of Avignon

 

Avignon was the largest city we visited so it felt much different than the smaller villages and quaint towns. There is lots to see and do, including the famous Avignon les Halles (covered market) and the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes). I think if you want to explore it more thoroughly, you would need a few days.

 

We debated not going to Avignon as we didn’t want to focus on larger cities, but we also felt like we didn’t want to not see it at all, so a full day of exploring was our compromise.

 

Day Eight

 

• Leave Provence and drive down to Nice, visiting the seaside towns of Cassis and St. Tropez on the way
• Stay in Nice for one night

The drive from St. Remy to the seaside was truly special. I wish I could share videos! Driving the countryside (which feels in some parts very much like California wine country), was beautiful. Our first stop was Cassis, which is a small but charming seaside town. Then we headed to St. Tropez. 

Talk about contrasts! After over a week of slow paced, quaint villages, St. Tropez is a bit of a culture shock. It is beautiful and is right on the water, but for me, it was disappointing. It was incredibly crowded and the shops felt very touristy. In fairness, we didn’t go to a beach and we were only walking/shopping in town, but the amount of people was staggering and made it feel like a day at Disneyland, but in French!

 

I hope this recap of our trip to Provence was helpful for you!  All in all we were very happy with the trip, and there were only a few things we would do differently if we were to do it again.

 

Provence Highlights/Must-Sees/Loves

The town of Gordes 
Breakfast at our St. Remy hotel
Our stay at the château
Exploring the Château des Baux-de-Provence (outside Le Baux)
Antiquing and the flea market in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
Driving the roads to and from each of the towns, with the plane trees lined up on either side of the road 
The drive from St. Remy to Nice
Touring the Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole
Taking photos of picturesque buildings, doors, and walkways
Having a glass of rosé at lunch 
Stopping for a café au lait in a pretty square each afternoon

 

Provence Lows/Dislikes

St. Tropez
Not having enough time to see Nice in the daytime (we only had dinner there)
Not visiting Saint-Paul-de-Vence (reputed to be possibly the most beautiful town on the French Riviera!)

Thank you for helping me re-live this trip to Provence! It was a special one, and is still one of our favorite trips we’ve ever taken. There are other areas of France on our list as well as a return to Paris, but I’d still love to revisit one day!

Sheila
xo

 

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