Reasons Why You Should Visit Provence at Least Once

You might be more of a full-bodied red or crisp white wine drinker in the pub, but it would be sacrilege to travel all the way to Provence and not taste its world-famous rosé. Sometimes fruity, often dry and always distinctive in its very pale pink colour, Provencal rosé is made mainly from various combinations of red wine such as syrah, grenache and cinsault. You can sample them all at the numerous vineyards dotted around the region, such as Château de l’Aumérade, which is famous for producing Whispering Angel.

Markets in Provence are a big deal – almost every city, town and village in the region has a market day. You can expect to pick up everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to flowers and antiques. Even if you’re not on the hunt for warm bread, ripening goat cheese, sun-baked tomatoes or a bucket of olives, visiting makes for an interesting day out. Some of the best include the flower market in Nice, the Marché Forville food market in Cannes and the fish market in Marseille.

Numerous painters, writers and sculptors have called Provence home: Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence on Rue de l’Opéra, Matisse and Chagall both lived in Nice, and Picasso resided in the small village of Vauvenargues. See their art in the Marc Chagall National Museum and Musée Matisse in Nice, while the Atelier Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence still contains all the painter’s furniture, still life model and work tools. Elsewhere, Avignon’s Petit Palais Museum contains over 300 paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Flowers bloom throughout the year in Provence, but none are more synonymous with the region than lavender, which turns acres of land purple. With more than 2,000 producers and roughly 25,000 people employed in the industry, working across 20,000 hectares, lavender is big business. You’ll want to book your trip between the last week of June and the beginning of August, just before the harvest begins, to see the flowers at their best.

Avignon, a city of less than 100,000 people, was the seat of the Catholic popes in the 13th century. Its history is preserved in chapels, churches and convents, plus the largest gothic palace in the world, Palais des Papes. Visit these places of worship along with Pont du Gard – a 2,000-year-old aqueduct that’s one of the wonders of the ancient world – for a rich history lesson. Plus, time it right and you’ll be able to enjoy France’s largest performing arts festival, Festival d’Avignon, which usually takes place over three weeks in July.

Calanques National Park, stretching between Marseille and Cassis, features meandering fjords that have been carved out by the sea over centuries, plus the Massif des Calanques. Pack your hiking boots to explore this rugged terrain that spans 4km along the coast – its highest peak, Mont Puget, is just over 550m high. Meanwhile, bathers might come in handy if you fancy exploring underwater caves.

The seemingly endless coastline of Provence is known as the go-to place for beautiful people on private yachts, so its sandy sweeps are often packed to the rafters. Go beyond the obvious people-watching spots of Pampelonne and La Croisette, and instead head to Marseille’s Corniche Kennedy – where you can find private beaches with bars and restaurants such as Le Rhul, which has specialised in bouillabaisse since 1948. The small town of Menton is also a lesser-known but great option for families. It benefits from some of the cleanest waters on the French Riviera, thanks to its state-of-the-art purification system in the bay.

Provence is full of chocolate-box towns and villages – many of them are members of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (the Most Beautiful Villages of France), which promotes tourism in small rural pockets. Head to Vaucluse to discover seven of these villages, including Lourmarin, Ménerbes and Séguret – defined by their cobbled streets and sweeping views of the coastline and countryside. Uzès, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Gordes are all worthy of a sightseeing trip too.

From the coastal town of Cassis to the port city of Marseille – a great gateway to African culture – there’s centuries worth of history to uncover in and around Provence. Nice, which is close to the Italian border, shares plenty of cultural influences with its pizza-loving neighbour, while Aix-en-Provence is considered the cultural capital of Provence. The region is home to numerous museums, including Musée Calvet and Musée Lapidaire, and has a long association with history and nobility.

After sampling goods at various markets, you’ll be raring to tuck into local specialties in restaurants, including bouillabaisse (fish stew) from Marseille, chickpea pancake socca from Nice and a creamy Tarte Tropézienne (a cream-filled brioche) from St Tropez. The soil and weather conditions in the South of France are also perfect for growing culinary gold-and-black truffles, so you can sample some of the best in the business just after harvesting from November through to early March. Try a traditional truffle omelette at Chez Serge in the commune of Carpentras.