If you’ve ever been on Instagram and follow at least one travel account, I can almost guarantee that you’ve come across the typical photo of Provence: the lavender fields. These beautiful purple flowers smell as amazing as they look and provide the perfect background for any influencer (and average people like myself!). When a friend and I decided to visit Provence, this is the image we both had in mind. While you definitely can’t miss the lavender fields, Provence also has so much more to offer! Game of Thrones-like towns situated on hills, Roman ruins, gorgeous gardens, famous art…Provence is a great place to spend 72 hours (and will provide you with instagrams for days!).
Just a warning, this itinerary is jam packed and very ambitious! If you’re looking to go at a slower pace, take out a city or two and save them for your next Provence trip.
Day One
Rent a car. I can’t stress this enough! I’ve been tons of places using only public transportation, but you really need a car to see all of the unique small towns in Provence. Having a car also allows you to be flexible with your schedule and move at your own pace. See a gorgeous poppy field on your way to a town? You can stop. A sight or city not as cool as you imagined? You can move on. When you want to see a lot in a short amount of time, renting a car is the best option.
To start your trip in this beautiful region, make your home base Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. This small city is quaint, beautiful and close enough to other small towns and big cities that you´ll want to see. We flew into Marseille and then made the easy hour drive to Saint-Rémy. If you’re doing a big trip in France and drive from another city, that works too!
When I visited, we arrived on a Saturday morning and there was a lovely town market going on in the main streets. Definitely check it out if you want fresh fruits or veggies, or artesanal items like soap and lavender packets. Once you are hungry from exploring the town (it is small, but there are still plenty of streets to explore in the center), be sure to grab lunch at Gus Restaurant! While a bit more expensive than a budget traveler normally looks to spend (we had a menu of the day for 17 euros), the food was incredible and for three courses it’s quite a good deal. I’m still dreaming about the goat cheese and tomato panna cotta I had.
From Gus, you can head down Avenue Vincent Van Gogh to see the hospital/monastery where the famous artist once resided, Monastère Saint-Paul. Along the street, there are plaques depicting his paintings in the places that once inspired him. With such a gorgeous setting, it’s no wonder that many of his works were of the Provence landscape. One thing I found odd on the route was the sheer amount of tiny snails in the grass! Pretty sure none of Van Gogh’s paintings include hundreds of tiny snails, but he really should have included them!
For a few euros, you can enter the monastery and see the room where Van Gogh once slept. There really isn’t too much to see in the monastery, but it’s cool to look at the landscape and see what Van Gogh saw, and what inspired so many of his paintings. The gardens outside the monastery are beautiful as well!
Also, before you get to the monastery you can see Roman ruins, including the remains of a large arch. Before visiting Provence, I had no idea how many ruins that they had, and it was really a neat surprise to come across these huge Roman remnants. There is also the Glanum archeological site which has other Roman ruins, but unfortunately it was closed when we tried to visit.
If you arrived to Saint-Rémy in the morning, and have enough energy to get back in the car, Nîmes is a great half day trip. It’s about an hour drive from Saint-Rémy. On the way to Nîmes, we stopped by the Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman Aqueduct. It’s the most visited ancient monument in France and is a UNESCO heritage site. In case you don’t know what an aqueduct is, it’s how the ancient Romans used to get fresh drinking water to their towns. While we just stopped to take a quick look, you could make a whole day out of it! Besides just checking out the monument, you could rent kayaks and go under the monument, check out the museum, eat at one of the restaurants, or just enjoy the surrounding nature.
Nîmes is a great choice for a half day trip for its Roman temple called Maison Carrée that is still in great shape today! There is also a Roman arena to appease any lovers of the Roman Empire. In addition to the Roman ruins, the city also has a beautiful garden, Les Jardines de la Fontaine. Like most cities and towns in France, the streets are winding and full of character. While we didn’t spend a huge amount of time in Nîmes (the early flight really caught up to us), I was glad we made the trip. The combination of ancient Roman architecture in addition to the typical French architecture makes it really unique.
Day Two
We started off day two with a quick 30 minute drive to Avignon for breakfast. Driving into the city was like a maze, as are most cities in Europe, but the city was full of unique cafes and restaurants along its streets. In Avignon, you can visit the Papal Palace, which was built in 1335 and the home of nine different popes. It’s the biggest Papal Palace in the world, and if you choose to take the tour, you can see 25 different rooms.
There’s definitely more to do in Avignon, but as I said this is an ambitious itinerary, and we got on the road again after only a few hours in Avignon. From there, I highly recommend heading to gorgeous Gordes, and you should too! Gordes looked like a setting straight out of Game of Thrones! The small city is majestically perched upon a hill with rustic stone buildings that went so well with the landscape. While driving up the steep hills into the city was comical, the city itself was incredible. With small winding stone streets, and quaint, matching buildings, it was really special! There isn’t the greatest selection of restaurants there, especially ones for travelers on a budget, but there are cafes to grab a quiche or ice cream if that’s what you’re hungry for.
Very close to Gordes is the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque. It’s an old monastery (by old, I mean that it was founded in the 1100s) with lavender fields, therefore making it a picture perfect location. If your goal is to frolic through the lavender, this isn’t the place to do it though! When we went, the lavender was fenced off, probably to protect the plants from being trampled by hoarders of tourists.
If interested, you can take a tour of the abbey, or you can get back on the road and visit another small provincial town: Roussillon. Roussillon looked completely different than Gordes with its small, winding streets which are surrounded by warm-colored houses. The views were also something special, as were the crepes we got at a local restaurant.
If you are visiting Provence in June or July, you might spot a field of poppies on the way to Roussillon! When I was visiting they were far more in season than the lavender and was such a lovely surprise. After we stopped to take photos, several others did as well. The gorgeous poppies definitely made up for the lack of lavender, in my opinion.
Day Three
Before your flight, try to fit in one more picture perfect city! I highly recommend Aix-en-Provence. It’s one of the larger cities in Provence and even if you’re on.y there a few hours, it’s worth it! If you spot an outdoor market, make sure you grab some fresh bread, cheese and fruit for a snack. Or grab lunch in a plaza and enjoy the sights while eating a variety of delicious French cheeses. The quaint streets are different from the others on this itinerary in Provence, as it was filled with muted colored buildings. Again, we didn’t have a lot of time so we didn’t go into any sites or museums, but at seeing the city was well worth it!
Provence is a lovely region that’s full of unique cities. It would definitely take more than one trip to really experience all that Provence has to offer. Did I miss any of your favorite cities while in Provence? Get in touch to let me know!
Itinerary
Day One
- Rent a car.
- Drive from Marseille to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
- In Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, check out the farmers market (depending on the day), walk the Van Gogh walk, visit the Roman ruins, and eat lunch or dinner at Gus.
- Nîmes for gardens and Roman temple.
- Back to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
Day Two
- Avignon for breakfast, Papal palace.
- Drive to Gordes, visit the abbey with lavender.
- See poppy field on the way Roussillon
- Explore Roussillon.
- Back to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
Day Three
- Explore Aix-en-Provence.
- Market and lunch.
