Provence, France
The Lavender Fields of Provence
If you had to compare the hill towns of Provence with the hill towns of Tuscany — I think Provence would come out ahead for us (except for the food, which Tuscany wins by a shaving of Parmesan).
Provence’s famous lavender fields — something you’ll only see here — are quite beautiful. And during the summer high season, they just go on and on. We stopped dozens of times alongside the road to take pictures.
GT Tip: High season for lavender is typically late June through early/mid August. Try to go then for the full effect.
There are lively street markets in many towns, which are regularly scheduled on different days of the week (see rundown and the google map below). And the towns themselves are lovely, each with its own personality. Provence covers a vast area of southeast France, so it is best to focus on one or two bases specifically. Don’t try to cover it all; remember to leave some things for your next trip! We split our 9 days into two parts in order to make it easier to visit a larger variety of towns with less driving — and, honestly, because we wanted to stay at these two hotels!
*This was part of a 13-night trip to France. To see our complete France trip itinerary click here.
The Gimlet Traveler Rundown:
All ratings are based on our experience and are on a 5-star rating system (see Site Info for more details). For mapped locations and links to the places listed here (and more) visit Google Map at bottom of page.
Gimlets: **
Cocktail-wise — not much to report here, except for the ones we had at La Bastide De Gordes (see restaurant section below), which were terrific and came with spectacular views. We tried to order gimlets at our second (and very upscale) hotel. Unfortunately, we ended up with something else entirely that we still can’t quite identify; it came with ice cubes and fresh raspberries in a martini glass. Anyway, stick with the wine here, especially the rose (a specialty in Provence).Restaurants: *****
We had several great meals in casual restaurants in small towns, which, with an exception or two (i.e. on my birthday) were often based on proximity to which hotel we were staying in at the time. The sweet La Bastide Du Gran Tilleul in the tiny town of Merindol, with it’s pretty front garden, was a perfect place to sit outside, sip a glass of rose (that’s my husband talking) and eat a simple Mediterranean dinner. I was a bit stressed out about our visit to La Table D’Pablo, outside the village of Villars. While held in high esteem amongst foodies, it had a limited menu selection that was challenging to me and it turns out Chef Pablo also acts as waiter and server. In any case, it makes for a very intimate evening, and is probably more fun if you’re an adventurous eater. I ended up having a steak as an entree — bien cuit (well-done, which I realize chefs hate). Book in advance and don’t show up before their official opening time or you’ll end up sitting in your car outside the gate waiting for Pablo to open the parking lot. L’Estrade is a very cute and rustic place popular with locals in the center of the small village of Saint-Saturnin-Les-Apt. Book in advance here as well. For the big blow-out dinner on my birthday, we went to La Citadelle, one of the restaurants at the very fancy La Bastide De Gordes Hotel. It’s located in the center of the gorgeous cliff-side village of Gordes. Dinner was preceded by a drink at their lovely terrace bar (if it weren’t for the stunning views, I would have been happy inside at the little jewel-box bar). Either way, it was one of the only places I had a good gimlet in Provence.Sights: *****
Every village here is a historic sight filled with picturesque ochre-colored buildings. And if you go during Lavender season, the fields of purple are simply beautiful and seem to change color depending on the time of day.Shopping: ****
There are terrific village markets that occur regularly on certain days of the week in many Provencal towns. You should research those which are in reasonable proximity to your accommodation. We enjoyed the small but attractive market in Lourmarin (as well as the town itself) which was near our first hotel Domain De Fontenille, and the enormous market in the larger town of Saint Remy De Provence (Broc de Saint Ouen) is definitely worth a drive. Saint Remy also has several nice boutiques and galleries (including Arum and Penates) that resulted in some purchases for us.
Review of Domaine de Fontenille Rating: *****
Domaine de Fontenille is a gorgeous Provencal chateau that has been renovated to the highest possible boutique hotel standards by its current owners. The rooms and bathrooms are large, comfortable and very tastefully decorated, the grounds beautifully landscaped and perfectly maintained. The feeling is of quiet luxury and isolation, even though the hotel is in a fairly central location for visiting the towns of the Luberon. The Domaine also has its own winery across the street from the hotel (they serve their wines on property at the two restaurants — one of which is Michelin starred). A peaceful breakfast is served on the beautiful terrace, and there is a lovely pool. Service is friendly and eager to help if not always as polished or en pointe as at a 5-star hotel. The restaurants do get busy at lunch and dinner with people from off-property, but we didn't feel that intruded on our experience at all.
Date of stay: July 2017
Review of Le Domaine des Andeols Rating: ****
We loved our room (more on that later), and the beautiful, expansive grounds (including a lavender field or two) at Domaine Des Andeols. While centrally located to many of the Luberon hill towns, it has a quiet, secluded feel. There are two pools, two restaurants (a more casual one under a giant plane tree with a lovely view of the grounds and a fancier restaurant we did not partake of). There are a variety of unique rooms, including nine nature suites, which are their newest — very modern rooms, individual and private, each secluded behind its own gate with its own sun loungers and a small garden with table and chairs. Numbers One and Two have unobstructed views of the lavender field. We were in Three which was perhaps the most private of them, secluded by a hedge in front of the sun terrace (which we liked because the entire front of each nature suite is a floor to ceiling glass window). A couple of caveats: (1) three of our four mornings we were out at 8am and not back till 2 or 3pm in the afternoon and yet our room had not been cleaned in spite of us having pushed the "makeup room" button by the door when we left; (2) they seem to have an issue with small birds flying into the giant front window of these rooms and we had two die on our terrace while there, which was disturbing — hopefully they will figure this out (!) and (3) we could live without the auto-sensor lights in the bathroom area of the nature suites, as the unit is one big open room including the bathroom area (except for the WC), and they go on automatically (not fun in the middle of the night). A/C is individually controlled and there's an in-room safe, a fridge, and lots of closet space. Service was friendly and eager to please but sometimes seemed to lack some basic information (they weren’t aware of the nearest small grocery store for example, which we discovered was only five minutes away in the nearby village). All in all we loved our stay at Domaine Des Andeols, enjoyed the seclusion of our modern and luxurious nature suite, and appreciated the beautifully landscaped grounds as well as the resort's central location.
Date of stay: July 2017
Below is a map of hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping and sights found during our research. We didn’t have time to visit all of them during our trip, but all were of interest. Click on the icon at top left of the map to view the legend. Or you can click on the full-screen icon at top right to expand, which will also bring up the legend.
