Places to Explore In Avignon and the Vaucluse

Apt

Actively ugly from a distance, with a rash of modern apartment blocks and industrial buildings, Apt doesn’t attract the tourism it deserves. Its central Vieille...

• 1 Restaurants
• 3 Hotels
• 3 Things To Do

Avignon

Of all the monuments in France—cathedrals, châteaux, fortresses—the ancient city of Avignon (pronounced "ah-veen-yonh") is one of the most dramatic. Wrapped in a crenellated wall...

• 15 Restaurants
• 6 Hotels
• 37 Things To Do

Beaumes-de-Venise

Just west of the great mass of Mont Ventoux, surrounded by farmland and vineyards, is Beaumes-de-Venise, where streets of shuttered bourgeois homes slope steeply into...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 3 Things To Do

Bonnieux

The most impressive of the Luberon’s hilltop villages, Bonnieux (pronounced "bun-yuh") rises out of the arid hills in a jumble of honey-color cubes that change...

• 3 Restaurants
• 3 Hotels
• 2 Things To Do

Buoux

To really get into backcountry Luberon, crawl along serpentine single-lane roads below Apt, past orchards and lavender fields. Deeply ensconced in the countryside, the tiny...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Carpentras

• 1 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 7 Things To Do

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

A patchwork of rolling vineyards, of green-and-black furrows striping the landscape in endless, retreating perspective welcome you to one of France's great wine regions. Once...

• 4 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 5 Things To Do

Crillon-le-Brave

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse

Like the natural attraction for which it is named, this village has welled up and spilled over as a Niagara Falls–type tourist center; the rustic...

• 1 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 4 Things To Do

Forcalquier

As a local center of lavender production, this small town has a lively Monday morning market—and an organic market on Thursday—with many lavender-based products. A...

• 2 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 6 Things To Do

Gigondas

The prettiest of all the Mont Ventoux Côtes-du-Rhône wine villages, Gigondas is little more than a cluster of stone houses stacked gracefully up a hillside...

• 1 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Gordes

The famous village perché (hilltop village) of Gordes is only a short distance from Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, but you need to wend your way south, east, and...

• 1 Restaurants
• 4 Hotels
• 7 Things To Do

Lacoste

Like Ménerbes, gentrified hilltop Lacoste owes its fame to an infamous literary resident...

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 2 Things To Do

Le Barroux

Of all the marvelous hilltop villages stretching across the South of France, this tiny ziggurat of a town has a special charm. Le Barroux has...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

Crisscrossed with lazy canals and still alive with waterwheels that once drove its silk, wool, and paper mills, this charming valley town retains its gentle...

• 5 Restaurants
• 4 Hotels
• 9 Things To Do

Lourmarin

The highly gentrified village of Lourmarin lies low-slung in the hollow of the Luberon’s south face, a sprawl of manicured green. Albert Camus loved this...

• 1 Restaurants
• 4 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Ménerbes

This picturesque fortified town isn’t designated one of the "plus beaux villages du France" for nothing. Perched high on a rocky precipice, Ménerbes’s narrow streets...

• 2 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 7 Things To Do

Mont Ventoux

The tallest mountain in the region, Mont Ventoux has a majestic presence that dominates the sweeping vistas and landscapes of northwestern Provence. The mountain’s limestone...

• 1 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Orange

Cradled in northern Provence in the land of Côtes du Rhône vineyards, Orange really isn’t very big, but when compared with the sleepy wine villages...

• 2 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 7 Things To Do

Roussillon

A rich vein of ocher runs through the earth of Roussillon, occasionally breaking the surface in Technicolor displays of russet, deep rose, garnet, and flaming...

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 2 Things To Do

Saignon

Set on the Plateau de Claparédes and draped just below the crest of an arid hillside covered with olive groves, lavender, and stone farms, Saignon...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Sault

Though at the hub of no fewer than six main roads, Sault remains an utterly isolated market town floating on a stony hilltop in a...

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Seguret

Nestled into the sharp rake of a rocky hillside and crowned with a ruined medieval castle, Séguret is a picture-book hill village that is only...

• 1 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Vacqueyras

Smaller and more picturesque than Beaumes, with stone houses scattered along its gentle slopes, Vacqueyras gives its name to a robust, tannic red wine worthy...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Vaison-la-Romaine

In a river valley green with orchards of almonds and apricots, this ancient town thrives as a modern market center. The Provençal market on Tuesday...

• 1 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 4 Things To Do

Villeneuve-lez-Avignon

Just across the Rhône from Avignon, this medieval town glowers at its powerful neighbor to the east. In the 14th century, Villeneuve benefited enormously from...

• 6 Restaurants
• 4 Hotels
• 7 Things To Do