Palace of the Popes

Where to go and what to see in Provence to get the most from your trip – a 7-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Dana Facaros.

Gorgeous landscapes peppered with beautiful villages, sunflowers and lavender, art-filled towns, lively cultural festivals and exquisite food and wine. Provence is everything you imagined it would be.

Nearly a thousand shows and exhibitions over three weeks, showcasing world-class drama, music and dance. France’s answer to the UK’s Edinburgh Festival.

A superb private art collection in a townhouse, including the only Van Gogh in Provence. There are also paintings by Chardin, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, Modigliani, Sisley and Picasso.

Postcard-perfect vineyards yielding world-famous wines – Provence is the home of the most prestigious Cotes du Rhone wines, including the reds of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, and Beaumes-de-Venise.

Follow in Van Gogh’s footsteps through the landscapes around Saint-Remy-de-Provence, where he painted some of his best-known works.

Papal Avignon was the centre of the European art for decades, and over 300 works of (mostly) Italian medieval and renaissance paintings and sculptures commissioned by the wealthy prelates of the church, including a Botticelli Madonna, are displayed in this 14th-century palace.

The asylum where Van Gogh spent 1888-89 is a masterpiece of Provencal Romanesque, and today specializes, appropriately, in art therapy. His room and reproductions of the paintings he made there are on display, along with temporary exhibitions.

In the stunning setting of Les Baux, learn all about Provence’s greeny-golden nectar on these free tastings of these award-winning oils. Open all year-round, but short walks through the olive groves and visits to the mill are also offered from June to September.

The great civilisations of the past have left a legacy of constructions that still stand out and inspire. Built without the wonders of 20th-century technology, many are also monumental feats of engineering; others offer such grace and beauty, that they’ll literally take your breath away.