Provence Itinerary: How to Spend 7 Days in Provence

From lavender fields to Roman ruins, hilltop villages to hidden calanques, this is your perfect Provence itinerary for seven days.

Provence is one of those regions that’s difficult to beat. The lavender fields are as beautiful as the photographs suggest, the markets genuinely overflow with good things, the light really does have a particular quality that painters have been chasing for centuries, and the food and wine are as central to daily life here as anywhere in France.

It’s also a region of considerable variety. Within a single week, you can move from Roman amphitheatres to medieval hilltop villages, from ochre cliffs to turquoise calanques, from vineyard-covered plains to the wild limestone gorges of the Verdon. The landscape shifts constantly, and so does the atmosphere.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Provence over the years, and it remains one of my favourite corners of Europe. This 7-day Provence itinerary takes in the places that have consistently impressed me most — the Luberon villages, the Roman heritage of Arles, the calanques outside Cassis, and the elegant streets of Aix.

It’s a route built around beautiful scenery, great food, and some of the most memorable drives in the south of France. This is your guide to the perfect week in Provence.

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Best Time to Visit Provence

Provence is technically a year-round destination, but three seasons (spring to fall) genuinely are the best times of year to visit. I’d recommend avoiding the winter season as most of the best accommodations, activities, and restaurants close for the season.

Spring (April to June) is my top pick if you’re not here to see lavender blooms. The landscape is green and flowering, temperatures are mild (typically 15–22°C) and you’ll share the roads with far fewer visitors than in high summer. Markets overflow with early produce, and the quality of light alone justifies the trip.

Summer (July and August) is lavender season, and the fields in the Valensole Plateau and around Sault are something you won’t forget. The trade-off is real, though: prices spike, villages in the Luberon get crowded, and the heat can be punishing inland. Book well ahead if this is your travel window.

Early autumn (September into October) tends to be the most underrated slot on the calendar. Harvest season is in full swing across the vineyards, the crowds have thinned, and warm evenings stretch well into October. Restaurants feel relaxed, prices drop, and the countryside takes on a different kind of beauty.

Any of these three periods will serve a seven-day itinerary well. If forced to choose one, May or September offer the most balanced experience across weather, value, and atmosphere.

Getting to and Around Provence

Flying into Marseille Provence Airport is the most straightforward option for most international visitors, with direct connections from across Europe and beyond.

From there, Aix-en-Provence is twenty minutes by shuttle, and Avignon is easily reached by TGV in under two hours from Marseille Saint-Charles station.

The rail network connects the major towns well enough — Arles, Aix, Avignon, and Nîmes are all manageable by train. From Paris, the TGV will get you to Avignon in around 3 hours.

The villages are another matter entirely. Gordes, Les Baux-de-Provence, Roussillon, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie — none of these are realistically accessible without your own wheels.

Do You Need a Car in Provence?

The best way to explore Provence is by car, and for this itinerary, yes, you need one. Pick up your rental at Marseille Airport on arrival — all major operators are represented there — or in Aix or Avignon if you’re coming by train. Book ahead, particularly in summer, when availability tightens, and last-minute rates are steep.

A small hatchback is ideal; village streets are narrow and parking bays compact. Beyond that, the roads are well-signed, the driving is pleasant, and having your own car is what makes a trip like this actually work.

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How Many Days Do You Need in Provence?

Seven to ten days is ideal for getting a genuine feel for the region with enough time to move between landscapes and villages, linger over long lunches, and avoid the sense of rushing from one postcard view to the next (even though some of these days tend to be full-on).

That said, Provence is vast, and this itinerary focuses on the inland heart of it: the Luberon, the Alpilles, Avignon, and the lavender country, as well as the Cassis and Calanques part of the coast.

If you want to extend your Provence road trip and explore beyond Cassis, the villages of the Var, or push further east toward Nice and the Riviera, add another seven days and follow my Essential French Riviera Itinerary: 7-10 Days in Côte d’Azur.

The two routes pair together naturally and make for a genuinely rewarding two-week journey through the south of France.

Where to Stay in Provence for 7 Days

Rather than moving accommodation every night, this itinerary is built around a few bases — one in the Luberon, one covering the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Aix-en-Provence area, and beyond. Each location puts you within easy reach of the day’s destinations without the friction of constant packing and unpacking.

These bases have also been chosen with design-led accommodation in mind. Provence has a remarkable concentration of beautiful places to stay — converted mas, boutique hotels set in old stone farmhouses, properties with gardens that spill into the countryside — and this itinerary is structured to make the most of that.

Where you sleep here is part of the experience, not an afterthought. Specific recommendations for each base are listed below. Make sure to book these well in advance during the summer months.

Best Base for the Luberon

The Luberon villages, as well as Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, make an excellent base for exploring this area of Provence. Two villages stand out in the Luberon.

Lourmarin, at the southern foot of the massif, is quietly sophisticated with good restaurants and enough local life to feel authentic. Gordes, perched dramatically on a rocky escarpment to the north, is arguably the most beautiful village in the region and places you perfectly for Sénanque Abbey and the ochre villages. Both have excellent design accommodations.

For the Alpilles, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is the natural choice. Well-positioned for Les Baux-de-Provence and the surrounding countryside, it also has a town centre lively enough to enjoy in its own right — good markets, solid restaurants, and a pleasant place to return to in the evenings.

Here are the best hotel options:

Best Base for Aix-en-Provence/Cassis

Staying in Aix-en-Provence itself makes the most sense for this part of the itinerary. It’s a genuinely beautiful city with grand fountains, tree-lined boulevards, and an old town dense with good cafés and restaurants, and comfortable enough to use as a base for day trips in every direction.

Cassis, the small port town perched above its famous calanques, is just forty minutes south and easily reached for a day out. If you’d rather be closer to the coast, Cassis has some lovely smaller properties and a charm of its own, though the choice of accommodation is more limited than in Aix.

A base in Cassis might also make more sentence if you plan to continue along the French Riviera.

My Exact 7 Days in Provence Itinerary

What follows is a realistic one-week Provence road trip that balances villages, markets, lavender, and the coast. The route moves logically through the region to minimise backtracking, with each day built around a base you’ve already settled into.

There’s room to breathe within each day, but some days are more full-on than others, and there’s enough structure to ensure you cover the ground that genuinely warrants it.

Provence Itinerary Overview

To further plan your one week in Provence, don’t miss all my guides on the Luberon, including The Prettiest Towns and Villages in Provence, France, as well as individual guides to Roussillon, Goult, Lourmarin, and Gordes.

Day 1: Arrive in Provence and Explore Avignon

Avignon makes for an ideal entry point into Provence, easy to reach by TGV from Paris in just over two and a half hours, or by car from Marseille Airport if you’re flying in. Either way, arriving here first sets the tone for the week ahead.

If you’re in time for lunch, Première Édition and Bèou Bistrot are both solid choices in the old town — the former relaxed and café-ish, the latter with a slightly more considered menu that leans into local produce.

The historic centre is compact and walkable. The Palais des Papes dominates everything as the largest Gothic palace in the world. It served as the seat of the Catholic Church throughout the 14th century and remains genuinely impressive to walk through.

Just adjacent, the Rocher des Doms garden sits on a rocky promontory above the Rhône and offers one of the better views in the region, across the river to the Pont Saint-Bénézet — the famous bridge of Sur le Pont d’Avignon — and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon beyond.

The bridge itself is worth a closer look; only four of its original 22 arches survive, which somehow makes it more evocative rather than less.

The old town within the ramparts rewards an aimless wander. The Rue des Teinturiers, a narrow canal-side street lined with plane trees and independent shops, is one of the more atmospheric corners of the city.

By early evening, the Place de l’Horloge fills with people — a natural spot to settle in for a drink before heading to dinner. Bibendum and Pollen are both worth booking ahead; the latter in particular has built a strong reputation for creative, produce-driven cooking that reflects the best of what this region grows.

Day 2: L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Gordes, Sénanque Abbey, and Roussillon

When planning your trip, it’s worth checking which market days fall during your time in the Luberon — scheduling around them makes a real difference to the trip.

L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue holds one of the most famous markets in the region every Thursday and Sunday, the latter being the larger and more celebrated of the two, with antiques dealers spilling out alongside the food stalls. Gordes has its market on Tuesday mornings, and Roussillon on Thursday mornings. If today is a Sunday, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is an unmissable first stop.

The town itself is lovely regardless of market day, a small Venice of sorts, threaded through with clear channels of the Sorgue river, lined with moss-covered water wheels and independent shops. From there, the drive up to Gordes takes around twenty minutes, and the approach alone — the village stacked up the hillside in pale limestone — is one of the defining Provence views.

A few kilometres outside Gordes, Sénanque Abbey sits in a narrow valley surrounded by lavender fields. In full bloom, it’s extraordinary, but the abbey is worth visiting in any season. Cistercian monks have lived and worked here since 1148, and the setting retains a genuine stillness. Check opening hours before visiting, as they vary by season and religious calendar.

Read more: Gordes, France: Insider’s Guide to Provence’s Iconic Village

Round out the afternoon in Roussillon, where the buildings are painted in every shade of ochre imaginable — burnt orange, deep red, pale yellow — quarried from the cliffs that run along the edge of the village.

The short Sentier des Ocres trail takes around forty minutes and puts the geology into vivid context.

Read more: The Essential Guide to Roussillon, Provence, France

Day 3: Lourmarin and Luberon Villages

The Luberon is dense with beautiful villages, and day three is about surrendering to them. Lourmarin is a natural starting point — one of the most refined villages in the region, with a Renaissance château, good independent shops, and a Friday market that’s among the best in the Luberon if your timing aligns.

Read more: Lourmarin, France: Essential Guide to Provence’s Charming Village

From there, the D943 winds through the heart of the massif and connects a string of hilltop villages that could each absorb an hour or two without effort.

Bonnieux has sweeping views across the valley and a cedar forest just above the village, worth the short walk. Ménerbes is compact and quietly elegant — Peter Mayle country, for those familiar with A Year in Provence.

Lacoste sits opposite Bonnieux across the valley, dominated by the ruined château of the Marquis de Sade, and has an almost theatrical quality to it.

Goult is less visited than its neighbours and all the better for it — a genuinely lived-in village with a working windmill and a good café or two. Oppède-le-Vieux, partially abandoned and dramatically crumbling at its upper reaches, is the most atmospheric of the lot and unlike anywhere else in the Luberon.

Realistically, picking three or four of these is more enjoyable than rushing through all five. The driving between them is part of the pleasure, with narrow roads through cherry orchards and lavender fields, with the Luberon ridge running alongside.

Day 4: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Les Baux-de-Provence

Day four marks a shift in landscape. Leaving the Luberon behind, you drop down into the Alpilles — a smaller, wilder range of limestone hills that has its own distinct character. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is the natural base from here, and worth arriving with enough time to get a feel for the town before doing anything else.

The Wednesday market fills the old centre and is one of the better ones in the region. The streets are lined with good food shops, the kind of épiceries and fromageries that make it difficult to leave without buying something.

On the southern edge of town, the Glanum archaeological site and the adjacent Les Antiques, a remarkably well-preserved Roman mausoleum and triumphal arch standing in an open field, are quietly spectacular and rarely crowded.

Just next door, the Monastery of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole is where Van Gogh voluntarily committed himself in 1889 and produced some of his most celebrated work, including The Starry Night. The cloisters and a recreation of his room are open to visitors.

In the afternoon, Les Baux-de-Provence is twenty minutes south and demands a visit. The ruined citadel sits at the top of a jagged limestone ridge with views stretching across the Camargue on clear days. It gets busy, particularly in summer, so earlier in the afternoon tends to work better.

Below the old village, the Carrières de Lumières, an immersive art installation projected across the walls and floors of a vast former quarry, is genuinely worth an hour of anyone’s time.

Back in Saint-Rémy for the evening, Le Labo is the spot for a cocktail. Dinner at Edú rounds the day off nicely, with a concise menu that changes with the season and cooking that consistently delivers.

Day 5: Arles

While it may seem like a bit of a detour, few cities in the south of France carry as much cultural weight as Arles, and a full day here barely scratches the surface.

The Roman heritage alone is extraordinary; the Arènes d’Arles, a first-century amphitheatre that still hosts bullfights and concerts today, and the Théâtre Antique, just a short walk away, are among the best-preserved Roman monuments in all of France.

Van Gogh lived and worked in Arles between 1888 and 1889, producing over 300 paintings during that period. The city has leaned thoughtfully into this legacy with the Fondation Vincent van Gogh hosting serious temporary exhibitions and is worth building time around.

A self-guided walking trail also marks the spots where he set up his easel around the city.

The Place du Forum is the social heart of Arles, shaded by plane trees and lined with cafés. It’s also the square depicted in Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night, which adds a particular frisson to sitting there over a pastis in the afternoon sun.

The Marché d’Arles runs on Saturday mornings along the Boulevard des Lices and is one of the great Provençal markets, vast, colourful, and genuinely local in feel.

Day 6: Cassis and the Calanques

Cassis is not quite the Côte d’Azur; it’s quieter, less showy, and considerably more beautiful for it. The town wraps around a small working port, with a castle on the clifftop above and the limestone walls of the Calanques rising sharply to the west. It’s about an hour’s drive from Arles, or forty minutes from Aix.

The Calanques National Park is the main draw here narrow, fjord-like inlets cut into white limestone cliffs, with water that shifts between turquoise and deep blue.

The three most accessible from Cassis are Port-Miou, Port-Pin, and En-Vau, the last being the most dramatic and possibly my favorite. Hiking in is the best way to experience them — the trail from Cassis to En-Vau takes around two hours return.

Boat trips from the port cover all three inlets in around ninety minutes if you’d rather let someone else do the navigating.

Access on foot can be restricted in summer due to fire risk, particularly in July and August, so worth checking the prefecture website before setting out.

Back in town, the local Cassis AOC white wine is produced in the hills just above and pairs well with the seafood at the portside restaurants. A late afternoon wander along the port before dinner is hard to improve upon.

Day 7: Lavender Fields, Aix-en-Provence

If you’re travelling in late June or July, set the alarm. The Valensole Plateau is around an hour’s drive from Aix, and the lavender fields at sunrise — before the tour buses arrive and while the light is still low and golden — are about as close to that quintessential Provence image as it gets.

By mid-morning, the plateau gets busy, so arriving as early as possible is something I really recommend.

If you’re visiting outside lavender season, then head straight to Aix-en-Provence and spend your last day on this Provence itinerary there.

Aix warrants most of the day. The Cours Mirabeau, the grand tree-lined boulevard that cuts through the centre, is the natural place to start, lined with cafés and fountains and the slow energy that makes Aix one of the most liveable cities in France.

The daily market on the Place Richelme is small but excellent, with almost entirely local produce. The old town radiating out from here is dense with 17th and 18th-century architecture, independent boutiques, and good places to eat at every turn.

Cézanne was born and died in Aix, and the city takes its connection to him seriously. The Atelier Cézanne, his studio preserved as it was at the time of his death in 1906, sits just north of the centre and is a genuinely moving visit for anyone with an interest in the painter or the period.

The Caumont Centre d’Art, housed in a magnificent 18th-century hôtel particulier, consistently hosts strong exhibitions and is worth checking ahead for what’s on.

For lunch, D’Amour is a reliable and charming spot that captures the relaxed spirit of eating well in the south of France. Come evening, Gallifet is where to book a table — one of the finest restaurants in Aix, set within a beautiful hôtel particulier, and a worthy way to close out the week.

Best Places to Visit in Provence

The itinerary above covers the ground that genuinely warrants priority on a first visit to Provence, Avignon, the Luberon villages, Arles, the Alpilles, Cassis, and Aix. If you have more time, or if several of those are already ticked off, here are some of the other places in the region worth seeking out.

Nîmes – sits just west of Provence proper but belongs in any conversation about the Roman south of France. The Maison Carrée, a temple so well preserved it looks almost too good to be real, and the vast amphitheatre at its centre put it on a par with anything in Italy. The city itself is underrated as a destination and rewards a day without difficulty.

Marseille – a city that divides opinion and is better for it. France’s second city is raw, port-gritty, and genuinely compelling. The Vieux-Port, the hilltop Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, and the North African energy of the Noailles market quarter give it a character entirely its own. It’s not Provence in the pastoral sense, but it’s essential to understanding the region as a whole.

The vineyards of Provence – deserve more than a passing mention. The rosé that has conquered wine lists worldwide largely originates here, particularly around the Côtes de Provence appellation stretching between Aix and the Var. Several estates — including the well-known Château de Miraval and Domaine Ott — open their doors for tastings, and an afternoon drifting between cellars is rarely a wasted one.

The Camargue – a vast, flat wetland delta where the Rhône meets the Mediterranean, populated by wild white horses, pink flamingos, and black bulls. It has a strange, elemental beauty that catches most visitors off guard. The town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer sits at its heart and makes a useful base for exploring the nature reserve.

The Verdon Natural Regional Park – the place to go for something more dramatic. The Gorges du Verdon — often called the Grand Canyon of Europe — cut through the limestone plateau in sweeping turquoise curves, with roads hugging the clifftops at vertiginous heights.

Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, perched at the gorge entrance, is one of the most striking villages in Provence and warrants a night if the schedule allows.

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