Last month, D and I took a special long weekend trip over the water to our favourite country to spend a couple days in Provence. We had an amazing 4 days of pootling around the region in our little rented car, feasting on pizzas, crepes and steak frites and spending our evenings drinking too many rosé wines and kir royales.
Provence is an utterly gorgeous part of the world that I couldn’t recommend highly enough if you’re looking for a long weekend holiday idea or a longer stay in France. Not only does pretty much everywhere you look resemble a Van Gogh painting, but the locals are incredibly friendly, the food and drink cheap and delicious and weather is also on average sunny and bright.
We based ourselves in Aix-en-Provence, a brilliant, lively and buzzy town, filled with local students from the university, elegant older locals and a variety of holiday makers. If you’re in Aix you must stop by the legendary Les Deux Garcons for a cocktail, a favourite brasserie of famous french writers, artists and philosophers such as Picasso, Edith Piaf, Cezanne and Albert Camus. Here’s a snapshot of our wonderful long weekend. Other towns you must pass through are Gordes, Bonnieux and Menerbes – for truly breathtaking views of hilltop towns to take in the whole of the Provencal beauty.
In addition, it’s also a great gateway to the rest of the South of France, being only an hour away from the delights of Provence’s more flashy sister, the Cote D’Azur, where you can stop off for lunch in Cannes (as we did below), chill on the beach in St Tropez or admire the boats in Nice harbour. It’s also only a 2 hour drive across the border to Italy if you fancy making a little European road trip part of the holiday.
You can easily get to Provence from Marseille or Nice airport, with cheap flights from Easyjet, RyanAir or BA. Bonne Vacance!
LMNH x
