Timeless Provence

Arrive at the airport for your flight to France, or at the station for your train journey by Eurostar and high-speed TGV. We transfer by coach to your hotel in Aix-en-Provence, where we stay for seven nights.

This morning we take guided walking tour and see what inspired the city’s favourite son, Paul Cézanne, to produce numerous paintings in and around Aix. Beautiful Aix-en-Provence seamlessly combines Parisian-style chic with village-like gentility. Founded as a spa town by the Romans, it became the capital of Provence during the Middle Ages and evolved into a major educational and artistic hub.

Aix is known as the ‘City of a Thousand Fountains’ and the tranquil sound of running water accompanies us down colourful boulevards, through fine squares and labyrinthine alleyways.

The afternoon is yours to spend as you wish in this wonderful Provençal city, perhaps taking the opportunity to visit Cézanne’s perfectly preserved workshop.

After breakfast we head to the Camargue, the delta of the great Rhône River and a beguiling landscape of flat saltwater marshland teeming with around 400 species of birds – including remarkable pink flamingos. This designated national park is also home to the region’s iconic black bulls and an ancient breed of white horse, some of which you may spot being ridden by the Camargue’s famous ‘cowboys’.

We arrive at the small port town of Saintes Maries de la Mer and take a guided boat trip to explore the natural splendour of this wetland environment – don’t forget to bring your binoculars!

We then make the short trip to extraordinary Arles, a prosperous Roman regional capital from the 1st century AD. You’ll marvel at the city’s impressive UNESCO-listed monuments on a fascinating walking tour, taking in the incredibly well-preserved Roman amphitheatre, the theatre built by the Emperor Augustus and the Forum, once the city’s heart.

There’s free time to spend in Arles, perhaps to seek out locations associated with Vincent Van Gogh, who spent 14 months here from early 1888. It was his most prolific period and, inspired by Arles and the light and beauty of the Provençal countryside, he produced around 300 works, including The Café Terrace at Night, The Sower and, of course, Sunflowers.

This morning we travel north to the stunning Luberon Mountains. It was here that Peter Mayle found inspiration for his book, A Year in Provence.

The region’s pure natural light has always attracted artists, while the hilltops are crowned by enchanting villages that, at a distance, appear frozen in medieval times, yet are alive with vibrant bistros, rustic restaurants and markets selling fabulous local produce. The landscape in this designated Regional Nature Park changes dramatically from flat plains dotted with olive and peach groves to sloping vineyards and then, higher up, rows of lavender whose fragrance mingles with pine and wild herbs to give the unmistakable aroma of rural Provence.

Today we visit nearby Avignon, one of Europe’s most historic cities. Its destiny changed early in the 14th century with the exile of the Pope’s court from Rome. Vast wealth poured in to build churches, convents and elegant townhouses, but most of all the incredible Papal Palace. We have time to visit this imposing building which from the outside resembles a citadel rising from living rock flanked by turrets more than 150 feet high. Alternatively, there is the Petit Palais Museum which houses an excellent collection of more than 1,000 paintings.

We also visit the Pont du Gard, an amazing Roman aqueduct, wider than the Thames in London and one of the wonders of the ancient world. We then return to your hotel in Aix.

 A free day to spend as you wish in Aix. Wander along Cours Mirabeau, Aix’s elegant main street, and peel off into the maze of lanes to discover tiny squares and a myriad fountain.

Alternatively visit the superb Musée Granet and its collection of works by Cézanne, Degas, Picasso, Matisse and Monet, or the fascinating Museum of Natural History where you can view a collection of dinosaur eggs unearthed on the slopes of nearby Mont Sainte-Victoire.

An invigorating trip by the sea today as we head to the rugged coast and the lovely fishing port of Cassis whose painted cottages, charming little harbour and sandy beach are all overlooked by a mighty medieval fortress. Situated in a spectacular bay, the town has attracted numerous famous visitors over the years – including Virginia Woolf and Sir Winston Churchill, who took painting lessons here in the 1920s.

Choose one of the many waterside restaurants for a lunch of freshly caught fish before taking an afternoon boat trip to see the Massif des Calanques, a rugged coastline of dazzling white cliffs, rock pinnacles and rare seabirds.