Day 1 – Montclus

The first hotel of the trip – a winner! The Ardèche is “where the French go to camp” – a not particularly populated area with lovely summer weather and a lot of outdoor riches. I really like it: it has a relaxed, comfortable feel with plenty of things to do, low effort dining, and generally is scenic and pleasant. While this is likely a controversial statement, in general I like the Ardèche more than Provence.

***La Maison Papillons is run by a lovely artistic couple, in a remote (but fairly accessible) area. The property is gorgeous, with several pretty, renovated buildings, a pool, and various grounds with places to relax. Bonus points for two cute chocolate labs, various stray cats, and chickens – and owners that really gave it a personal touch. We stayed 2 nights and were sad to leave.

The owners gave us a list of restaurants that all worked out very well. The first, in the historic walled town of Montclus, was easy and fun, giving us a chance to explore the town before having a casual dinner. **Le Murier sur Cèze à Montclus (the only restaurant in the village) has a large number of tables spilling around a central square, and a long menu of what I’d describe as as “American bar classics” – chicken fingers, burgers, salads, thai dishes, calamari, etc. It was popular and the staff were friendly.

Day 2 – Montclus

We set out to explore the surrounding countryside (country towns, caves, swimming holes, lavender fields, vineyards, good roads) – it delivered!

Our first stop of the day was for **Sautadet Falls and **La Roque-sur-Cèze. The town – La Roque – is classified as ‘one of the most beautiful villages of France’ and it is indeed charming, a jumble of historic stone homes surrounding a hilltop castle and romanesque church (not accessible to the public). Worth a stop to wander the narrow streets and admire the many restored homes.

Sautadet Falls are not for swimming and the reason is immediately obvious – a lot of water cascading through a maze of hollowed out rocks – which you see from above. It’s an easy walk from the parking lot and worth a visit – and further down the river swimming is accessible.

The next stop, quite close, was the *La Chartreuse-De-Valbonne. This is an odd place, reportedly looking for an owner. It’s huge, historic, and in poor repair, with a lot of promise, but also conveys a real need for money to continue. Real money – we heard an estimate in the $20M range. 

A few miles away there’s a well preserved (or perhaps well-restored) Romanesque church, **Chapelle Sainte Agnès. The interior is a bit rough, but it’s a pretty building on a rise in the countryside.

Next up – Aiguèze! This wasn’t on our priority list (beyond a place with restaurants), but it’s worth a stop! It’s a pretty medieval town, good energy, lots of cheerful tourism (in a good way). We had lunch at the popular **Le Bouchon, which has a huge number of tables and handles them well – a very professional operation. The menu has a bit of something for everyone.

We’d consider staying in this town for a future trip at Le Castélas – it’s a million dollar location with a hostel price.

After lunch we stopped in Pont-Saint-Esprit, which has two side-by-side churches facing the river. At the moment, the experience is more dramatic from afar (as you drive across the river) – the town is a bit down at the heels and the buildings in need of restoration.

On to the main event – driving the **Route des Gorges to **Pont d’Arc. This is truly a spectacular road, in excellent condition, with many pullouts to admire the impressive view. We stopped and swam at Pont d’Arc, which really does seem mandatory (it’s a zoo, but in an entertaining way, a kid-sister experience to swimming at Pont du Gard). There are many places to stay at the north end of the road that look very camping and family friendly, including the rather high end campground Rives d’Arc – Collection Rivages.

Our second dinner was in the seemingly non-descript Barjac – but wander into the old town and you’ll find a rather charming place, with many restaurant options and historic architecture. The antique market (2x/year) is very famous, and we’d like to return. We ate at the very unassuming **Patio 39, which has a fairly “rustic” setting and excellent food, mostly served with natural wine. The chef has a major pedigree and is starting out on his own with this new locale.

Historically, the region is famous for caves – the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d’Arc in particular (claimed to be the oldest in the world). We haven’t done this yet, and have focused on the Romanesque architecture, beautiful roads, and swimming opportunities.

We had an excellent prior Ardèche trip to Vals-les-Bains, explored in this post.

If we were to do this again, we’d add another day – three nights and two full days to explore.

On our way to Uzes, we stopped at pretty Lussan – a “Plus Beaux Village de France.” Sitting on a hilltop with great views of the surroundings, it’s not a major destination, but would be a pretty, quiet place to stay with easy access to sites in the Gard and the Ardeche. We liked the look of La Fontasse de Lussan and Les Buis de Lussan.

We covered Uzès over the course of two partial days, mostly following the recommended walking tour (map available at the TI). One full day would have been plenty – it’s not particularly large, and the sites to see are fairly limited. It’s very pretty though – a real mess of architectural styles, but using (and reusing) the same types of stones, largely resulting in a harmonious outcome. I appreciated the view from the towers (in the Jardin Medieval)  to get a real perspective on the many, many eras of building.

On the cultural side, we enjoyed a guided visit (a fairly expensive one) to **Uzès Castle – home of the Duke of Uzès. You don’t see a lot and getting an English tour would take a lot of planning, but still given that, it’s surprisingly real – a house they use today. We were hustled back into a room by the maids when the family passed through. It was remodeled in recent decades, with very good taste.

**Jardin Médiéval d’Uzès et ses Tours was a better stop than expected. The gardens are small but intentional, and you can climb to the top of one tour for great views, and another to see a good graffiti collection from the 1600s. Worthwhile.

The *Musée Georges Borias, the temporary exhibit area adjacent, and the adjoining Cathedral were all not necessary – not bad, but not particularly notable. Perhaps worth a visit if you like what’s on in the temporary show (we saw boat paintings, which we did like).

We had a very good lunch on the main square (Place aux Herbes) at **La Famille. It was “a little bit hippy” in the menu offerings, but very tasty. I had an excellent Asian tofu salad.

Outside of town, heading towards Pont-du-Gard, we visited the *Haribo Candy Museum. I’ve wanted to go here for awhile, and honestly, it wasn’t worth the time. Very minimal, for small children (and not really that interesting for kids either, in my opinion).

Castillon-du-Gard is near the midway point of the aqueduct, on a hill (very near the Pont-du-Gard). It’s fairly quiet, and doesn’t feel like a town with much local action. We stayed at *Hotel le Vieux Castillon for two nights, which looks fabulous in pictures, and is a little bit less fabulous in real life. The pool is very pretty, and there are decent common spaces throughout the distributed property.  The guests were largely foreigners, a lot of kids. The bedrooms are very small, very small windows, and an odd collection of furnishings. It wasn’t terrible, but for the price I’d find somewhere else to stay.

Dinner, at the hotel (*Azur) was a bit odd. Not bad exactly, but the menu doesn’t really work and the service is spotty. Small plates, that aren’t small plates, and are not really suited for sharing.

The one exception to this town was dinner at ***L’amphitryon – wonderful! One of the better meals I’ve had, served with style and good cheer. It’s a very local place – everyone seemed to know each other, formal without being fussy, and very much worth going out of your way to experience. Note it was a hard reservation to get – by phone only, at specific times that are hard to figure out.

An overnight trip didn’t seem particularly necessary for Uzès, and the town doesn’t feel as “living” and vibrant as other nearby places, like Arles. 

Heading south, our first stop was the **Abbaye de Saint-Roman (in Beaucaire), which majorly exceeded expectations: a cave monastery. The story of the site is complex (built over many times, destroyed many times), but the original structures on display showcase a monastery dug into a hill from the 10th century). It’s very worth it (including the 10 minute uphill climb to the site, and moving to experience the scale and care that went into the construction.

Les Baux-de-Provence, our major destination for the day, was great! It’s famous for many things, including being the origin for the name of bauxite (coined for aluminium ore when first discovered there in 1821). It is very popular – over 1.5 million visitors per year, compared to about 20 residents in the upper part of the commune – but we still found it very worthwhile and not particularly overwhelming from a crowds perspective.

We had lunch at **Le Petit Rocher, which was excellent. There are a LOT of places to eat in the winding streets of this town, and this may have been a lucky guess, but we were very happy with it. Fresh, seasonal food of the region.

Limestone has been extracted from quarries around Les Baux from at least the end of the 2nd century BC. Perhaps the most famous site in the area is the **Carrières de Lumières – a massive light and music show set in the quarries, which has inspired many traveling shows since. We were surprised to learn this has been running for ages – from 1976 to be specific. It’s impressive, both in scale and impact, and worth a visit.

The location of the town – defensible and central – was along major trade lines, leading to an interesting mix of artifacts and people, including a major Greek population. Our favorite part was the remains of the immense **castle – built from the 11th to the 13th century over seven hectares. The princes of Les Baux are said to be descended from the Biblical Magi Balthazar. There’s a long and complex history of ownership that in a final twist somehow evolved into being offered to the Grimaldi family as a marquisate in favor of Hercule de Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco (1642–1780) – the title Marquis of Les Baux is still carried by the Prince of Monaco. The site itself is massive and you can crawl all over it – an athletic and fun experience.

I’d consider making Les Baux-de-Provence and one of the many surrounding hotels a base for a day or two (instead of Uzès) – it’s right next to Arles, you could explore sites in Provence, and even day trip to the Camargue.

We stopped in Arles for lunch, which we continue to find charming. It’s full of Roman artifacts, museums, restaurants, and cute independent shops. It’s clearly popular – we saw a walking tour from Viking river cruises, and lots and lots of Brits – but it doesn’t feel crowded, just lively.

Walking around the town, somewhat aimlessly, is the best way to experience everything. There’s the amphitheater (now known as the arenas of Arles), the ancient theater, and surprising arches around many corners. 

Specifically, what did we love? Pulling in a few notes from an earlier visit here (on this trip, we went to the Fragonard Museum and ate at Le Gibolin) – 

• The ***Museon Arlaten – my this is good. It’s an “ethnography” museum with a lot of history, wonderful artifacts, in a dramatic setting. I think it’s fabulous, a must see.
• The **Museum of Ancient Arles and Provence, while not huge, was another winner. Do it after you’ve wandered the town, to appreciate what they found in the local area. It’s not crowded, air-conditioned, and has a small and well curated collection.
• **Musée de la Mode et du Costume – Fragonard is fairly new and a real gem – a collection focused on the fashion of Arles. It’s not large, but it’s worth the time.

Our hotel for two nights was in Lourmarin, in the Luberon. It’s packed with hotels, many quite high end, in a walkable area, and is centrally located for access to Provence sites. It’s cheerful and easy to deal with – Galen liked it more than I did, there’s not a lot to fault about it, it just felt like a tourism destination versus a living town. Like most of the places in this area, it doesn’t really clear out in the evenings – it’s just busy all the time. Very pretty houses, compact setting. I didn’t mind it, but wouldn’t particularly prioritize it over other towns in the region.

We stayed at *Le Moulin, a Beaumier Hotel (with points). Having been to a few of these hotels now, we are not planning to frequent more – but they do an excellent job of advertising to Americans (expect a very American crowd), hitting all the hipster topnotes, creating very photogenic environments, and charging a lot. Specifically for this property –  the pool is way too small, nearly unusable. Service is very young and untrained. Breakfast was adequate, dinner at the **hotel restaurant was fine (and the dining room was nice). The bedroom was comfortable and quite large, though overlooking the street and quite loud. This is almost a two, but we wouldn’t exactly recommend it, and wouldn’t return to it.

Exploring Provence day! Stop one: Bonnieux. It’s similar to Lourmarin with a better view – a potential for a place to stay (there are many hotels), but not exactly a destination in-and-of itself. In the flats of Bonnieux there is a very old roman bridge, **Pont Julien, worth a stop.

**Lacoste was our second stop, an “artistic village” on a hillside, home to the ruins of the castle of the Marquis de Sade. Today, it’s a remote campus of SCAD, housing some 50 restored old houses transformed into art galleries, conference and exhibition rooms, student residences and hi-tech classrooms. It’s very picturesque, rather artificially so. As a student, this would be amazing. As a visitor, it’s a nice walk: you’ll be in and out in under 30 minutes.

Next up: Roussillon. Another incredibly touristy location, though we did appreciate the red rock. I’d put this in the category of “visit if in the area” – don’t make a major detour. Two exceptions – the central church is worth a visit, and we had a truly outstanding lunch at ***Restaurant Omma. This is a fancy hotel, and their restaurant faces some of the best views of the town. Plating was exceptional and everything we ate was excellent.

Final stop: Apt. What an outlier in the shiny polish of Provence. It’s a fairly grim stop in the midst of the shine and tourist-orientation of the surrounding towns. The chief object of interest is the **Church of Sainte-Anne (once the cathedral), the building of which was begun about the year 1056 on the site of a much older edifice, but not completed until the latter half of the 17th century. We found it impressive, heavy, and fairly large – especially in the context of the town today.

The town was formerly surrounded by ancient walls, but these have now been for the most part replaced by boulevards. There is also evidence of many Roman remains, though for the most part they’ve been replaced or repurposed in other buildings.

One standout however – if you’re near Apt in Lavender season, take the backroads to Lourmarin (Val des Loubés, through Buoux. It’s gorgeous and lined with fields.

Wednesday dinner, **La Cuisine d’Amélie (dinner at 8, in Lauris) was good, and the hotel it’s within is really lovely. It’s a grand estate with a massive, tree-shaded garden, and the patio dining is picturebook-perfect. The menu isn’t as fancy as you’d expect – Galen had a good burger, I had the chicken. I’d consider this for a hotel stay.

We’ve spent a lot of time in the Luberon recently, with mixed results. 2-3 nights is plenty to see the whole area. More ideas for towns to visit and hotels to check out here.

From Lourmarin, our first stop was at Château La Coste (in Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade) – sadly a bust for us, due to torrential rain. It looks amazing for the art, grounds, and generally very expensive, curated experience  (there are also multiple fancy restaurants to try, and a 5 star hotel). We made it about a kilometer from the entrance before the rain kicked in. Next time!

Aix-en-Provence – we liked it! Far more than expected, we’ll come back again. A night with half days on either side is perfect to see a few museums and explore the town, eat well.

We debated staying outside of town, or in the old town itself, and were really happy we stayed in the center. The old town is lovely, lively, and packed – but not just with tourists, this is a fun town with a lot of locals. It’s a major university town, and given the chance I’d choose this for my study abroad as well! 

The surroundings are typical ugly/modern/run-down, with terrible traffic. It’s way more pleasant to ditch the car entirely and stick to the center, walking. Our hotel was the **Hôtel des Augustins, in a converted convent. It’s a little tired, but for the price (187 Euros, in August 2025), the massive room was a real bargain! Great location, friendly staff. There’s a garage (Parking Mignet) about 3 blocks away if you drive in.

Food:

• We had lunch at **Colde – entirely based on it being in the right place at the right time, and it looked cute and busy. Food was on the casual side, but very tasty.
• Dinner was at *LA TABLE DU PIGONNET, walking distance, but outside of the city center (not in the best neighborhood). This is a fancy, old hotel with big grounds, service is very formal and classic. We weren’t impressed – it feels more dated than well-preserved – and wouldn’t recommend staying there, or a meal.

Museums:

On to the art – because this is why you’re visiting, especially in 2025 (the “year of Cezanne”). You can read all about it in the Guardian here, and more in the NY Times here.

We booked **Jas de Bouffan as a French guided tour (1 hr) in advance. It’s not a pretty walk there (bus is better), but it was interesting as a backdrop to what will exist in the future – because it’s very much the start of a journey of restoration and very little is intact (for the most part, the important decorations that survived are part of the Musée Granet show. They were really pumping people through – 20-30 every 15 minutes, and it was hard to hear given all the people in the relatively small building at the same time.

I’m glad we saw Jas de Bouffan before **Musee Granet – also a total zoo from a crowd perspective – gave the content much more context. We actually preferred the small but gorgeous permanent collection upstairs.

Outside of the Cezanne exhibits, we went to:

• **Fondation Vasarely: I had low expectations and was very impressed. This isn’t exactly my art – but after seeing the museum, I’m sold, especially for the large-format work and textiles. It’s not a great part of town and kind of annoying to get to, but make the effort.
• **Granet Museum – Collection Jean Planque was really interesting – a unique compilation of many of the most pivotal artists of the 20th century in a 16th-century Carmelite Chanel. The collector was a Swiss art buyer for an important museum in Basel, and these are the things he bought, personally, for his own collection – mostly on a limited budget at the time. Impressive.
• **Musée Paul Arbaud is not a good dollar for experience equation, but is worth it with the city pass. Artifacts of the town, you’ll be in-and-out in 20 minutes.

Leaving Aix-en-Provence, we had a very good lunch at **Auberge Provençale (in Meyreuil) – a last minute choice (it was near a car wash, at lunch time). It’s on the old road in a historic building, and was really tasty. Bonus points for cat.

We tried to visit once on the fly – don’t do this. Cassis is small (the port at least) and has very limited parking, you’ll quickly get frustrated. Take two – we booked a lovely place to stay with parking, and it made it so much better. We probably won’t make a point of returning, but a lot worked – it’s nice, if not exactly our place.

We stayed at a Chambre d’Hôtes, **Clos du Petit Jesus, which was excellent. Very well outfitted and comfortable, with a pool, privacy, and views of the sea. The owners couldn’t have been nicer (seriously), and they did us the courtesy of speaking to us in French the entire time – for us, clearly not because speaking English was an issue for them. Breakfast was timely and very good. Also bonus points for being car/motorcycle people and having great taste in everything we saw.

Cassis has Lime bikes now – this was a surprising life saver, as parking is hard to come by, the streets narrow, and the distances generally further than expected (especially given hills). **La Presqu’île was our outermost destination on day 1, for a dinner – about a 40 minute walk and not a particularly nice one, poorly lit and uphill in many sections. By bike, it made a lot more sense. The meal was probably worth it – it’s very touristy, very much a date-night experience, and expensive, but the food was actually good and we liked seeing the broader expanse of Cassis.

Our full day, we did go to the beach – after scoping out all the beach areas in easy walking distance.

So the beach – **Plage du Bestouan is where you want to be; to the right of the port (if you’re facing the water), it’s protected, scenic, and has beach clubs if you’re willing to pay a little more to get off the rocks. We rented chairs at **Paillote des Bestouan – perfect. 

Food:

• *La Storia di Vincenzo: renamed from “ La Table du 7,” this restaurant in the port is not particularly stand-out. It was fine, and we liked talking to the guest at the next table. Not particularly recommended.
• **Casalini Cassis is the popular ice cream spot. Galen calls it “pretty good.”

Other hotels to consider:

• Hotel De La Plage – Mahogany (good location, not super fancy but nice beachy vibes)
• Just behind it, Le Jardin d’Emile, facing the parking lot rather than the ocean – but 10 feet further away, so does it matter?
• Hôtel Les Roches Blanches: Perfectly situated on the edge of town, very high end, if you stayed here you’d probably just stay at their pool. The outer edges of where I’d consider staying.

We stopped to wander around Le Castellet (pretty historic town) on the way – this is really lovely, a tourist magnet for sure, but it has a lively feel, excellent views. Don’t miss the central church – romanesque, but doubled – they mimicked the shape to double the size, resulting in two rooms.

Porquerolles has an almost mythic reputation – “a protected park with crystal clear waters, calanque-style beaches, a major art collection, and a crowd that’s been coming back for generations – or showed up on their yacht for the day.” For most, the arrival is via ferry – a short ride from the Giens Peninsula (ferry times here). We … didn’t love it and don’t plan to return. It feels a lot like Catalina in California, or to put it in more direct terms – this is like camping, when you weren’t prepared to camp. All dirt roads, beaches in general dirt and sea grass, hotels were not excellent, food was expensive and not great. It does clear out at night, but it wasn’t that hectic to begin with (at least if you wander 50 meters out from the main square), so the difference didn’t feel dramatic.

We had a very bumpy hotel experience. We booked *Auberge des Glycines for two nights, and were so underwhelmed we checked out after one and rebooked ourselves at **Le Mas Du Langoustier. It wasn’t exactly terrible (the Auberge), but the staff just were so bored and lackluster, and everything had a flavor of that tone – the sheets were clean but the floors were gritty, breakfast was extremely basic, the lunch we had was just okay and served with ennui.

In the central town area (where you’ll arrive on the ferry) – there’s a large dirt square ringed by hotels and restaurants (in many cases, both – with rooms upstairs). We had looked at Villa Sainte Anne and while it didn’t look like a bad choice, it seemed kind of forgotten and low energy. We did eat at the more exclusive **Hôtel Restaurant Au Porquerollais, and had a very tasty meal with formal service. This could be a nicer choice if it was important to you to stay near the square (I’m not sure it really matters).

Once in town, there are a few things you can do: go to the beach (on bike, or on foot), and visit **Villa Carmignac – Fondation Carmignac: a farm turned futuristic subterranean art museum. This is very worth it – they do one show a year in the beautiful building, typically high concept and large format. Also on the property you can have a meal, do wine tasting, and walk around the extensive grounds. I appreciated the nice touch of a flavored glass of water upon arrival, as nearly all arrive dusty and tired, after a long walk uphill.

Onto the beaches. One of the better choices we made was immediately renting e-bikes (seriously, not the normal bikes) and canvasing the beaches. The island runs 11 km end-to-end, and these are not great roads – dirt, rocks, lots of hills. We swam at Plage Notre-Dame (I’d call this acceptable, if not amazing), and liked the look of the steep descent down to Gorges du Loup. Everything else seemed rather busy, with dirty-sand beaches.

For a future visit around Le Castellet, Galen wants to go to Circuit Paul Ricard.

We’ve also stayed on the Giens Peninsula and liked it a bit more – you can see more about it in this post.

I’m tempted to go to Port-Cros (adjacent island), but we’ll leave it for another trip.

Hotel number two: **Le Mas Du Langoustier. We had lunch, as well as dinner, on the property, which are surprisingly different experiences – lunch is fancy (La Pinède), for guests, and dinner is included with your stay (which is quite expensive). Dinner honestly was on the average side, lunch was much better, and the breakfast was excellent. Service is middle of the road. Volume of pheasants is very fun.

Like everything on the island – this experience isn’t quite what you hope it to be. It’s a bit sparse and worn, classic designs and clean, but in need of new carpet, a fresh coat of paint, etc. You can walk to the sea and swim – but it’s not the best beaches. There’s a massive private pool that looks rather nice. You’re very isolated and far from most everything. It reminds me of classic hotel stays in Switzerland, kind of charming, but expect historic, not the equivalent of a newer 5 star stay (and price).

We took the scenic inland route – about three hours of driving – up the D88, and then along to D14 through  Collobrières and then on until hitting the main north-south road to Saint-Tropez. Arguably not worth it, as it’s a very narrow road, and not that fun to drive (every oncoming car is a challenge).

The visit to **Chartreuse Verne, however, was worth it. Built by Carthusian monks around 1174, destroyed many times, this was effectively gone until the 1990s, when major works were taken on to bring it back to life. It’s not particularly easy to get to, but the scale of the repairs are remarkable, as is the fact that this is a functioning, occupied religious site.

On to Saint-Tropez: We started at **Cabane Bambou on the outer edges of Pampelonne Beach – a postcard worthy beach club. It’s expensive, but the setting is great, and the food was excellent (try the vongole pasta). On the sea side, they have comfortable cabanas.

From there, we moved to the beautiful hilltop town of Gassin, with its stunning views – picture the rolling hills of Napa, with gorgeous blue waters beyond, views in every direction. It’s a small village with adorable narrow streets, and a large area with 4-5 restaurants overlooking Saint-Tropez. The locals flock to Cafe Perché, facing west, for their sunset cocktails

We stayed at the gourmet restaurant/hotel, **Bello Visto, which has a few rooms. The hotel was really nice, we’d stay here again. Very comfortable bed, great views, excellent and friendly service. Nice breakfast. Parking nearby on the edge of town.

The meal: almost perfect, but they got behind in the kitchen and it dragged on too long, and our main dishes were not amazing (appetizers were great). I think it was a glitch; we’d try again.

I didn’t love Saint-Tropez (the town) itself: really hectic, tons of traffic, felt really touristy. I’d go into Saint-Tropez for a meal, or perhaps some shopping, but not make it my base.

The peninsula itself, however, was stunning and we’d happily return for more. I’d give this area 2-3 days for a relaxed visit.

We spent two nights at *Hotel-Restaurant La Villa Mauresque – a historic property. Originally the home of a doctor who built in “orientalist style” according to the times, it’s now a smallish hotel (22 rooms) with exceptional grounds. I loved the setting, including the two pools and the easy access to the sea. The rooms are odd – not exactly bad odd, but decorated in a very dated style and configured in weird ways. Dinner at the restaurant (Le Bougainvillier) was bad – the view is great, overlooking the pool and ocean, but the menu is very limited, and on the day we reserved, they were out of nearly half of the mains. We walked out and ate elsewhere. Excellent breakfast. In summary, while this place claims to be a 5 star, and certainly isn’t cheap, it’s not living up to the label.

Galen and I debated if we’d recommend coming here and concluded no, which is a shame. We’d try somewhere else next time.

We had two meals in the cute port just to the west of Villa Mauresque (there are four options, and if you keep walking, you’ll find several more within a reasonable distance).

• **L’Etoile was the more casual of the two – we had the Linguine alla Vongole and a Burger, both excellent. It had a local crowd, a lot of seating, and affordable pricing.
• **Bistrot Loudet was high end, seafood only, and very good. Excellent service, and they were quite nice to us – even after we showed up late, with a sign on the door saying ‘complet.’ 

San Raphaël itself was interesting – a natural port with a long historical record; today a touristic area with a surprisingly cute old town – for history lovers, this is where Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces arrived by ship from Egypt in 1799, prior to his coup d’état in Paris. During World War II, on August 15, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France, which you can explore at the surprisingly interesting **Saint-Raphael Archaeological museum, which includes war history (emphasis on the Tuskegee Airmen), a Romanesque church, and an overview of the Roman finds of the area.

*Restaurant Excelsior in the port was perfunctory at best, but it was clearly a popular local destination and had good people watching. It’s a busy area.

We started our day backtracking to Frejus (about 20 minutes away), to visit the impressive **Cathedral of Saint-Leonce. Frejus was one of the first centers of Christianity in France and the baptistry dates from the 5th century. It’s part of a larger cathedral dating from the 12th century – as these things go, there are a lot of layers in the structure to explore. It’s pretty, and worth visiting.

We also visited the **Musée Archéologique – part of the same complex, and for 3 euros, why not? It’s small, but has some interesting local finds.

Lunch and a long afternoon by the pool at **Hôtel Les Roches Rouges was great. This is another Baumier property that I have mixed feelings about (probably wouldn’t stay here myself, but I can see why it’s popular with Americans). It’s an older property, restored to hipster glory, right on the sea.

There’s a sea-fed pool, food at the onsite restaurant (Estelo) is expensive but tasty, and the staff really couldn’t have been nicer, especially after they realized we could speak French (which they found shocking, which says something about the typical crowd). We weren’t charged, as non-guests, for lounge chairs by the pool.

Frejus is perhaps not worth a stop (for people less committed to historic church touring) – it’s a sprawling, working class small city, but if you’re into Roman ruins, you could spend a half day looking at the various remains. It’s not where I’d choose to stay on holiday.

Leaving Saint-Raphaël, we took the coast road east to see if there were places we would like for a future trip. To recap, Saint-Raphaël was okay, but not great enough to return to. I think it’s all about finding your place that has the right amount of calm in an area that is incredibly busy and built up, with horrible traffic. The beaches are just okay, lacking the drama you find in other areas along the coast.

Our mid-morning stop was Vence, which we just barely scratched the surface of (enough to want to return for a longer visit). The odd (in a good way) **Cathedral of Our Lady of the Nativity was our main stop, including the famous Chagall mural.

We had lunch at **Restaurant Servella (in Castagniers) – a last minute choice, in the right place at the right time. It was surprisingly huge – a wedding venue, dating back to the 50s, which could seat hundreds. Food was good, and we liked the patio. This isn’t a pretty area, but if you find yourself here, try this restaurant!

Heading north, our goal for the day was to explore the southern Alps in the summer – these can be difficult roads to access in the winter, open roughly from June to October. We quickly found ourselves on the ‘route of the Grandes Alpes’ – which starts to get interesting around La Roquette-sur-Var (if approaching from the south). The route in total goes from Thonon-les-Bains to Menton, 720 kilometers, 18 large passes, 6 of which are at more than 2000 meters above sea level. It was designed in 1911 to connect all the main passes – largely as a tourist attraction – and was a major effort, completed in 1937.

We loved the red-rock section up to Varlberg (a big ski area). Beautiful, wide road through gorges, in perfect condition (photos taken around Rigaud). Continue on to motorbike mecca, Guillaumes, with a crumbling castle (the 15th-century ruins of Château de la Reine Jeanne) sitting over the popular village for a break on your ride.

Keep going to the **Col de la Cayolle – it’s very high, not populated (by humans, at least – major animal population). From here, consider if you want to backtrack or continue – the road north is in far worse shape, often one lane, and not as fun to drive. We ended our day in Barcelonette.

Barcelonette is perhaps a one-time stop, though it has some novelty and in general a good vibe. Locals travelled to Mexico in the mid-19th century to seek their fortunes and some, having become rich through banking, retailing, and textiles, returned to their hometown and built the colonial-style villas (not Mexican-style, though they’re described as “Mexican villas”). It’s very homogeneous and pretty, a surprise for a very remote place. Also extremely popular with motorcyclists.

We enjoyed our stay at **Villa Puebla, a nicely (and recently) restored villa, with friendly hosts, a nice breakfast, and obvious commitment to the region.

Dinner at **Ô tandem was just fine – clearly very popular, food was tasty, right in the middle of town. For the record – we didn’t find a single Mexican restaurant in the town.

My target space on the Côte d’Azur next time would be between Calanque des Anglais to the west and L’air du Temps on the outskirts of Theoule sur mer (no further, as Theoule sur mer itself turns into a suburb of Cannes, and not in a good way). You start to head out of the chaos, and the beaches shift towards beautiful, rocky, dramatic cliffs. I liked the look of Hôtel de Charme Relais des Calanques Cote d’azur (though unclear if it has a website, would require some effort to book).

For more on places to consider in the region, check out our post on the Alpes de Haute Provence.

The last stop! The journey to Briançon is not that long, but we complicated it with scenic driving over the pass (Col de Vars) and a very worthwhile detour back to Embrun. Vars itself looks like it has ski area potential.

Embrun is a bigger city than you’d expect, lots of good architecture and sweeping views. I’d call it middle of the road on a prosperity scale, but there were lots of people out and about, and signs of investment in the region. ***Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Réal d’Embrun is a superstar – staggeringly large and beautiful, made even more surprising by the remote location.

Briançon has been on our list for a return visit after skiing Serre Chevalier (which we really liked). It’s the highest city in France at an altitude of 1,326 meters. It’s a centerpiece of the Fortifications of Vauban UNESCO World Heritage Sites since they were established in 2008. The hilltop part of town literally is the fortification, within existing city walls, and wandering the streets you’ll get great views of the surrounding valley and mountains, and the two other defensive forts that complement the central fortress.

As a historical tour, two hours is plenty; after that you’ll start wondering what to do with yourself. The town is a bit run down, without much that requires a lot of time to process or experience. We stayed at the borderline acceptable *Auberge de la Paix, within the city walls (very tired, terrible breakfast, not the cleanest). Dinner at the fancier (for the town) **Le Gavroche was fine. **Panorama Cafe was nice for a drink with a view. You can see our full notes here, including notes on the winter experience.

Leaving town, Montgenèvre looked appealing for a ski trip.