Exploring Provence in the South of France

First published: August 28, 2022

Last updated: April 2, 2023

I’ll admit, I had a bit of a whirlwind trip to Provence. When I think of Provence, I think of villas, small towns, winding streets, and lots of lavender. With a limited number of days in the area, I took a different approach.

Instead of driving to these small villages and towns, we visited a couple of larger cities and one small port town. Even though our stay was short, we chose to slow down and explore a few specific places, rather than run around and see as much as we could.  

In just 2 ½ days, we made a very brief visit to Marseille, wandered through the city center of Aix-en-Provence, and enjoyed an afternoon visiting the stunning calanques in the port town of Cassis.

My husband and I are already talking about when to go back! Read on for details on three places we visited in this little slice of Provence, France.

Provence Travel Idea No. 1 | Stay in Aix-En-Provence

Our home base was in the centre ville (city center )of Aix-en-Provence, an absolutely stunning town known for its art and rich cultural history. It is also known as the City of 1,000 Fountains or the City of Water. Almost every street I wandered through had a fountain in some form or fashion.

The running water, and the warm light that seems to bathe every city street, made the city feel incredibly peaceful. As you can see, I definitely had my camera with me during our entire visit, and I loved capturing the soft, glowy light as it gently bounced off the soft rose, blue and yellow tones found along many of the walls in the city center.

Since we stayed in the old city center (centre ville), we had easy access to these gorgeous cobblestoned streets. I noticed that the doors in Aix are particularly spectacular - they have many grand, wooden doors with ornate carvings. The wooden doors stand out against the limestone architecture, much of which is in shades of golden yellow and rose, with pops of light blue and green from the window shutters.

Beautiful Streets To Explore In Aix

I had two beautiful evenings in Aix - and spent a couple hours before dinner slowly wandering through the streets and taking photographs of city scenes that caught my eye. I certainly didn’t explore nearly as much as I would have liked (I’ll have to go back!), but I’ve included some of my favorite streets and squares below, so you can explore these areas for yourself.

Place D’Albertas

Place d’Albertas: A show-stopping little square with mossy cobblestones, an enormous fountain, and baroque-style architecture.

Place Des Quatre-Dauphins

Place des Quatre-Dauphins: A lovely fountain with a statue of four dolphins.

Rue Gaston De Saporta

Rue Gaston de Saporta: A busy market street with tourist shops selling soap, dried lavender, and regional pastries. I was mesmerized by the stores selling Marseillaise soap - they seemed to have every scent imaginable!

Further up the street, Rue Gaston de Saporta crosses in front of the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur. There’s a very lovely square on one side of the street, across from the cathedral.

La Place Des Martyrs De La Résistance

La Place des Martyrs de la Résistance: A breathtaking square with cobblestones and a fountain (of course!), leafy trees, and little courtyards and corners. There is a small, moving memorial of the locals whose lives were lost during World War II.

Rue De Littera & Rue Adanson

Rue de Littera & Rue Adanson: Two little streets that I found particularly charming and picturesque, just off the busy Rue Gaston de Saporta.

Rue Loubon

Rue Loubon: A winding, tucked-away pedestrian road that is beautifully serene. I walked this street alone before dinner - it felt like a dream.

…The part that didn’t feel like a dream? My husband wasn’t with me at the time because he had to run back to the hotel due to a bird’s droppings that landed straight on his head!

Although, that was the low point for us in Aix, if that gives you any idea of how incredible our visit was :)

Dinner in Aix-En-Provence: Restaurant de l’une à l’autre

We arrived at de l’une à l’autre for dinner on our first night in Aix, having found it on one of my google map deep dives. This special place became one of the highlights of our entire two-week visit to France. The restaurant serves incredibly delicious local and regional dishes, infused with in-season produce and fresh ingredients. The photos below are from the gorgeous courtyard of de l’une à l’autre, which feels like a secret garden. I highly recommend this restaurant as a place to enjoy an incredible meal in a warm and inviting setting. I felt like the team had opened their doors to their own home, and my husband and I agreed it was one of our favorite dining experiences we’ve ever had.

The restaurant’s courtyard is also home to a little turtle (une tortue), who apparently chooses a table to settle down next door for the evening. We were fortunate, and honored, to be her chosen table for the evening.  Their menu changes frequently, but places an emphasis on delicious fresh vegetables and fish. A vegetarian’s dream, that will make meat-lovers happy too.

From the rambling rose vines, to the fruit trees, to the twinkling patio lights, excellent food and wonderful service… it’s one of those places where I kept saying “I can’t believe this is real life!” This hidden gem is a must try if you’re ever in the area, and the team is so charming and kind, too!

Merci à l’équipe de l’une à l’autre pour un accueil incroyable à Aix et pour un repas mémorable et spécial.

If you enjoyed these photos of Aix-en-Provence, you’ll love browsing through these photos from the South of France.

Provence Travel Tip No. 2 | Visit the Château D’If in Marseille

Marseille may be the second-largest city in France, but I certainly made it the quickest visit in history! This was not our intention, but we had a very specific goal: visiting the Château d’If off the coast of Marseille. My husband is a fan of Alexandre Dumas, the author of the Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. A visit to the Château d’If has been on his bucket list after learning that tourists can actually visit the tiny island. Since we were nearby, we had to make it happen! Plus, we know we can go back to Marseille and visit another time.

A Brief History of Château d’If

The Château d’If is a tiny fortress island that overlooks the mainland of France. It was a prison for over 300 years, from the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s. This is where enemies of the state and dangerous criminals were sent, due to its bleak position as an island and a very difficult escape route. Spoiler alert - this has A LOT to do with a key plot point in the Count of Monte Cristo :) The exhibit at the Château d’If touches on its history as a prison, but much of that history is framed or contextualized within the plotline of the Count of Monte Cristo. We learned that Alexandre Dumas actually visited the prison twice… and his second visit was undercover!

The boat ride to the Château d’If is gorgeous - it leaves from the Old Port in Marseille and stops at Château d’If before making another stop at the Frioul islands, which is quite popular for hiking and beachgoers. We purchased our tickets for the Château d’If monument online in advance, but the tickets for the boat ride must be purchased on-site, day-of. We arrived around 9am but the earliest ticket available was 11:30am - a visit to Château d’If definitely takes some logistics, as the destinations on the boat company’s route are perhaps a bit too popular for its small fleet size. My recommendation: if you can arrive early or stay flexible on your timing, it’s certainly worth a visit when in Marseille.

Provence Travel Tip No. 3 | The Calanques & The Town Of Cassis

I first learned of the Calanques when reading Code Name Hélène (great book, by the way!) and quickly headed down a google rabbit hole when I realized we would be near this incredible natural wonder during our visit. The Calanques are narrow and very steep inlets along the Mediterranean Sea, with exposed, vertical cliffs extending to the bright blue Mediterranean below. Collectively known as the Massif des Calanques, there are 26 calanques in total between Marseille and Cassis, just a 20 km/12-mile stretch along the coast.

We visited Cassis for one afternoon, while driving from one home base (Menton) to another (Aix). After lunch, we walked along the Calanque de Port-Miou as it had relatively easy access from Cassis. We watched some ridiculous (and slightly stressful) cliff jumping and rock climbing, and took in this gorgeous natural wonder.

I am not the most outdoorsy person - I like to enjoy nature from a sidewalk, or at least a paved path ;)  My friend Camden at Baguettes & Bicyclettes has a couple of excellent blog posts about her hikes in this region: A Day Trip to Cassis and Hiking the Calanques of la Côte Bleue in Provence, if you want to learn more and plan your own visit!

And there you have it - three ideas for places to explore in this region of Provence. We will be back! 

Thanks for following along this whirlwind trip to this area of Provence, and happy travels!

Bon voyage,
~ Lauren