Things to do
Beyond the quintessential Provençal towns and sea of lavender, follow the nature trail into fruit orchards and vineyards and up into the hills and mountains beyond. Here, you can test your mettle with everything from canoeing to climbing, biking to hiking, skiing to snowboarding. This corner of France is home to Europe’s greatest canyon: The Gorges du Verdon – a place of white-water rapids and looming cliffs.
Offshore are rugged islands of cliffs and creeks, while the Camargue delta is filled with indigenous white horses and prized black bulls, not to mention the famed flamingo.
There’s more to Provence than spectacular scenery: the region has layers of history to unfold, from Roman ruins and villages to medieval architecture and papal palaces. Throw yourself into the pages of a living textbook and loop around the prehistoric sites, medieval abbeys, churches and art deco buildings peppered across the landscape.