One Week in Provence
under the provincial sun
We took a two hour train to Lyon before picking up our rental car and driving a scenic three hours south to our hotel. It reminded us of our time in Austin, TX where we’d drive for long stretches of time through the lone star state on our way to our next national park adventure — three hours felt like a breeze with a podcast compared to the multi-day long hauls through the heart of the U.S. We listened to Emily Grady Dodge’s recommendation of Crime Junkies — we were hooked from the start.
ps — I highly recommend renting a car to wander Provence more freely. If you’re arriving on a weekday (car rental agencies tend to be closed on the weekend in smaller cities), you can take the train all the way to Avignon to avoid the longer drive into Provence from Lyon.
Where We Stayed
We booked our vacation last minute — about a month before, which I don’t recommend! Fortunately, we were still able to find a hotel with availability since we booked at the cusp of the season.
We checked into Capelongue, located right outside of Bonnieux proper, a quaint little town, nestled into the hills. The property is stunning, split between the original hotel, La Bastide, and the newer suites tucked away next to their rustic La Bergerie restaurant, there’s plenty of room to amble about and take in the surrounding views.
We didn’t get to explore all of their offerings, but I appreciated that they had games, books, and even offered yoga and pilates classes for anyone who wanted to partake. Next time, we’re hoping to play a few games at their tennis courts!
The staff are incredibly friendly, helpful with recommendations and quick to resolve any issues. It could’ve been because we were on the cusp of the season, but the service felt sparse at times, likely due to understaffing — this gave the property a four star feel for me personally. With all the time in the world, it didn’t really bother us — just something to note!
Day One
We arrived around 3pm and headed straight for the pool immediately after check-in. It was the perfect day to lounge — empty, sunny, and that feeling you get when you initially settle into vacation mode. If you’re curious about what I wore, you can read more about that here!
We had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, La Bergerie, where we found dishes that had been reinvented to honor the region with twists on provincial classics. We drank wine on the patio, watching the sky turn into blissful, orange-pink hues as the sun set while we waited for our table.
Day Two
We intentionally made no plans for this trip, so we asked the concierge for recommendations who gave us plenty of recommendations to go off of. We started with Lourmarmin, a cute town nearby with a sister property to Capelongue called Le Galinier (one we considered but was booked). We parked on the edge of town and ambled through the winding streets, popping into shops that piqued our interest.
I walked into this hat shop purely because I read Ophelia on the signage. The shopkeeper was incredibly friendly and delighted to have an audience to chat with about the craftsmanship of the hats. She taught us how to identify a real Panama hat in the wild — which are actually from Ecuador originally.
As we continued perusing, we came across this gem store. My eyes locked in at the Peridot necklaces (shoutout to August birthdays!) who quickly won me over. I tried one on and it was pretty much a done deal, but told the owner I’d be back as I thought about it a bit more just to be sure.
We continued on and popped into La Colline where I fell for checkered napkins, and Fanette la Sardinette where I picked up sardines for a friend who loves them. The shop that had me wishing we could take multiple pieces home was Galerie Isirdi where I fell in love with everything I set my eyes on. You can’t take pictures inside, but there was a beautiful lithograph painting of fruit on a table in dark blue that had me entranced — I hope it makes it into our home one day.
Other notable shops we popped into: FRANC 1884, Le Monde d’Eloise, CARACTÈRE(S) and finally Le Village de Pierre et Céline where I spotted this stunning Dragon Diffusion purse, It comes with a built-in draw string bag to keep your belongings tucked away.
The early afternoon heat hit and we decided to take the gemstone shopkeeper’s recommendation for lunch — Château La Coste. We went to La Terrasse (no reservations required!) to enjoy a lovely lunch with a glass of bubbly rosé. If you’re interested, there are tours you can partake in or book a table at one of their three restaurants for a more elevated experience. We ended up buying a bottle of their bubbly rosé to take back home with us. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the rest of the day lounging by the pool.
ps — this is where we started wishing we had pre-planned some dinner reservations, because most were closed or fully booked. We ate dinner at the hotel again, after unsuccessfully finding no viable options in town.
Day Three
Learning from the day before, we made sure to book a table at La Bastide de Marie for lunch, a recommendation from Angela Galvez! First, we headed to Gordes for the morning. The concierge had warned us that although it’s full of beautiful views as you drive in, it’s typically overcrowded. They weren’t wrong!
When we got there, they had a sprawling market in the center of the city. It motivated us to try to find parking despite the crowds and luckily, the universe heard our plea and we snagged one of the last spots.
As we made our way through the market, I spied these quintessential French market bags and to my surprise, discovered that I actually prefer a rectangle shape to the traditional French style. I didn’t love the handles of this one, so I decided to pass on it.
We stopped to admire these gorgeous flowers pressed into framed arrangements. My husband and I immediately knew we’d have to take one home with us — we couldn’t decide between two so we decided to take both! The artist was the sweetest soul, a man who has been pouring so much love into his artworks for sixty years!
After Gordes, we made our way to La Bastide de Marie where we enjoyed the most delicious lunch — easily one of the best of the trip. It’s also a hotel, which they’re expanding with another restaurant. It was a prix fixe menu, but with plenty of options to choose from. For our appetizers, I picked a vegetable tart and my husband enjoyed the mackerel confit in garlic pepper oil. Followed by a golden sea bream for me and a braised beef cheek for my husband. A cheese plate was a necessity for my husband (a true Frenchman) and I’m glad he insisted because the goat cheese marinated in thyme oil was divine. For desserts, I devoured a Carpentras strawberry tart while my husband enjoyed every bite of the chocolate mousse.
After lunch and several glasses of wine, we roamed around the property stopping to admire beautiful flowers coming into bloom. Their wines were also easily some of my favorites — Blanc de Blancs Vin Mousseux Brut (a bubbly wine) being my absolute favorite pour of the week.
A few minutes away, we explored the town of Ménerbes and roamed around the picture-esque town. It was hilly, with weaving narrow streets surrounded by expansive views.
We drove by Oppède on the way home, another spot we were hoping to visit, but we ended up being too tired to stop. We finished the day lounging by the pool again and ordering room service for dinner. Thank goodness for our laziness because otherwise I wouldn’t have eaten a delicious raspberry tart.
Day Four
We drove to Aix-en-Provence for the day, with no plans apart from wandering around. After spending a few days wandering small towns in solitude, stepping onto the streets of Aix was a bit overwhelming. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was much more crowded than I had anticipated. At the same time, I started developing a massive headache that required immediate remedy. We quickly found a pharmacy to bring me out of my daze. As the doliprane (French ibuprofen) kicked in, we wandered into a few stores that caught our eye — like this gallery featuring contemporary artists. My favorite was Vaudron, who uses mainly gauche paint.
Afterwards, I searched for vintage stores to visit. We were a few streets over from Jeanstory where I ended up finding a few pairs of jeans and my husband found a Polo Ralph Lauren denim jacket that I’ve decided is also mine.
After hitting the jackpot, we headed to Caumont Centre d’Art that had just opened up an exhibit on Toulouse-Lautrec. He’s best known for his portrayal of nightlife in Paris in the late 1800s through his posters and paintings. As the afternoon heat kicked in, the pool started calling our name once again, so we grabbed a quick bite and made the one hour trek back to the hotel.
One of the side effects of not planning was that most restaurants were full: we ended up at a small restaurant in town that was nothing to write home about. We made up for it by stopping for ice cream at Glacier Le Tinel after dinner — my husband picked mint chocolate chip while I went with coconut.
Day Five
We’d saved L’isle-sur-la-Sorgue for Thursday on purpose — it was market day. It was a mixture of food and artisan vendors in equal measure that winded through the streets of the picturesque town. I have a sneaking suspicion it doubles in size during peak season. We weaved in and out of the market, stopping at booths that called our names. These necklaces caught my attention and I ended up taking something similar home. I also noticed that some of the vendors were familiar — we’d also seen them at the market in Gordes!
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted this raffia bag in a cute little consignment store. I immediately went inside and decided I needed to have it. It appears I have a thing for raffia bags. In the words of Gabriela R. Proietti — you can never have too many.
After roaming the entirety of the market, we sat by the water and enjoyed sandwiches from a nearby boulangerie. We headed back to the hotel right on time, because it started to rain as we arrived.
For our last dinner, we found a small restaurant outside of town, La Petite Histoire with an opening. My husband ordered a fish dish that had us questioning if it was duck due to the consistency (nonetheless it was delish!). We ended with the perfect sweet treat that I still think about — a pistachio strawberry tart.
For Next Time
Below is a running list of places we saved for a future visit. They are a mix of recommendations we collected and places we drove by that we noted.
Restaurants
Restaurant Les Saveurs Gourmandes
Wineries
Places and Towns of Interest
Museums
Maison de la Truffe et du Vin du Luberon
Places to Stay
Domaine Les Martins — I’ve had this hotel saved for 6+ years, but we couldn’t make it work this time around. Hoping to stay here at some point! They also have an apartment in Paris you can rent.
Follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more snippets of daily life in Paris. You can also find me on Indyx if you’d like to take a peek at what I’m wearing.
This vacation was a breath of fresh air for us. We’re used to feeling guilty for not seeing and doing enough on vacation. We were previously “go go go” vacation people. I’m enjoying the intentional shift we made on this vacation — taking it day by day and savoring the present moment.
I hope you enjoyed this recap and if you have any recommendations for a future visit, please drop them below!
xx Ofelia
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What I Wore in Provence
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You’re so talented, and I’m in awe of your photos and writing!! Such a dreamy vacation, and I felt like I was right there with you! I’m glad you got to enjoy a slower-paced trip and take it all in.
LIVING for thisssss!!!!!!