Avignon is the gateway to inland Provence: a walled city on the Rhône with fast trains from Paris, and beyond it the Luberon and the Monts de Vaucluse, a country of hill villages, ochre cliffs, lavender and Sunday markets. The Palais des Papes and the Pont d'Avignon are on the France page; this page is the rest of the city and the countryside it opens onto.
The divide that matters is transport. Avignon, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and the Pont du Gard work by train or bus, but Gordes, Sénanque, Roussillon and the Colorado provençal are hill country with no railway, so plan a car or a day tour for them. And time the trip: the theatre festival fills Avignon in July, the lavender flowers from about mid-June to mid-July, and each market has its day.
See theatre at the Festival d'Avignon, In and Off, in July
Avignon
Two or three eveningsBook ahead
Every July Avignon becomes France's theatre capital, from the papal palace's Cour d'honneur to troupes in costume in the streets.
What it is
Every July since 1947, when Jean Vilar staged three plays at the papal palace, Avignon becomes the theatre capital of France for three weeks. Two festivals run side by side. The In is the official programme, with productions in the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes and other venues around the city. The Off is the open fringe: independent companies playing in small theatres across the old town from morning until late, with troupes in costume promoting their shows in the streets.
How to do it
In tickets are sold through the festival's own website and box office; buy them as soon as the programme is published. Book a bed months ahead.
Good to know
In 2026 both ran on the same dates, 4 to 25 July; the 2027 dates had not been announced in October 2026.
Shop Les Halles d'Avignon and catch the Saturday cooking show
Place Pie, Avignon
1 to 2 hoursFree
Browse about forty stalls of Provençal produce behind a wall of plants, and catch a chef cooking for shoppers on Saturday mornings.
What it is
Avignon's covered market stands on Place Pie inside the walls, and you find it by its façade: a green wall of plants by the botanist Patrick Blanc. Inside, about forty traders sell the produce of Provence and beyond: greengrocers, bakers and pastry cooks, butchers and charcutiers, fishmongers, caterers, cheesemongers, grocers and wine merchants. On Saturdays at 11:00, La Petite Cuisine des Halles has a chef from Avignon or elsewhere in Provence cook a recipe in front of the shoppers, followed by a free tasting.
How to do it
It opens every morning except Monday, from 06:00 to 14:00, so come early and plan nothing here for the afternoon. If you drive into town, the Halles car park sits directly above the market.
Good to know
It is also the place to fill a picnic bag before a day in the Luberon.
Time needed
1 to 2 hours
Best time
Saturday morning, for the 11:00 cooking demonstration
Climb through Gordes, then visit the dry-stone Village des Bories
Gordes
Half a dayNo booking needed
Climb the stacked stone lanes of a hilltop village, then walk out to some twenty dry-stone huts built without mortar.
What it is
Gordes is built in tiers on a rock spur at the edge of the Monts de Vaucluse, its stone houses stacked below a château that already stood in 1031 and was rebuilt in 1525. The château now holds exhibitions all year. About 1.5 km west, the Village des Bories is a group of some twenty dry-stone huts built without mortar, used by farmers in the 18th and 19th centuries, restored from 1969 and listed in 1977.
How to do it
The château cost €6 in 2026, open daily 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00 from June to September, closing at 17:30 the rest of the year. Entry to the Village des Bories cost €8 in 2026. There is no train to Gordes: drive, or join a Luberon tour from Avignon.
Visit the Cistercian abbey of Sénanque behind its lavender
Gordes
1 to 2 hoursBook ahead
A plain Romanesque abbey in a narrow valley, still home to monks who grow the lavender in front of the church.
What it is
In a narrow valley just north of Gordes, Sénanque was founded in 1148 by Cistercian monks, and its plain Romanesque church and cloister still stand in the valley floor. It is still a monastery: the monks grow the lavender in front of the church and keep bees.
How to do it
Guided visits last an hour, in French, from Monday to Saturday at 10:00, 10:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30 and 17:00, and on Sunday afternoons; the self-guided visit with a HistoPad tablet suits non-French speakers. Both cost €8, €4 for ages 6 to 17, and are booked online.
Good to know
The monks ask visitors for silence and modest dress. The lavender usually flowers from about mid-June to mid-July and is cut soon after.
Time needed
1 to 2 hours
Best time
Late June to mid-July for the lavender, a morning slot
Walk the Sentier des Ocres below the village of Roussillon
Roussillon
30 to 50 minutes on the trailNo booking needed
Walk among pines and orange cliffs in old ochre quarries below a village painted the same reds and yellows as the ground.
What it is
Roussillon sits on a hill of ochre, and its houses are painted in the same reds and yellows as the ground. Below the village, the Sentier des Ocres runs through former quarries among pines and orange cliffs, with two marked loops of about 30 and 50 minutes and around 350 steps in all.
How to do it
Entry cost €3.50 for adults in 2025, free under 10. In July and August it opens 09:00 to 19:30, with shorter hours the rest of the year. In 2026 the town offered a free guided walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 from 15 July to 29 October, entry still paid.
Good to know
It closes in heavy rain or strong wind. Wear old shoes, because the ochre dust stains, and come early in summer before the heat and the coaches.
Time needed
30 to 50 minutes on the trail
Best time
Early morning or late afternoon, after a dry spell
Hike the ochre cliffs of the Colorado provençal at Rustrel
Rustrel
40 minutes to 2 hoursBook ahead
Walk through gullies and pinnacles of old ochre quarries, in every shade from yellow to deep red against the green forest.
What it is
About 10 km from Apt, near the village of Rustrel, old ochre quarries have left cliffs, gullies and pinnacles in every shade from yellow to deep red, set against the green of the Luberon forest. Two marked trails start from the car park: the Sahara loop, 2.1 km and about 40 minutes, and the longer Belvédères circuit with the viewpoints, about 1 hour 45.
How to do it
Parking costs €8 per car and covers access. From May to August, morning visits must be booked online, while from 13:00 you can buy at the ticket desk. It opens from February to mid-November.
Good to know
The site follows the prefecture's fire rules: in July and August it only announces at 18:00 whether it will open the next day.
Time needed
40 minutes to 2 hours
Best time
May, June or September; after 13:00 without a booking
A Sunday morning, a full day with Fontaine-de-VaucluseFree
Browse some 250 to 300 antiques dealers in a small town wrapped in arms of the Sorgue, with old water wheels turning in its canals.
What it is
L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a small town wrapped in arms of the river Sorgue, with old water wheels turning in its canals, and on Sundays it becomes one big market. Behind the Sunday markets, the town's antiques villages gather some 250 to 300 dealers, and an antiques fair takes over the town at Easter and in August.
How to do it
The Provençal food market runs from 07:00 to 13:00, and the brocante of second-hand dealers sets up from 08:00 to 18:00 every Sunday; the antiques villages open from Friday to Monday, 10:00 to 19:00. TER trains from Avignon Centre reach L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in about 27 minutes.
Good to know
About 15 minutes away by road, at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, the Sorgue rises from a spring at the foot of a cliff, fullest after rain.
Time needed
A Sunday morning, a full day with Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
Taste Châteauneuf-du-Pape among its stony vineyards
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Half a day from AvignonBook ahead
Taste in the village whose wine rules became the model for France's appellations, made from vines growing among heat-storing round stones.
What it is
Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a village 12 km north of Avignon whose name, the pope's new castle, comes from the summer castle built here for John XXII in the 14th century. The wine made its name early. Rules drawn up in 1923 to stop fraud became the model for France's appellation system, and in 1936 Châteauneuf-du-Pape became one of the first AOCs; 18 grape varieties are now allowed. In much of the vineyard the vines grow in galets roulés, round stones that store the day's heat and release it at night.
How to do it
Many estates have tasting cellars in the village, and half-day tours from Avignon visit two or three of them, so nobody has to drive back.
Good to know
Only a ruin of the castle survives above the village: German soldiers blew up half of the keep in the Second World War.
Make a morning of a market held every Saturday for more than five centuries, filling Apt's old town with over 170 traders.
What it is
Every Luberon village has its market day, and the one to plan around is Apt on Saturday morning, held every week, winter and summer, for more than five centuries. It fills the old town from Place de la Bouquerie, through the pedestrian streets and squares, to the Cours Lauze de Perret: more than 170 traders, joined by over two hundred more at the height of summer.
How to do it
It runs from 08:00 to 13:00. Arrive early, and in July and August use the free shuttle bus the town runs to the centre.
Good to know
Apt also holds a farmers' market on Tuesday mornings all year. On other days, Gordes has its market on Tuesday morning and Lourmarin on Friday.
Ride or drive up Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence
Mont Ventoux
A full dayNo booking needed
Climb the Tour de France legend to a bare summit of white limestone, 21.8 km from Bédoin through forest and open scree.
What it is
At 1,910 metres, Mont Ventoux is the highest peak in the Vaucluse, a Tour de France legend with a bare summit of white limestone. Three roads climb it, from Bédoin, Malaucène and Sault. The southern climb from Bédoin is the hard one: 21.8 km at an average of 7.4%, with the last 16 km at nearly 9%, through forest to the Chalet Reynard at 1,417 metres and then across open scree.
How to do it
Trained amateur riders take one and a half to two and a half hours. The top section closes for winter from mid-November and reopened in mid-April in 2024 and 2025.
Good to know
The wind is the danger: the mistral blows hard near the summit and often closes the road at the Col des Tempêtes. Bring a windproof layer even in August.
Stand under three tiers of Roman arches 48.8 metres above the Gardon, or walk the top tier where the water once ran.
What it is
The Pont du Gard is 21 km from Avignon, and it is the classic half-day trip from the city. The Roman aqueduct bridge was built in the 1st century AD to carry water more than 50 km to Nîmes, and its three tiers of limestone arches stand 48.8 metres above the Gardon; it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1985.
How to do it
Entry on foot is free. Cars pay €9 a day to park, the museum and exhibition areas cost €8, and a €15 guided tour takes you up 80 steps onto the top tier, where the water channel ran. Without a car, bus line 115 runs from Avignon's bus station, next to Centre station.
Good to know
It is not in Provence but just across the Rhône, in the Gard department of the Occitanie region.
TGVs reach Avignon in about 2 hours 40 from Paris and an hour from Lyon. They stop at Avignon TGV station, 6 km south of the centre, and a TER shuttle links it to Avignon Centre station, just outside the walls, in a few minutes. Avignon's own airport has no scheduled flights, so fly to Marseille Provence, Nîmes or Montpellier and continue by train.
Getting around
Inside the ramparts Avignon is a city to walk, so leave any car in a car park. The bus station is next to Centre station: line 115 runs to the Pont du Gard, and TER trains reach L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in under half an hour. For the Luberon villages, Sénanque, Roussillon and the Colorado provençal you need a car or a guided day tour; expect paid car parks at every site.
How many days
In must30's view, two days for Avignon, one for the city and Les Halles and one for the Pont du Gard or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, then three days in the Luberon with a car: Gordes and Sénanque, Roussillon and the Colorado provençal, and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue on a Sunday. Riders add a day for Mont Ventoux.
When to go
Late June to mid-July is lavender time, and July is festival month in Avignon, when rooms sell out. July and August are hot: the Colorado provençal needs a booking for morning visits, and fire risk can close trails at a day's notice. May, June, September and October are the best months for walking, cycling and markets. The road to the top of Mont Ventoux closes from mid-November until spring.
Where to base yourself
Stay inside Avignon's walls if you are coming for the festival or without a car, close to Centre station. L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, on the railway and at the foot of the Luberon, makes a good hinge between the two. With a car, a village such as Gordes or Roussillon puts you among the hill sites before the day-trippers arrive.
Questions travellers ask
Can I visit the Luberon without a car?
Partly. L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is on the railway from Avignon and the Pont du Gard is on bus line 115. Gordes, Sénanque, Roussillon and the Colorado provençal have no train, so the practical options are a rental car or a guided day tour from Avignon.
When does the lavender flower at Sénanque?
In Provence the bloom runs from about mid-June to mid-July, earlier or later with the weather, and the fields are cut soon after. The monks' field in front of the abbey follows the same pattern. Visits of the abbey itself run all year and cost €8.
Is the Pont du Gard in Provence?
Not officially. It stands across the Rhône in the Gard department, in the Occitanie region, 21 km from Avignon. Bus line 115 runs there from Avignon, entry on foot is free, and cars pay €9 a day to park.
When is the Festival d'Avignon?
Every July. In 2026 the official festival and the Off both ran from 4 to 25 July. The 2027 dates had not been announced in October 2026, so check festival-avignon.com before booking.
