RMC

I will be in Provence for 3 nights and would love to go to one of the daily markets. The problem is, I'll be there Sunday-Tuesday. On Sunday we plan to go to the antique market in Isle Sur La Sorgue so we really only have Monday and Tuesday available.

Could someone please recommend the BEST market on either of those days?

Thank you.

adrienne

Hi RMC,

The Ile-sur-la-Sorgue market is more than antiques - it's food, household goods, clothing, jewelry and more! It's a great market. Get there early.

adrienne

Betsy

Adrienne, this market is at the top of my list for a trip to Provence in May 2004. Could you tell me a little more about it? How early is early? Would it be a good idea to spend the night before in the town and walk to the market? How large is the market? Is this an all day excursion or just an hour or two? Any information will be appreciated.

cpi

Many of the stalls start closing down after lunch, but open early in the morning. The antique stalls cover about two blocks and the food,clothes etc about three. Everything is open before 9:00. You can see everthing in 2-3 hours and then have lunch.

sandi

We made a morning trip out of it, as they do start closing up by lunchtime. We left St. Remy (our base) at about 8am and even by the time we reached Isle Sur La Sorgue the public lot was full and we were directed to parking on the side-streets in residential area.

Besides antiques they have all kinds of foods, household products, fabrics, jewelry - you name it. You can kill two stones with one stop.

We've usually found that not unlike, street fares here in the States, the markets are generally the same from town-to-town - often happening upon markets (we never planned any in particular) and found the same vendors at most markets.

Gretchen

The Michelin Green Guide to Provence has a listing of all the markets. If I had to guess I would think that there are no markets on Monday. I think that is true in Paris.

grandmere

As Sandi said, you'll see the same vendors at most of the markets in the area, eg, the "honey man", the "olive lady", etc., so it's probably not worthwhile (IMO) to spend 2 mornings (after Isle-sur-la-Sorgue) at different market locations unless you are self-catering and need more food, etc.

LVSue

I agree completely with Grandmere. You should be able to get your market fix in l'Isle sur la Sorgue.

FYI, here are the markets for M/Tu. Maybe someone can tell you the best.

Monday: Cadenet, Bedarrides, Bedoin, Bollene, Cavaillon, Fontvieille, Forcalquier, Goult, Lauris, Mazan, Nimes, Piolenc, Saint-Didier, Saint-Saturnin-les-Avignon, Tulette.

Tuesday: La Tour d'Aigues, Aix-en-Provence, Beaumes-de-Venise, Caderousse, Caromb, Cucuron, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Gordes, Grignan, Lapalud, Marguerittes, Mondragon, Mormoiron, Saint-Saturnin-d'Apt, Tarascon, Vaison-la-Romaine.

If you were going to combine sightseeing with markets, I'd pick Nimes on Monday and Vaison-la-Romaine on Tuesday, but then I'm a sucker for Roman ruins!

RMC

Thanks to all who responded.

I do know what Isle Sur La Sorgue is all about because I'm an antique person. My question really involved the other markets throughout the region.


My understanding is that markets are similiar in that they all sell the same type of things, and maybe even some vendors go from market to market but I know there are better markets than others. For instance, the Wednesday market in St Remy is supposed to be large as is the one on Saturday in Arles. Unfortunately I won't be around for either of them! So, if all markets really are the same they wouldn't have large and small markets. Do the larger market mean there are just more people selling the same things?

adrienne

Hi RMC,

Others answered your question about Ile-sur-la-Sorgue market very nicely. The larger markets have more people selling more things and different things. So, if you're looking for more than food and basic household goods then pick a large market.

The vendors may be quite different from town to town. One trip I went to the market in Apt on Saturday (good large market) and to Ile-sur-la-Sorgue on Sunday and I saw different goods and different vendors. That's not to say that some of the vendors weren't the same but I definitely noticed different goods. I was particularly looking for fabric so we paying attention to the fabric vendors and didn't see the same ones in both markets.

There's no need to sleep in the town the night before. Just arrive around 9:00 or 9:30 and you'll get parking close to the vendors. If you're only in Provence for 3 days I wouldn't spend 2 of them in markets...there's so much else to see and do.

adrienne

Celine_fyly

If you have only 3 days, I would sayy like adrienne, don't pend all of them on the market. But it can be nice to select a town with a market where you can buy you lunch and do a nice tour.

In the list that LVSue provided, I would recommend:

Monday: Fontvieille, Nimes, Avignon. Tulette has a big worl famous wine cellar and is close to Suze la rousse and its castle/wine university in drome provencale

Tuesday: Aix-en-Provence, Beaumes-de-Venise (where you can buy exellent Muscat wine), Gordes,
Grignan has a beautiful renaissance castle, Vaison-la-Romaine.


Celine