This is the one which works best for a day trip on our upcoming September Paris visit, but I also know that it is a day when shops and sites are more likely to be closed in many French towns. Does anyone know if this will be a problem in Provins? Thanks.

Here is the official website that you can check out information on: http://www.provins.net/index.php/english-version.html

There isn't really that much to see in Provins, anyway, the main sites are churches, I think, and the tour Cesar, which is open. There is a small museum in the Maison Romane which isn't open some days in off-season, but I think in September, it will be open Mondays.

Some shops are closed virtually everywhere in France on Mondays, or at least Monday mornings, even Paris. I wouldn't go to Provins to go shopping.

Provins is not a shopping town - as Christina pointed out. There is a shopping section at the eastern 'edge" of the interesting part of Provins - but we didn't see anything there worth exploring. There are several restaurants & perhaps some shops on the Place du Chatal - and I think these may be open because they are pretty "tourist oriented". However, we didn't visit on a Monday so I can't be sure.

We enjoyed the walk around the Ramparts, the Grange au Dimes, and the Tour Cesar. We did not enjoy our visit to the Souterrains a Graffiti - long & tedious - we wanted to leave the guided tour after about 15 mins. personally, I would visit Provins on a Monday.

Stu Dudley

I think Provins is highly worthy of a day visit. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has over 50 listed monuments of historical significance, more than many other French towns. It was one of the most important of the Champagne fair towns of the 11th to 13th centuries and has many buildings still standing from this era. There are also exhibitions of medieval type shows, such as falconry, jousting, horsemanship, seige machines and others. It also has 1,200 meters of its original ramparts around the upper town.

I think the reason it is not more visited is because of its remote location with no other well known attractions nearby. If you switched the location of Provins with, lets say, any of the villages of the Luberon region in Provence (Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux etc.) it would be the most well known and visited town of the Luberon.

If you've seen other medieval towns before then maybe Provins isn't for you. But if you've never seen a medieval village then this is a must see.