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We've compiled the best of the best in Provence - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
This restaurant doesn't have great gastronomic pretensions, but the delicious food, hip waiters, and charming terrace in the quiet, cobblestone Place St-Pierre make it a local favorite. Order a steak with vraies frites (real chunky French fries), and soak up the atmosphere with the help of some well-chosen local wine.
Steps from the Palais des Papes, this chic hot spot is part of the "bistronomy" movement, which focuses on creative cooking, a casual atmosphere, and reasonable prices. The quaint terrace on a side street lures in passersby, and the romantic 17th-century interior courtyard keeps them coming back.
Villeneuve’s go-to brunch spot also serves gourmet breakfasts, lunches, and afternoon teas, all featuring meticulously prepared dishes. It's open nonstop from 9 am till 6 pm (breakfast ends at 11 am) and has seating in a contemporary dining room and a spacious garden. The building also houses La Régence bed-and-breakfast.
The relaxed, welcoming atmosphere and lovely country setting here are worth the short drive to the town of Roaix. The affable owner and cook presents an ever-changing menu with an emphasis on what's fresh, local, and organic—salmon-and-sweet-onion tartlette nestled among a crisp mesclun salad might be among the starters, perhaps followed by chicken stuffed with local wild mushrooms.
You can’t sample all of France’s 600 types of cheese at La Fromagerie du Passage, but there's a decadent selection of 20 or so, all fait maison (handcrafted) by Laurent and Hervé Mons, who won the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers (Best Craftsman of France) award for outstanding cheese maker. The waiters lyrically—and patiently—explain the region or texture of each cheese and suggest a wine with the right composition to bring out the subtle (and not so subtle) flavors. There's also an assortment of tapas, charcuterie, and desserts, as well as €31 menus that pair charcuterie and cheese with wine. While the setting is not the most romantic, there is an outdoor terrace.
You reach your table through the kitchen, bustling with chopping, sizzling, and wafting scents, which is a nice introduction to what awaits. The cooking is serious, featuring Provençal specialties such as rouget (red mullet) with pureed potatoes or caillette d'agneau (lamb baked in herbs). The four set menus are priced from €19 (lunch) to €35, so there's something that will appeal to all appetites and budgets.
Uzès's only Michelin-starred restaurant has a stately but cozy dining room that sets the stage for a memorable meal from start to finish. Give yourself time to fully appreciate the dishes of chef Christophe Ducros, whose magic lies in the seasonal pairings of the freshest ingredients from both the countryside (like lamb served three ways) and coast (coquilles Saint-Jacques with butternut squash, yuzu, and trompette mushrooms) with complementary local wines. Service is meticulous yet friendly, and the menu, though abbreviated, covers all the gourmet bases and then some.
Summer evening meals around the old fountain and boxwood-filled oil jars in the courtyard of the Hôtel d'Europe would be wonderful with filet de boeuf alone, but combine this romantic backdrop with top-notch southern French cuisine and you have a special event. Give yourself over to one of the great restaurants of the Vaucluse, complete with fine regional wines and an army of urbane servers—and hope for moonlight. The three-course €54 lunch menu (coffee and parking included) quickly refuels before tackling an afternoon's touring.
This restaurant, opened in 1927, is the spot to stop for lunch and to bask in the sun on your way up the eastern slope of Mont Ventoux. The food is far beyond the merely acceptable, whether you opt for simple omelets (with truffles in season), traditional options like tartiflette (a baked dish of potatoes, cheese, and bacon from the Savoie region) or even heartier fare such as a spit-roasted pig (for groups of 15 or more). Bikers, hikers, and car-trekkers alike gather at plank tables on the wooden deck or warm themselves in the chalet-style dining area.
This restaurant's setting—in a former bakery that's tucked into a natural grotto and lighted by candles and artsy torchères—is as memorable as the stylishly presented Provençal dishes on both the à la carte and prix-fixe menus. Try the thinly layered beetroot with feta cheese and walnut oil or the veal braised with anise and served with creamy polenta. There's a shaded terrace, too, by the 17th-century village fountain.
Local antiques dealers come here to eat, and the place feels so welcoming that it would be easy to linger for hours. Chef Daniel Hébet made his name at La Mirande in Avignon and Le Domaine des Andéols in St-Saturnin-lès-Apt before opening this bistro in his own image—young, jovial, and uncompromising when it comes to quality. Off a noisy street near the train station is the gate to this garden haven, with metal tables under the trees and an airy interior with a vintage tile floor. Hébet offers a single set menu at lunch and another at dinner, and the food is so good that no one is complaining at the lack of choice (though he has been known to substitute meat for fish on request): poached egg with truffles, Saint Pierre with a hint of green onion, lobster in delicate pastry, and cherry meringue are all delicious.
Set amid vineyards just outside Orange, this stone farmhouse restaurant recently updated its traditional dining room and its dishes, while maintaining its charm and its high standards. The sophisticated menu is based on the French classics like salmon mousse, house-made foie gras, beef cheeks, and a fish of the day. In warm weather, the terrace is a lovely place to be.
It's well worth the slog up the hill to the château simply to linger on the terrace of this long-established restaurant and savor the view over Mont Ventoux, Avignon, the Luberon, and the Rhône—and you can visit the restaurant's well-stocked wine cellar on your way to the top. The tarte à la tomate confite with goat cheese and iced white cheese is a specialty that reveals a love for the region's cuisine. The owners, the Estenevins, have lived in Châteauneuf-du-Pape for three generations; Philippe and Jean-Pierre took over the restaurant from their parents.
At this red-walled, library-like haven in a stylish book-and-boutique complex of a renovated arsenal, you can have a sophisticated regional lunch and read while you're waiting. If you've had your fill of fish, indulge in the grilled fillet of beef with fried artichokes and sweet onion. The terrace (on the Italian-scale Cours d'Estienne d'Orves) is as pleasant as the interior.
Run by two brothers, this convivial restaurant is well worth the five-minute drive outside Aix for a warm welcome, a menu of the best of French comfort food, and expertly chosen regional wines. Here you'll find classics such as coquilles St-Jacques (scallops) and magret de canard (duck breast) alongside vegetarian dishes like homemade gnocchi with roasted salsify, celery puree, and roasted walnuts. As wine glasses clink and the laughter resounds you’ll know you’ve arrived at everyone’s happy place.
This restaurant is worth a trip just outside town for such delights as sea bream with cherry tomatoes and flaxseed, a trilogy of goat and ewe cheeses with black-olive jam, or roasted pike perch with risotto. The bistro-Provençal interior and the terrace are the perfect settings for long, leisurely meals, and there are spectacular village views. In addition to several prix-fixe menus (from €30 to €49) there are many à la carte offerings.
If you want a truly regional experience, take a seat on the shaded terrace of Restaurant Philip (circa 1926), enjoy the water views, and dig in to some cuisses de grenouille (frog's legs) or trout fished straight from the Sorgue River. Set apart from the other eateries, it's just before the trail to the spring. A three-course menu goes for only €37, and there's a decent regional wine list. Sandwiches, salads, and ice cream can be ordered next door at Bar Glacier.
If wine and truffles are your thing, get thee to this temple of gastronomic bliss in the form of tuber melanosporum or aestivum, depending on the season. Fresh dishes at this lunch-only restaurant exalt the fungi-perfumed bounty of Provence. Start with a velvety pumpkin velouté with truffle butter followed by ravioli stuffed with succulent wild cèpes or a truffle-flecked omelet. Even the cheese course (truffled chèvre chaud) and desserts (caramelized apple with black truffle) are shroomy. Prices are reasonable, with a two-course €27 menu, and two three-course all-truffle menus for €47 and €59. Wines are a big deal here, too: the lovely 17th-century stone building serves as a school for oenephiles, a wine library, a museum, and a boutique where local wines can be purchased. Tastings and courses on wine and truffles are held daily; check website for details.
