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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.
After your visit to the concept store Le Nid, a shopper’s paradise, stop by the sleek in-store café—featuring marble café tables, designer chairs, and chic nest-shape lighting—for a craft coffee, snack or a gourmet (and extra-healthy) lunch or brunch.
You could hardly beat the location of this (mostly outdoor) bistro in the shady, elegant courtyard of the Collection Lambert. Hearty lunches and dinners include a fish and meat choice with plenty of fresh local vegetables and salads on the side—perhaps, salmon gravlax with an Asian-inflected cabbage salad or roasted lamb with bright steamed veggies. Wines are mostly organic with plenty of choices by the glass, or spring for a fresh-pressed juice with a spritz of fresh ginger. Scrumptious desserts round out the meal or make a pleasant teatime break after exploring the collection.
You'll never feel more like a kid in a candy shop than when you feast your eyes on the scintillating pastries, candied fruits (a specialty of the Vaucluse since Roman times), chocolates, and other local sweets sold here. At the charming café next door you can enjoy your selection with tea or coffee; there's also a small menu of savory lunch dishes.
If you’re a stickler for well-prepared coffee, tea, or a velvety chocolat chaud, this contemporary café ticks all the boxes and more. And everything can be accompanied by handmade chocolates.
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.
If you're hankering after a great coffee, you can't go wrong at this chic café in the up-and-coming Saint-Lambert village district of the city.
This restaurant, bistro, pastry and chocolate shop, tea salon, bar, boutique, and olive-oil mill all wrapped into one is set in a 650-year-old stone building. The enclosed garden is a go-to place in town for lunch or dinner as well as for coffee and dessert or after-dinner drinks. Oh, and did we mention there’s a spa, too?
Nearby yet removed from the bustle of the Vieux Port and MuCEM's crowded cafés, this luminous, lunch-only dining room in the Musée Regards de Provence has panoramic new port and city views. Chef Thierry Lennon's cooking is worthy of the setting and features dishes like roasted cod with saffron risotto or tender duck breast with honeyed red cabbage. If you've forgotten to reserve, don't worry: there's a cafeteria-style buffet with fresh gourmet sandwiches, salads, and desserts that you can enjoy on one of two terraces. Open until 6, it's a nice place for an afternoon pick-me-up or an apéro before heading off somewhere else for dinner.
The scent of roasting coffee emanates from this popular spot on the lively Canébière, Marseille's central spine. The coffee is good, but the hot chocolate is famous (it's so thick you may need a spoon to finish it); enjoy either option and a homemade pastry at the counter, alongside locals sharing the day's gossip.
