Things To Do
Where to start ?
Markets – Big one in Apt on Saturdays, small farmer’s market in Coustellet on Sunday mornings. Coustellet also has a cash-point machine. Don’t miss the boucherie on the main street. Isle sur la Sorgue has a flea market most days. Check out the markets page in ProvenceWeb.
Villages – Don’t miss Oppede (nice little café), Lacoste (Marquis de Sade’s castle), Bonnieux (nice bars), Gordes (biggest in the area, quite touristy though), the Abbaye at Senanque (see picture on this page) and Roussillon (ochre village). Further afield is Vaison La Romaine, a huge Roman archeological site. Also Aix-en-Provence is worth a trip. Finally the fort at Buoux is very interesting, has great views and a nice restaurant (La Loube).
Wine – After all, let’s be honest, this is the real reason you are going. There are tens of vineyards that have tasting sessions (degustations). The nearest ones are Domaine de la Citadelle and Domaine de la Royere, but as you drive around you will see lots more. One I would recommend is on the D3 road between Bonnieux and Apt (on the left coming from Bonnieux) is Le Mayol, who are very helpful and patient. If you wanted to make a day of it, the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region north of Menerbes includes Gigondas and Vacqueras wines, all of which are excellent and probably a cut above the local plonk.
Food – Apart from the markets, if you want to stock up on staples, there are two big supermarkets in Cavaillon, namely Auchan and LeClerc. You came past the latter if you turned off the motorway at Cavaillon. Both of them have directional signs all over town.
Active stuff – If for some reason the sun has gone to your head and you want to emerge from your sloth-like state, there are two bikes in the cellar, and you can cycle to some of the villages like Lacoste and Bonnieux. Just remember that it gets very hot and everything is either up- or down-hill, there are very few flat bits. You can cycle all the way to Forcalquier if you want. Check out
Beyond.fr for details of the route. Alternatively, something well worth doing is walking up the Luberon, the mountain outside the village. Start around 7am as it gets hot quickly. To get to the bottom of the path (it’s the one you can see from our roof), take the road that goes left of the garage (below the nearest bakery) and turn left down a dirt track after about 100 yards. Follow this track until the end. I seem to remember it was about1-1.5 hours up, and less down (obviously). The two web sites below have other options.Other stuff – big terracotta pot place on the road to Apt (although not that cheap), nice chocolate shops and Provence-ware (lavender, honey etc) in Apt, lavender museum in Coustellet and a nursery below Roussilon on the way to Gordes.
Both the bottom two sites below are very good for finding out about nearby villages, vineyards, markets and all things sporty. You want the Vaucluse area. Start with the top link, which is beyond.fr’s Menerbes page.
Beyond.fr (very good clickable map (Area D2))