For most people, Provence is considered the more northwest, countryside of the region where many small villages are relatively clustered near one another, as you can see on my map at the very bottom of this post.
Avingon is also an easy place to arrive to by train as we did right after our flight on the TGV fast train, an easy 2.5 hour ride through the countryside making it a great hub or starting point for any provencal journey from Paris or the Côte d’Azur.
We arrived late in the night but still managed an aperitif in a chic courtyard lounge at Bibendum before turning in for a big next day.
Most places in Avignon tend to close early but of course the one spot we found was in the most beautiful place, with a Michelin stared restaurant and DJ!
Even the “clubs” in Provence are 100x more chic than anywhere else!
After waking up at the lovely Hotel d’Europe, we walked the city centre and headed straight for another beautiful historic hotel in town for lunch, La Mirande.
La Mirande represents everything I love about Provence; set in a quaint structure from the 14th century in the centre of Avignon, the prints and textures adorned on the wall appear straight from a provencal garden, each guest room retains it’s own unique pattern, the charm is oozing out of every single pocket in this storied special place!
A hotel once welcoming cardinals, now a gem of the Provence region and our lunch reservation in the stunning dining room of La Salle à Manger.
Despite being in France, I am happy to say I enjoyed an extremely delicious arancini in the most fanciful of settings. I felt like a true princess in my summer dress and dream morning room! I will most definitely be splurging next time on a chintzy suite here whenever I make it back to this part of heaven!!
We loved trekking around Avignon’s charming walled city before jumping into our rental car to continue exploring Provence! xx
Fits for a Provençal Princess
