Things to do in and around Aix
In Town
Markets
Go to the markets:
- Richelme
- Precheurs
- Mirabeau
- Details
Art
- Hotel Caumont Regular exhibitions. Also have a great tea room which also does good lunches and jazz dinners in the summer.
- Musee Granet Aix’s main art museum with a good collection, but the original curator vowed he would never have any Cezanne there, so don’t expect to find much. Except of course during the big exhibition in 2025.
Cézanne Sites
- Jas de Bouffan His house. Will open this summer.
- Atelier des Lauves His studio. Reopening this summer.
- Terrain de Peintres Lovely park overlooking saint victoire where he painted
Cathedral
- Saint Saveur Cathedral - sometimes music performances
Coffee Spots
- Brulerie fancy roasting joint, not much space to sit
- Nino not particularly fancy, but does great coffee
Pizza
- Capoue - Best pizza in Aix. Get a "Hannibal".
French Food
- Le Grillon - Cheap Bistro, Rude Waiters, Not the best food but this is our local
- Drole d'Endroit - Good food, fun atmosphere, reasonable prices - great choice for a relaxed dinner
- Tomate Verte - Better food, pricier
- Vintrepide - Great food, more expensive
- Toinou - Great fish a little out of town. You can also buy fresh seafood here.
Asian Food
- Li Palace (Chinese)
- Kyoto (Sushi)
- Sinh Ky (Vietnamese)
- Tita (Felafel - yes, not asian..)
Bakeries
- Delory & Jouveau - Best but out of town
- Bechard - Best in town
- Weibel - Good pastries, sit-down
- Farinoman - Get something different, a canadian doing his own bread styles
Wine
- Nicholas - a chain, but better for out of region wine
- Cave du Felibrige - Independent, good for local wines
See ancient ruins
- Oppidum d’entremont - Pre-roman settlement but with the full town plan fully visible and views over the valley. Beware complicated opening hours even though there is no-one there. 30 minutes walk uphill for those that are keen you can take a route from the Atelier Cezanne, past the Terrain des Peintres and then along the chemin de la marguerite. There are buses that go in front too (11).
Remember the past
- Camp les Milles - 10 minutes drive from town. Vichy France, not under German occupation, deported more than 2000 people to Auschwitz from this camp. An excellent exhibition that combines memory and reflection to help us understand that we too could do this. There’s a lot here, you’ll want several hours.
Outdoors and Walks
Poets Walk
10 minutes drive out of town, a beautiful walk around vineyards and fields. 45m-1hr. Named after the poems tied to the trees. Park or .
La Quille
20 minutes drive out of town, park here. Easy 45 min walk, great views of the valley of the durance. Can see the Alps on a clear day. Old fort on the hill and abandoned village on the sides with sheep being grazed in the ruins.
Bibemus
10 minutes drive out of town. Park here or here on weekends since the main park will fill. There are the famous quarries. You can visit with a tour that must be organized at the tourist office. Otherwise just walk around. 3 good walks include:
- To the lookout point - you can do a 20-40 minute circle.
- To barrage zola (dam built by Zola’s father) - bit over an hour - beautiful circle but good exercise, quite a bit of up and down
- Full circle of Zola and Bimont - 3 hour walk
Bimont
Bimont Dam - Large dam with beautiful lake under St Victoire. Either just visit the dam, or set off exploring as far as you want to go. You can set off to climb the mountain from here (count on 4-5 hours).
Refuge Cézanne
Start here. An alternate route up Saint Victoire but the refuge is only 30 minutes up and the trip to here is worthwhile by itself (the refuge itself is nothing to see)
Roquefavour
Beautiful aqueduct walk starting here. Is part of the canal de marseille, marseille’s water supply. Lovely 1 hr walk from here includes another old pre-roman oppidum.
Day Trips
Chateau La Coste
Chateau La Coste - 20 minutes drive. Large wine estate hosting an art collection that is spread across their property. Take a 2 hour walk to visit the art then enjoy some wine and lunch in one of multiple restaurants.
Lourmarin
Lourmarin - 40 minutes drive. Lovely village on the way to the Luberon. Good for lunch and walking around.
Lunch at Sormiou
Lunch at Le Chateau in Sormiou Calanque. Spectacular. You need to book well in advance, and will need the booking to get into the valley at all, otherwise it’s pretty inaccessible.
Cassis
Cassis - 40 minutes drive. Beautiful fishing village in an incredible inlet. Lots of restaurants on the port and you should take one of the boats for a visit to the Calenques. Take the 3 or 5 calenques at least. You can also set out on foot to walk the coast - it’s gorgeous, but it’s quite a way - 30 minutes just to get to the start, although you can get a taste if you park here. Parking in the village gets full quickly so get there early, especially on weekends.
La Ciotat
La Ciotat - Ciotat is Cassis' ugly brother except it isn't ugly. The port is dominated by the huge yacht repair cranes, but this keeps the tourists away and it’s a great town and we love to go for a morning coffee in the summer, a little beach time then escape before lunch.
Route des Crêtes
Route des Crêtes - dramatic coastal road between Cassis and Ciotat. Stop along the way for the views.
Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer
Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer - Lovely beach town, slightly upmarket from Ciotat but still authentic and more local than touristy. Long boardwalk, lots of restaurants, can be windy, surfing and boating ops. Keep going to La Madrague and you can walk to the end of the point and La Tour Carrée - an old fort and industrial site.
Lavendar
Route de Manosque - 1hr drive. In this area there are a whole bunch of lavender farms. Blooms in May and June and be careful in high season, the road is really crowded. If you don’t want to go so far, there is plenty of lavender on the plateau de puyricard, and you can get the tourist version at the Terre Ugo.
Gorges
Gorges de Verdun. If you keep driving after Manosque you will get to the Gorges (2 hours). These are spectacular, and also super crowded in the summer. Get there early and rent a paddle boat. There is the upper gorge and the lower gorge, and a museum of prehistory that is pretty good in Quinson.
Saint Remy
Another beautiful town with an amazing monastery (and lavender field) where Van Gogh was interned. Just up the street is Les Baux de Provence, a lovely but over touristified mountain village (parking hard, forget it on weekends). They also have the carrieres des lumieres with pretty amazing art projections in the huge old quarries.
