Do you want to fall in love? (Aix en Provence)

Member Name: REALTRAVELLER

Product:	Aix en Provence
Date:	03/08/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very romantic

Disadvantages: None

Provence is the region in the South of France in the middle part of it.

Marseille is its capital and if you fly from UK, you may check flights to Marseille first. Other destinations are Nice, about 250km away from Marseille and Montpellier, and further away Carcassonne and Perpignan. If you are in France, there is a fast train from Paris to Marseille, which stops at Aix en Provence.

If Marseille is the capital of the region and surely the major centre for business, Aix en Provence is considered the cultural and artistic capital of the region.

I always visited Aix en Provence as a day trip from Marseille, so I will not be able to comment on the accomodation.


The centre of the city is quite compact and can be easily explored on one day on foot. Around the centre there is a one way system, a smaller version of the circular road. There are many parkings, however, if you need to to to specific address within the centre, make sure you do not miss your parking slot, otherwise you will pretty much have to do the whole tour again. think about Monopoli :-)

Cours Mirabeau is the main road across the centre and it is flanked by trees and you will cross many nice squares with fountains.The many fountains of Aix en Provence are one of the characteristics of the city.

The best time to visit is in spring, starting from April until June. July and August can be too hot, depending on the season, while September and October are also good months.

You say square in Italy or France, or you say bars with seatings "al fresco" on the street. It is the same.It is an old thing and it will never go away. Sit down drinking coffee or better a local aperitif and watch the world go by.

Roughly 1/4 of the city are students. And you can see it. The city is vibrant and artistic, every time I go there (and if I am in the region, I make a point of spending at least one day there) I feel more relaxed.

For the record there are art galleries to explore, few nice shops with books about Provence (I have a favourite one and I know how to get there, but I do not remember the road, but it is close to Musee Granet, which by the way is one of the largest museums in town)

Every time I go there with somebody, we do the "Sentier Cezanne" route. The local Tourist office have a pamphlet with the route, but you can also ask people, and they will tell you, it is easy to follow and it retraces in a way the palces where the painter Cezanne stayed and worked in the city. It is a good excuse to have a kind of pattern to follow while exploring the city.

Otherwise, just walking around and going where the fancy takes you, will also do you well.

Food!

This is a great city for food.

My favourite is "Laurane et sa maison" 16 Rue Victor Leydet tel 0033 4 42 93 02 03. This is a house which was restored to be a restaurant but the patrons gave it a very rural feeling, with plenty of things from the farm scattered around.

Their set meal for lunch is great value. Make sure you book in advance for dinner. Meals are nicely prepared and the names are very artistic, so for a dish of fish you may have "the sea which learnt how to dance".

I will ask Dooyoo to set up a category for the restaurant and review separately.

Conclusion.

Great city in France, hard not to fall in love with it and when there!

Summary: Great destination