What to Do, Eat, and Drink in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in the South of France

05.08.2024 - 20:44 / cntraveler.com / Vincent Van-Gogh

Whenever I visit Saint-Rémy-de-Provence—which I do a few times a year to visit my parents, who retired here almost a decade ago—I roll out of bed every morning before 7 a.m., often feeling the effects of the rosé from the night before, and walk with my dad into town while the streets are still waking up. This is partly because it gets so hot here in the South of France, and partly because my dad is a creature of habit. The morning routine goes a little like this: a brisk stroll up the road to the Bar Tabac des Alpilles, where the owner Patrick brings out coffees (café express for my dad, café creme for me) and one of the other early morning regulars hands us a newspaper to thumb through.

From there, we head through the arches into the old, walled part of Saint-Rémy. During the day, there are hardly any cars in the center of town; the streets are too windy and narrow and full of vacationers and locals to bother. But in the morning there will often be vans delivering supplies to the bakeries and restaurants who are beginning to raise their shutters. The light in this part of Provence is always wonderful—dappled through trees, reflecting off the honey-hued stone of the old buildings—but in the morning it seems transcendental.

So I insist we stop at Place Favier, the prettiest square here with its cluster of restaurants fronted by brightly colored umbrellas and a little burbling fountain. From there, we pass by one of the bakeries for just-made croissants and still-warm baguette to take home to my mother.

It's an idyllic idea of French village life, but towns like Saint-Rémy inspire this kind of stereotypically Provençal routine. Whether you're a local, a transplant like my parents, or a tourist like me, it's easy to fall into the old-school rhythm here. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is backed by the Alpilles mountain range, which it sits just north of, and surrounded by other equally charming villages that read like a roll-call of the perfect Provençal road trip: Eygalières, L’Isle sur la Sorgue, Les Baux-de-Provence.

Saint-Rémy is, like a lot of the towns around here, very old and very beautiful. The ruins of the Roman city of Glanum are found on the outskirts. And this, of course, is where Vincent van Gogh was a patient at the Saint-Paul Asylum, and where he created some of his best-known works. The Starry Night was painted from the window of his room, and you can still visit the monastery, fringed by lavender, to see the room where van Gogh would have stayed.

These days, Saint-Rémy is a popular pitstop on a trip through Provence, with a clutch of smart hotels, a couple of Michelin-starred restaurants, gorgeous shops, and some excellent bars and bistros. It’s no undiscovered hamlet, but many visitors to this