What sounds more dreamy than a few days wine tasting throughout the South of France visiting little medieval villages along the way? I’ll tell you from experience, there isn’t anything much more dreamy than this! I visited this area in the middle of April which I thought was a wonderful time to go, the weather was still beautiful but it wasn’t filled with tourists as I expect it probably is in the summer.
For your packing list, definitely bring layers with jeans, boots, a winter jacket and an umbrella. I got some great walking shoes from Allbirds for the trip and I was so happy with how comfortable my feet felt after a whole day of walking!
Day 1: Aix-En-Provence
Aix-En-Provence is a great place to start your South of France road trip. It is a beautiful vibrant city where you can definitely spend a day just walking through the cobblestone streets, visiting street markets and nice boutiques with a glass of Rosé or an espresso. At night it comes alive with great restaurants and bars. There are wineries all over the area, so you could add a winery visit in the morning and spend the afternoon in the city. We stayed at a wonderful hotel in the city center called Hotel Cardinale that was so charming.
For dinner that night we went to
Coude à Coude Aix-en-Provence and had a wonderful time seated down in the wine cave. The waiter recommended a lovely bottle of Corsican wine that was only 30 euros and absolutely delicious. We shared the steak and left full and happy!
Day 2: Châteauneuf-du-Pape
It’s about an hour drive from Aix-en-Provence to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region. If you are in the South, this region is an absolute must visit for wine lovers! CDP is famous for it’s red Grenache based blends, with 13 different varietals allowed to be blended in. They also make a small amount of white blends from Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Roussanne that are so delicious! It has these amazing Galet river stones over sandy iron-rich red clay soils, from when the region was under a river millions of years ago.
I would make a reservation at one of the famous wineries in the morning, we chose to go to Chateau de Beaucastel, an iconic winery in the area. The winery is under construction and wasn’t open for regular visits at the time, but I got a little sneak peak because I help distribute the wines in California, but I highly recommend making an appointment here once they are finished with the new winery, it looks like it is going to be so beautiful!
For lunch we went to Le Verger des Papes. We sat outside with a beautiful view of vineyards and the Rhone river in the distance. We had a delicious 3 course meal and a bottle of a CDP white from Domaine de Vieux Télégraph that was to die for. They have an incredible wine cellar that you have to make sure to walk through after lunch. Allow some time to check out the tiny little Châteauneuf-du-Pape town. You can see the ruins of Pope Jean XXII’s summer castle which is where the name of the region came from. It means “New Castle of the Pope” and it refers to the time that Avignon was the seat of the Pope in the 1300’s. The town is filled with little wine tasting rooms where you can pop in for a tasting, or you can make a second reservation at another winery for the afternoon.
From CDP we drove about 30 minutes to Gigondas. We stayed at a lovely little hotel called L’Oustalet that has a very highly rated restaurant attached as well. Normally, we would’ve had dinner at that restaurant, but it was closed the night we were there so we ended up at Restaurant Les Florets on a big hill above the town and it was incredible! It was recommended that we drive to dinner, but we fancied a walk so we had a lovely time walking through the Gigondas vineyards up to dinner and earning our cheese and wine! The waiter recommended a bottle of Domaine des Bosquets Gigondas that is considered a top producer in the area, we absolutely loved it!
Day 3: Gigondas, Vacqueryras, and Avignon
We woke up in Gigondas and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. If the weather is nice, there’s a great morning hike you can do called Rocher du Midi. Stop for a wine tasting at Domaine de Terme in town, really delicious lineup of wines! We then drove just 8 minutes down the street to the tiny of town of Vacqueryras where you can stop at one of the little wine tasting rooms in town and get a taste of the differences between the appellations. We were able to get a last minute reservation at Domaine de Chantegut as well which was a beautiful Chateau surrounded by vineyards.
We then drove 30 minutes to Avignon. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called
Face au Palais which was absolutely wonderful! It’s in the square of the Palais des Papes, and Alain is a wonderful host who brought us wine to greet us and prepared a wonderful breakfast in the morning. Highly recommend!
That night we had fun exploring the town of Avignon, filled with so much incredible gothic architecture. We loved grabbing a craft beer at L’Explo Bar à bières artisanales sitting outside next to a little stream and a gothic church. For dinner that night we went to Le Carré du Palais and got a tour of their wine cellar that used to be a bank vault!
Day 4: Avignon & Marseilles
Avignon is a city that you need to spend a solid day in to properly explore, so we decided to spend most of the day here before heading to Marseilles. Going inside the Palais des Papes is an absolute must, it was breathtaking walking through a Pope’s palace from the 1300’s and being transported back in time. We bought tickets that included the Pont d’Avignon as well which is a famous medieval bridge and a great spot to get views of the Rhone river and to look back on the city. The whole experience took about 3 hours and we snacked with a soda and some fries in the square after to rest our feet.
We then drove an hour to Marseille where we went to just stay the night before our flight out of the Marseille airport the next morning. We stayed at the Maisons du Monde Hotel & Suites at the Marseille Vieux Port area and we got an apartment style room that helped us have fun picturing what it would be like living in Marseille above this bustling street.
We were nicely surprised about how much we loved our night in Marseille after many locals had warned us that it was dangerous and not the nicest. We made sure to keep our wallets close, but we felt safe all night and had a great time bar hopping around one of the most vibrant cities I’ve ever been to! It was teeming with young people and just packed with interesting and fun wine bars, speakeasy’s, dance clubs and restaurants. A few of my favorite spots were Propaganda Bar, Les Berthom, Pipette, Dionysos, and Vertigo Bar. Definitely a great way to spend the last night of our trip!
The next morning we dropped off our rental car at Marseille to fly back and said goodbye to a wonderful trip and memories to last a lifetime!
If you've ever planned a trip to the South of France you know it's so hard to choose where to go among all the incredible little towns. I felt very happy with our itinerary choices, but let me know in the comments anywhere you definitely recommend for next time!