Provence Excursions

Artisanal Visits

• Learn about Provençal fabrics and watch them being designed and made during a private factory tour near Tarascon.
• Let A Season Away schedule a private visit with a santon maker in the Vaucluse hills to see how these collectable clay figurines are made. In the town of Seguerat your clients will visit the atelier of one of the top santon makers and see how they fashion these dolls into representations of Provençal daily life.
• Have a hankering for getting your hands dirty? Let us introduce you to some of the top pottery makers in Provence so you can see the time-honored traditions and try your hand at it.
• Make your own perfume at one of the top perfume ateliers in the region.

Traditional/Non-Traditional Touring

• Want to understand Van Gogh? A Season Away has created a special tour following Van Gogh’s time in Provence, from his productive days in Arles, where you will see exact spots where he painted many of his best works, to St. Remy, where he was in a mental hospital to fight his demons.
• Cezanne was another great artist of the period, and you can take advantage of the great Provençal light with private painting lessons with an Impressionist painter who is a devotee of Cezanne. An alternative is to paint among the lavender fields near Gordes with a different instructor.
• Further afield, see the pink flamingos in the Camargue near the sea and the wild white horses and black bulls in the marshes there. Best viewing is by a private boat into the marshes.
• Learn to speak French with private lessons for individuals or the entire family. Lessons are less out of a book than fun practical lessons such as visiting local markets to learn to shop, going to restaurants to learn to order from a French menu, etc.
• Attend French soccer or rugby matches on a local and professional level.
• Many travelers have taken photos of the lavender fields outside of the Cistercian Abbey at Senanque near Gordes. A Season Away arranges the visit at 6 pm to hear vespers being sung that transport you back in time almost a thousand years!
• Go to musical and artistic performances throughout the region (symphony, opera, ballet, jazz, and more.) A Season Away can not only get hard-to-find tickets for events like the summer music festival in Aix-en-Provence, but can also let clients know about local performances worth attending.
• Provence is a great repository for all things Roman, so take a Roman Heritage tour to Arles, Nimes (and the fabulous Pont du Gard aqueduct/bridge nearby) and Orange to see well-preserved temples, amphitheatres and other monuments to a different civilization.
• A Season Away offers a Jewish heritage tour, taking in the Provence towns of Carpentras, Avignon and Cavaillon. Jews were protected in Carpentras because it was a Papal state, not a French one, for hundreds of years.
• Take traditional walking tours of Avignon, Aix en Provence and Arles with local guides who can make the region come alive as they customize the tour and presentation to your clients.
• Interested in taking flight? A Season Away can arrange ballooning near Gordes or flightseeing over lavender fields or a trip down to the sea to get your water fix.
• A different type of flight, fascinating for children, is to visit Les Aigles de Beaucaire, a medieval display of birds of prey. Combine this with a visit to Le Vieux Mas, a working farm nearby.
• Though not technically a sport, in Arles and Nimes they still have bullfights. If you are so inclined, go with an A Season Away expert who can arrange tickets, good seating and explain the finer points.

Shopping

• To tell you the truth, some of the best shopping comes from the local markets and antique fairs in Provence. If you like antiques and bric-a-brac, head to L’Isle sur la Sorgue on Sundays. A Season Away VillaHosts can steer you in the right direction.
• If you are serious about antique buying, A Season Away can arrange for a private professional antiques buyer to accompany you to help sort the junk from the good stuff. They will negotiate the best prices, give you summaries of purchases and facilitate the formalities of customs clearance.
• The “retail therapy” action gets good in Aix-en-Provence, called the Paris of Provence, because of all its high-end name brand stores and unique boutiques. A Season Away’s VillaHosts can show you the best shops, boutiques and ateliers, based on your interest and budget!

Sporting Activities

Being in the hills and not too far from the sea invites many sporting activities, including:

• Learn the game of Pétanque (or boules or bocci) from a local.
• The hills around Provence offer incomparable one-day and multi-day hikes, lead by locals who can guide, keep an eye on changing weather conditions and regale you with stories of Provençal culture on the way.
• Bike with members of a local biking club! Or climb (or descend) Mount Ventoux, the toughest “stage” of the Tour de France!
• Golf was imported by the British when they spent winters here at the turn of the 20th century and there are some spectacular courses in the area. A Season Away VillaHosts can arrange preferred tee times and golf lessons to tune up your game!
• Ever tried off-road four-wheel drive trips? Head into the Provence hills for breathtaking, unspoiled vistas.
• River rafting is fun and good for all ages as the rapids are not too challenging.

Cooking Lessons

• Why does French bread taste so marvelous? Learn how to bake bread at the side of a top Provençal bread maker.
• If bread isn’t enough to sustain you (it has been called the staff of life!), then how about taking pastry-making lessons from a top chef in the region?
• A variety cooking classes can be arranged, from a local, homecooked type chef in your villa to longer classes at the side of one of the top chef’s in Provence in their restaurant kitchens.

Food and Wine

• No trip to Provence is complete without tasting some of the fantastic wines from the region, especially the Cotes du Rhone vintages. A Season Away can organize private tastings at some of the finest wineries in the region, especially in the wine villages of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Beaumes-de-Venise and Gigondas. In many cases, clients will be able to taste wines with the owner of the cellars, not someone from their marketing or sales staff. Clients will revel in the different owners’ passion for winemaking.
• Tour a goat cheese farm to learn how this popular cheese is made from milking to the final product. This is a great tour for children.
• Visit one of the top truffle dealers in the world to understand more about truffles. This dealer supplies many of the top Michelin-rated restaurants with the black truffle varieties.
• Actually go truffle hunting with a French truffle hunter and his dog to scour for truffles in the woods near Mount Ventoux in the Vaucluse region, then have a truffles-themed cooking lesson!
• With the world embracing organic and “slow” foods, head to Sarrians for a working farm visit at Domain de l’Oiselet and sample their farm-fresh products. This is a great excursion for children.
• Provence is known for its olive oil so trek to northern Vaucluse for a private “tasting” of oils from the region, the most famous of which hails from Nyons.
• Chocolate: visit one of the top ateliers in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.