One of the best things to do in Aix en Provence is to figure out what imbues this glorious city in the south of France with its unique aura. There’s something special about this place. You’ll feel it walking up the stately plane tree-planted boulevard of Cours Mirabeau, slipping between the Old Town’s mishmash of ocher-tinted alleyways, and the way the Provençal sun casts a pink pattern on your café napkin as it refracts through your glass of rosé.
Perhaps it’s Aix’s accumulation of so much history. A 15th-century regional capital, the city wears its age splendidly. The baroque mansions patterned with tall blue shutters attest to its wealth and importance. The 15th-century reign of the cultured Good King Rene helped ensure modern Aix overflows with art, while the students of the Aix-Marseille University add buzz to its bars.
Then there’s its favorite son, the artist Paul Cézanne, whose spirit inhabits his former studio or in the galleries showcasing his work. The best things to do in Aix en Provence connect you to its remarkable medieval history, outsized arts heritage, and sophisticated joie de vivre.
Wander Through Le Vieil Aix
Le Vieil Aix
Walking the honeyed stone streets of the Le Vieil Aix, the Old Town, is one of the best things to do here.
With its street markets and cafés, Leafy Cours Mirabeau marks the southern border of the Old Town, and to the south is the handsome Mazarin district. The Old Town has a genteel ambiance, with its medieval alleys and mature plane trees. You’ll encounter dancing fountains, Gothic churches, and even an astronomical clock as you explore.
Le Vieil Aix
Find your way through the atmospheric maze of alleys just north of Cours Mirabeau, one of the best places to shop in France. You’ll eventually arrive before the many twinkling window panes of the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville, the town hall.
Constructed in the typical “pierre de Aix” yellow limestone, this building has been the city’s political power center for over six centuries. The oldest part is the clock tower, which dates back to 1510, its foundations even older, from the Roman era.
All this wandering amid Provence’s famed climate will engender a thirst, so find La Cave des Ours for a rest and a chilled glass of biodynamic vin.
Approach the Ancient in Saint-Sauveur Cathedral
Saint-Sauveur Cathedral
An unmissable edifice in the Old Town, the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral has been the city’s primary place of Christian worship as far back as 500 AD. Then, the cathedral was only a humble chapel compared to the 12th-century architectural behemoth that’s rooted to the spot today, planted in what was Aix’s forum in the Roman era.
Step within its ornate Gothic entrance and you’ll see Roman columns melding into Saint-Sauveur’s heady Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque architectural accumulation.
It’s hard to pick a highlight; the octagonal baptistery incorporates sections of that original early chapel, for example. However, the detailed cloisters are fascinating. Bordering an ornamental garden, the cloisters’ pale stone is inscribed with depictions of animals and plants. At the corners, try to puzzle out which symbols represent which four saints.
Shop on Cours Mirabeau
Cours Mirabeau
Spending an afternoon exploring the shops of Cours Mirabeau, the city’s principal boulevard, is one of the best things to do in Aix-en-Provence.
The towering plane trees, planted in the 19th century, cast a dappled light onto the spacious sidewalks. Street markets are set up beneath white canvas, selling everything from sun hats to chess sets, among other French souvenirs. High-end boutiques sell impossibly bejeweled watches and statement handbags.
Relax with your purchases at the tables outside of Bar Grillon, inhaling the aromas of strawberries from your wine glass as you enjoy the people-watching.
Commune with Cézanne in the Musée Granet
Musée Granet
If you’re wondering what all the fuss is concerning local hero Paul Cézanne, visiting the Musée Granet, inhabiting a former Knights of Malta priory. The leading art museum in the city since 1838, the Musée Granet has acquired a collection of more than 12,000 works of art including paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet.
Don’t let this sizeable collection count deter you—the Cézanne area is a far from overwhelming introduction to the post-impressionist. There are ten of his paintings supported by sketches, watercolors, and engravings that help you understand Cézanne’s artistic development, and why he became such a pivotal figure in modern art.
You’ll find Musée Granet in the Mazarin Quarter, close to the Church of Saint-Jean-de-Malte. The collections are also accompanied by a museum of archaeology, with a section dedicated to showcasing the lives of the sun-loving peoples who first colonized this region.
Call in on Atelier Cézanne
Atelier Cézanne
If you find that a visit to the Musée Granet has kindled a passion for Paul Cézanne, a visit to his former home and studio is the logical next step.
A short drive or 20-minute walk north from Cours Mirabeau is Avenue Paul Cézanne. Sheltered by trees is Cézanne’s stout home where he worked between 1902 and 1906. Numerous paintings were born here, including the last of “The Bathers” series, considered his finest achievement.
Atelier Cézanne
On the first floor, the light pouring in through vast windows, you enter the artist’s former studio. The scene before you is as the artist would have left it, with brushes, paints, and easels set out among pieces of furniture and recognizable items from his still lifes.
Pick up a Cézanne picture book in the gift shop or have a coffee and soak up the garden’s ambiance.
Read: Best Places to Visit in the South of France
See Inside the Église de la Madeleine
Église de la Madeleine
One of the Old Town’s most prominent landmarks, the Église de la Madeleine is a grand, historic church. You’ll find it in the Place des Prêcheurs, once the site of public executions in the medieval era, but now more about fresh heads of lettuce on market stalls than rolling craniums.
Considering the church’s past bad fortune, you’d be forgiven for feeling trepidatious about stepping into its hallowed interior. La Madeleine has been destroyed twice: by a fire in the 13th century, and when it collapsed 200 years later due to structural issues.
Knock on a wooden pew, but the 17th-century iteration that you see before you has remained resolutely upright since. It’s also recently been the recipient of a lengthy restoration.
La Madeleine was where an infant Cézanne was baptised on February 22, 1839. It seems right then that, among the spiritual trappings, you’ll find the church hung with beautiful paintings by artists such as Michel Serre.
Stroll the Gardens of the Hôtel de Caumont
Hôtel de Caumont Photo by Bjs on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
A grand 18th-century mansion, the Hôtel de Caumont was once the home of the Marquess of Cabannes, a patron of the arts and influential Aix personage of his day.
Today, the mansion, found close to the Cours Mirabeau, has been transformed into a center for the arts called the Caumont Art Center. The center hosts two major exhibitions per year, with artists previously showcased including surrealist Max Ernst and Fauvist Raoul Dufy.
A visit to the center acts as a cultural twofer. For a single ticket price, you can browse the art exhibited in the grand salons as well as discover the fine trappings in which Aix’s high society used to surround itself in the 18th century.
As you explore, you can almost hear the gentle, ringing notes of the harpsichord, while it’s hard to resist taking a load off on the crimson satin chaise.
Afterward, see the trident fountain and stroll among the pristinely arranged flowerbeds of the private gardens—one of the best things to do in Aix-en-Provence when you’re pretending you’re French nobility.
Imagine a Rendezvous in the Pavillon de Vendôme
Pavillon de Vendôme
An excellent example of the kind of ostentatious yet elegant townhouse that the city is so good at, the Pavillon de Vendôme was built in the mid-1600s for Louis, Duke of Vendôme.
The Pavillon’s raison d’etre was a place where the once-ambassador of Provence could be alone with his mistress, Lucrèce de Forbin Solliès. Despite both being available due to the death of their respective spouses, King Louis XIV wouldn’t allow the marriage.
Nevertheless, the affair continued, with a disguised Lucrèce visiting the townhouse at night to avoid scandal.
The classically-fronted Pavillon overlooks an expansive French-style formal garden, with lines of pink tulips dipping in the breeze and a gurgling fountain at its heart. You can also explore the art collections and Grand Siècle-era furniture within the building. Or simply wander the grounds, dwelling on doomed romance and heaving heartfelt sighs.
Enjoy the View at the Place d’Albertas
Place d’Albertas
If you’d arrived in the Place d’Albertas before the midpoint of the 18th century, you probably would have found yourself inside somebody’s home.
This historic square’s name is lent to it by its creator, Jean Baptiste d’Albertas. With the single-mindedness of those Victorians who constructed follies on hillsides to enliven their view, so d’Albertas wished to improve the perspective from his new mansion. He bought the entire street opposite and demolished it to make way for a Parisian-style square.
The handsome square is a testament to how the prominent families of the 18th century shaped modern Aix. As you stop to take in the classical symmetry, the tendrils of wrought iron on the balconies, and the central fountain, it’s hard to argue with d’Albertas’ taste.
See a Pod of Dolphins at Place des Quatre-Dauphins
Place des Quatre-Dauphins
The zip code for Aix’s merchant and noble class, the Mazarin district is a grid of luxuriously appointed mansions. Slip between its narrow streets and at its heart, you’ll find the Place des Quatre-Dauphins.
Constructed in 1646 by the district’s architect, the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence Michel Mazarin, the square is enclosed within elegant butter-yellow buildings. In the morning, when the owners of those buildings throw open their tall shutters, they look out upon a famous fountain.
The Fontaine des Quatre-Dauphins has four dolphins with their tails to a central obelisk. It’s a particularly handsome baroque sculpture and an intrinsic part of the city’s cultural weave. The fountain was created in 1667 by Jean-Claude Rambot, who also designed the Atlas ornamenting the Pavillon de Vendôme.
Admire Gothic Style at Saint-Jean-de-Malte
Saint-Jean-de-Malte
Where Rue d’Italie and Rue Cardinale intersect you’ll find the Église Saint-Jean-de-Malte, Provence’s first Gothic church.
Another superlative attached to this golden-stone edifice is that its domineering bell tower, which appears to have been designed for a much larger church, is, at nearly 220 feet high, Aix-en-Provence’s highest point.
Constructed in the late 13th century, the church is notable as the resting place for the Counts of Provence. During the French Revolution, its spacious flagstone interior, splashed with color from the rose window, was employed as a storehouse. A sense of sanctity was restored in the 19th century when it became a parish church once more
Once you’ve seen inside and peeked at the Daniel Kern-designed organ, stroll down Rue d’Italie. Once a section of the original Roman road, Rue d’Italie has a good selection of boutiques, cafés, and restaurants serving Provencal food for a post-Gothic pick-me-up.
Pay Your Respects at Fontaine Du Roi René
Fontaine Du Roi René
Aix has long been known as “the city of a thousand fountains”, although the true count is closer to 100. Among these, there’s one that stands out for its subject: the Fontaine Du Roi René.
The regal figure standing atop the stone plinth is René of Anjou, more familiar perhaps by his honorific title of “Good King René”. The second son of Louis II of Anjou, the affable and popular René made his mark during the turbulent times of the Hundred Years’ War.
In later life, René’s court at Aix was a haven for culture and the arts and helped put Provence on the map during the Renaissance.
In his sculpted hand, the king carries a bunch of grapes. However, these aren’t any grapes, but specifically the “muscat” varietal which he, so the story goes, introduced to the region. It produces a sweet and aromatic drop which is perfect for beating the heat in the south of France.
Fontaine Du Roi René
Consider it a royal command to go forth from this spot and locate a chilled glass of muscat somewhere shady and comfortable along Cours Mirabeau. Afterward, walk to the other end of Cours Mirabeau to admire the statuary and leaping waters of the Fontaine de la Rotonde.
Read: South of France Itinerary
Cours Mirabeau
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