Provence Walking Holiday: Alpilles & Luberon
Walk from Saint-Rémy and the Alpilles to the hilltop villages and ochre landscapes of the Luberon.
Walk Information
- Difficulty
- Easy to Moderate
- Distance
- 39.8 to 39.8 miles
Walk from Saint-Rémy and the Alpilles to the hilltop villages and ochre landscapes of the Luberon.
FRA-PAL1 ~ Provence - Alpilles & Luberon
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Your holiday begins in the historic city of Avignon, the gateway to the walking in the Alpilles. From here, a short transfer takes you to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where the first walks begin among the olive groves and limestone hills associated with Vincent van Gogh.
Roussillon brings a striking change of colour to the Luberon. The village is known for its red and orange ochre, seen in the cliffs, paths and warm-toned buildings around its streets. Short walks lead through the surrounding pine woodland and ochre landscape, making Roussillon a fitting final stop on the holiday.
This holiday gives you two quite different sides of Provence in one journey. Around Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, paths run through olive groves beneath the pale limestone of the Alpilles, passing Saint-Paul-de-Mausole and places closely associated with Vincent van Gogh. The walk to Les Baux-de-Provence brings a higher, more open stretch, with wide views over the country below.
In the Luberon, the character changes. Routes link Gordes, Lacoste, Bonnieux and Buoux through oak woodland, dry-stone country and the Aiguebrun Gorge, before the final walks around Roussillon bring you onto its red and orange ochre ground.
The itinerary combines point-to-point and circular walks, with transfers between the Alpilles and Luberon. The holiday moves between the two regions by road, leaving each day's walking to explore the country around the villages themselves.
Your holiday begins in Avignon before a transfer to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where the walking starts. The first routes explore the Alpilles, passing olive groves, Saint-Paul-de-Mausole and nearby Roman remains. A panoramic trail then takes you towards Les Baux-de-Provence, set above the surrounding valley, with time to explore the village.
From here, a transfer brings you into the Luberon. A circular walk from Gordes passes traditional dry-stone bories and Sénanque Abbey. The next stage continues towards Bonnieux via Lacoste, before the route drops through oak woodland and the Aiguebrun Gorge to Buoux.
The final part of the holiday is based around Roussillon. Shorter walks through pine woodland and ochre country keep you close to the village, with time to explore its coloured streets and surrounding cliffs on foot.
Colour is part of the walking here, rather than something saved for a viewpoint. Around Saint-Rémy, silver-green olive groves sit beneath pale limestone ridges, with dark cypress trees and Mediterranean herbs breaking up the slopes. These are the landscapes most closely associated with Van Gogh's time at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole.
Further east, the Luberon has a warmer palette. Honey-coloured stone villages rise above wooded valleys, while lavender adds another layer in early summer around Sénanque Abbey. The strongest change comes at Roussillon, where the ground itself turns red and orange. Paths run through ochre cliffs and pine woodland before returning to the coloured streets of the village.
The light shifts through the day, but the appeal is not an abstract idea of Provence. You see it in the stone, the vegetation and the ground under your boots.
