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Nice, probably one of the most famous French cities and probably one of a few that come to mind when thinking about the Côte d’Azur. We usually don’t go for big cities, but this one made us curious. We booked a campsite for 4 nights a little bit outside the city some 45 minutes from the city centre by public transport. At least that was the advertised travel time. In reality it was more like 60 minutes and plagued with delays and traffic jams. Anyway, we made it to the promenade and started to take in the city.

As we mentioned in our last post, there was one more highlight waiting for us before heading to Nice: the Cascades du Saut du Loup. A fairytale-like waterfall hidden away in a narrow gorge.

Sadly, all good things have to come to an end and so did our stay at the fantastic Lac de Sainte-Croix. On the bright side, there was still so much more to explore in Provence and we decided it was finally time to find out what all the fuss about Nice was. Since Nice is a big city, that meant booking ourselves into a campsite once again. Our research showed that most campsites are located some distance outside the city, which meant commuting in every day. So we decided it would make the most sense to visit Nice over a weekend, giving us a couple of extra days to relax in the countryside or explore yet another tiny and lovely village. That village turned out to be Bargemon.

What is the one thing everyone immediately thinks of when you mention southern France, specifically Provence? Correct! “Herbes de Provence” – your favourite herbs mix from your local supermarket. No, just kidding! It’s the lavender fields, of course. Endless fields of lavender and the scent of it everywhere. And let me say this right away: the scent really is everywhere. And it’s absolutely wonderful.

As we mentioned, we split our stay at Lac de Sainte-Croix between two different locations and, after spending a couple of peaceful nights and exploring Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, we moved to the “proper” campsite. By that we mean a larger, more commercially focused campsite. In this case, however, that didn’t make it any less beautiful. Quite the opposite actually. They had done a fantastic job with the layout and decorations. One particular highlight were the showers. They looked like a normal shower block, but had no roof.

If you ever find yourself in Provence and have no idea what to visit (which would be odd, because literally everything is picturesque), I’d say Moustiers-Sainte-Marie is THE one village you absolutely MUST visit. It’s even considered one of the most beautiful villages in France, if not the most beautiful. I’m not making this up – it’s officially part of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France! And for good reason.

After a couple of days in Aix-en-Provence, we felt the need to escape back into the countryside. There was still plenty left on our list and we decided that what we really wanted was mountains, a lake and some good walks. The answer? Lac de Sainte-Croix and the surrounding area.

After a wonderfully quiet night next to the old aqueduct, we finally made our way to Aix-en-Provence. Given that this was a bigger city, we once again had little choice but to book ourselves into a proper campsite. Naturally, we picked one with a pool and a good location for trips into the city. By this point we had become quite used to wandering through small villages with only a handful of tourists around, so arriving in a proper city again felt a little strange.

Leaving Lourmarin behind and continuing in the general direction of Aix-en-Provence, we spotted Cucuron on the map. It had both a lovely-looking old town and a shaded spot where we could work for the day. We packed up early in the morning and headed over to Cucuron. We were happy to see that the comments on Park4Night held true: plenty of shaded parking spots within easy walking distance of the village.

After all the hubbub surrounding the Gypsy procession in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, we were due for another quaint and calm village. In addition, we wanted to start moving in the general direction of Aix-en-Provence. So, employing our extremely sophisticated and highly successful method for finding our next destination, we came across Lourmarin.