FR26.7 Avignon

Avignon had been recommended to us by countless people. Then again, if you open pretty much any map app, it jumps out immediately as one of the major highlights of southern France. It was an obvious stop on our journey.

The challenge as a camper or van-lifer is always the same: where do you stay?

Having heard plenty of stories about break-ins, we decided to stick to official campsites rather than risk wild camping. The campsite we originally wanted to stay at happened to be closed for a private event, so we had to find an alternative for our first night.

That alternative turned out to be a stay with a French couple, Dominique and her husband, who themselves live in a converted truck on their own campsite.

Upon arrival, we were treated to a 90-minute monologue covering everything from what to see and what to avoid, all the way to detailed instructions on how to prevent your bike from being stolen.

We genuinely appreciated every minute of it.

After a wonderfully quiet night’s sleep, we were woken by the neighbour’s pheasant. A small part of us regretted not booking a few more nights with Dominique, but there is little point in second-guessing decisions that have already been made.

So we packed up and moved to our next campsite: Lodge & Nature.

Our experience with traditional campsites is still fairly limited, but this one immediately took the number one spot.

It’s the perfect size, has a fantastic pool, sits in a peaceful wooded area and somehow manages to be both lively and incredibly quiet at the same time. The staff were exceptionally friendly, the facilities were spotless and even the small restaurant and bar exceeded expectations.

We had originally booked three nights.

We ended up staying a full week.

In fact, we extended one day at a time because we simply couldn’t convince ourselves to leave.

By bike, Avignon’s historic centre is only about ten minutes away, either via the bridge or by using the free pedestrian ferry.

Thanks to a tip from Dominique’s husband, we locked our bikes away in the secure bike lockers beneath the Palais des Papes and set off to explore the city.

Having spent most of our time in small French villages up until then, Avignon felt a little overwhelming.

The city was crowded, busy and clearly dealing with the effects of overtourism. Exploring it required noticeably more energy than wandering through the smaller places we had visited before.

We also found ourselves constantly checking our phones to navigate to the next sight.

In the villages, you can simply wander around and get lost.

In Avignon, getting lost might result in ending up several kilometres away from where you intended to be.

We decided to pay for entry to both the famous Palais des Papes and the equally famous bridge.

When in Avignon…

Both are undeniably impressive and absolutely worth visiting. What surprised us, however, was just how empty many of the rooms inside the palace were.

We are used to historic sites including exhibitions or recreations that help visitors imagine what life was like in those spaces. Here, many rooms were largely empty.

There is an app that is supposed to bring the rooms to life through augmented reality, but neither of us was particularly excited about spending a visit to a historic monument staring at a phone screen.

We spent the rest of the day wandering through the streets and following the recommendations we had collected over the previous days.

Every single one turned out to be worthwhile.

Avignon is definitely a city worth visiting.

But in our opinion, the real gem is its neighbour: Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.

That’s a story for another post.