Paris
I know I just made that disclaimer above, but this is really a placeholder! I’ll add more, probably 🙂 although you don’t really need my help to know that the Musée d’Orsay, Louvre, and Rodin Museum are impressive, or that the Eiffel Tower and Palais de Versailles exist… So for now:
- Stohrer 🥐 (site; map) is my favorite pastry shop. On my last trip, I had 30 minutes to spend in Paris before catching my TGV train, and this is how I spent it. I suggest not missing the large chocolate macaron. (Or your train.)
- Le 404 🍽️ (site; map) is an amazing Moroccan restaurant. Delicious food, beautiful ambiance. Reservations recommended.
- Sadaharu Aoki 🥐 (map) is a small chain of Japanese-French pastry shops in Paris. I haven’t been, but it’s at the top of my list for my next visit, and highly vouched for!
Provence (Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, etc.)
Provence is a wonderful place to stay a while and explore! Most recently I stayed in Aix-en-Provence, and that was a wonderful home base for exploring; I’ve also stayed in Avignon a long time ago. Both are well connected by trains and buses to the rest of Provence, and easy to explore by car as well, with Aix-en-Provence being a bit more central.
Google Transit directions were not helpful for me in 2021 because they don’t currently include the public bus system (and there was a significant regional train service change). I highly suggest downloading the La Métropole Mobilité app (Apple Store link as of 2021) to figure out bus routes, for example for getting between cities, from the TGV stations to their town centers, or between Aix/Marseille/the airport for example; they will be much more economical and available than taxis, and the buses I rode took credit card payment on board!
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence is a beautiful city and a great home base! Some of the highlights were:
- Les Vieilles Canailles 🍽️ (site; map) was definitely my best sit-down restaurant meal; truly incredible. The photo at right is the stuffed tomato appetizer we had. We were turned away on a weekend evening without a reservation, but were easily able to make a reservation a few hours before for Tuesday evening.
- Marchés (markets) 🛍️🥖🧀🫒 — here’s a link to a different blog post about the main markets in Aix-en-Provence, which are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (including the food market on Place des Prêcheurs).
- Les Macarons de Caroline Eurl 🍰 (site; map) wow. These macarons are very delicate, and they have a variety that actually have fresh fruit (!) in the middle of them.
- Madeleines de Christophe 🍰 (map) were delicious madeleines in a variety of flavors (and cannelés, too).
- La Victoire 🪡 (map) if you like sewing, check out this wonderful fabric store! 🙂 They were super helpful and friendly, and had a beautiful selection of fabrics.
We ate at a bunch of other restaurants, and they were all great! Google Maps reviews did not lead us astray.
Vaucluse (Luberon)
The département of Vaucluse is in the western part of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. We spent a day exploring by car. 
We enjoyed the Lavender Museum in Cabrières-d’Avignon (site; map), which was informative and also had a nice gift shop. 🙂 We had lunch in nearby Île-sur-la-Sorgue (map), a beautiful town –see the picture at right– with picturesque waterways that is also known for its antique markets. From there, we drove through the beautiful small towns of Ménerbes and Bonnieux on our way back to Aix.
There’s a lot more that we weren’t able to see, like the ochre Mines de Bruoux (map), or visit other villages like Gordes, Roussillon, and Apt.
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (Verdon)
What a stunning day this was. I went to the town of Forcalquier on a Monday, which just so happens to be its market day. The market was enormous, and I ended up getting some delicious olives, cheese, and marinated artichoke hearts to enjoy along with the bread that was actually my reason for coming to Forcalquier: I visited Boulangerie CumPanis (map), which for some reason I had saved on my map months ago… it was very good! Their bread is also sold down the street at L’Abondance (map), an excellent shop for cheese, wines, and other fine foods.
Then I drove through the already-harvested lavender fields past the incredibly picturesque town of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie (map
), which is set into the mountainside. I wish I had time to hike up to the church and waterfalls in this town, or check out the museum for their signature ceramics (faïence), but Forcalquier had been too much fun and set me off schedule. From there, I drove (clockwise!) around the absolutely breathtaking Route des Crêtes (“route of the mountain crests,” map, images — including, see the picture at right) over the Gorges du Verdon. The drive to get to the beginning of the route des crêtes was more nerve-wracking than the route itself, since a good portion of the route is one-way only, clockwise, so the road does not feel as narrow. There are frequent, marked vistas (belvédères), and yes, you should stop at all of them. You can eat a picnic lunch at one of them, but just note that if the goats are around, they will stick their heads into your open car window and scare the crap out of you.
I didn’t have time to do it when I went, but on the way back, my friend went kayaking on the lake at Verdon Canoe (map) and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Marseille & Coast (including Calanques)
It was super easy to get to Marseille from Aix-en-Provence on the bus! We had two incredible meals in Marseille:
- Chez Yassine 🍽️ (site; map) Tunisian food was so delicious, and also very inexpensive. One of the best meals of my trip, with a relatively long line outside waiting for a table to prove it. We basically got one of each of the main menu items, and I’m still thinking about that méchouia salad.
- La Mercerie 🍽️ (site; map) is right around the corner from Chez Yassine, and serves a very upscale menu with a casual vibe (literally, our server was wearing shorts). You should call ahead for a reservation.
I didn’t get to go, but my friend also went to Restaurant Fémina (map) around the corner from those two, an Algerian restaurant focusing on couscous.
A highlight of the area is the Parc National des Calanques 🏞️🏖️ (map). The Calanques are a rocky coastline with stunning inlets and beaches. We hiked the Calanque de Morgiou (map), which was absolutely stunning, and so lovely to float in the Mediterranean after we got to the beach! Some tips for the Calanques:
- The hikes to get to them can be strenuous. Definitely have good footwear (either hiking shoes or at least well-gripping Teva’s, etc.; you do not want to do these hikes in flip flops), and bring water. There was a restaurant at the Calanque de Morgiou where you could buy food or water/drinks, but that is not the case at most of the calanques. I wish I would have brought a small backpack instead of a tote bag that was swinging around.
- Definitely download the Mes Calanques app (links). I am not sure how we would have navigated the trails without its Map tab to help us choose our way at forks on the trail.
- I don’t regret it (I think? 🤣), but the way that we got to Morgiou included traversing a red triangle (“passage délicat”) on the map. That means it’s an intense spot, which in our case was a 25 foot rock face with a chain to hold onto so you could lean back and climb down it. It took me almost a half hour to be able to take the first step at that particular spot (but also, most people were less fearful of it than me). Alternatively, we easily could have chosen a different trail to get to the beach, avoiding the red triangle on the map. So, that’s what red triangles can mean!
Down the coast from Marseille are a bunch of beautiful towns, including Cassis (map). We walked around Cassis after spending the morning and afternoon hiking in the Calanques.
Alsace
When I was staying in Basel, we spent a day in Alsace, which I enjoyed and would love to spend much more time. Some tips:
- We went to Colmar in the morning, which is a really nice smaller town to walk around, and has its famous La Petite Venise (“Little Venice”), which was very beautiful (see picture at right). We then took the regional train up to Strasbourg to have lunch and walk around for a few hours. Strasbourg is a bigger city, with plenty to see and eat 🙂
- You can purchase an Alsa+ Groupe Journée ticket for a group of 2-5 people to travel on all regional trains, buses, and trams for a day. We got the one that covers the entire Alsace region, and for a single €39.10 ticket all three of us were able to hop on any transit and regional trains all day long (the more people in your group, the better the deal it is). Here’s a page in English and in French about that ticket. You can buy this ticket from the ticket machines at the train station, and it’s not necessary to buy in advance.