19 Best Sights in Provence, France

On the site of a crucial fort at the summit of Mont Faron, this museum recounts the planning and execution of World War II's Operation Dragoon, a mission meant to resecure the French ports of Marseille and Toulon and cut off German reinforcements. The story unfolds via firsthand accounts in French and English from men and women who fought for the French Resistance, descriptions of life under the occupation, a detailed timeline, and an 11-minute film showing original footage of the August 15, 1944, invasion—and its vast destruction—which was a decisive turning point in the war.

With the Port Antique in front, this modern, open-space museum illuminates Massalia's history with a treasure trove of archaeological finds and miniature models of the city as it appeared in various stages of history. Best by far is the presentation of Marseille's Classical halcyon days. There's a recovered wreck of a Roman cargo boat, its 3rd-century wood amazingly preserved, and the hull of a Greek boat dating from the 4th century BC. The model of the Greek city should be authentic—it's based on an eyewitness description by Aristotle.

The newest museum in Nîmes is impossible to miss: first for its location, just opposite the Arènes, and second for its exterior featuring a gleaming, translucent facade meant to evoke a Roman toga. Exhibits inside this luminous edifice showcase the city's Roman past with more than 5,000 artifacts, as well as touch screens, interactive displays, and other state-of-the art features that will delight both adults and kids. Highlights include intact mosaics discovered during recent excavations, a model of a domus (Roman house), and a green roof with panoramic views of the amphitheater and all the city's major sites. The sidewalk café is great for a quick lunch or afternoon drink, and the upstairs La Table du 2—which also has impressive views—is a Michelin-starred brasserie that serves lunch and dinner.

Move over Lascaux and Chauvet, France's newest underground odyssey takes you back 33,000 years and 121 feet "undersea." In 1985, diver Henri Cosquer discovered a mostly submerged cave with chambers containing more than 500 evocative images of bison, horses, deer, ibex, aurochs, seals, jellyfish, and human hands. On this simulated visit at Marseille's Villa Mediterranée, groups of six, equipped with headsets, are taken by cable car though a near-perfect replica of the cave to learn the story of these mysterious drawings, the original artists, and their relationship to the animals they depicted.

At the top of the Panier district lies this superb ensemble of 17th- and 18th-century architecture, which was originally designed as a hospice for the homeless by Marseillais artist-architects Pierre and Jean Puget and which now houses two museums. While visiting the complex, be sure to walk around the inner court to study the retreating perspective of triple arcades and to admire the Baroque chapel with its novel, egg-peaked dome.

The larger of the two museums is the Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne (Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology), with a sizable collection of pottery and statuary from classical Mediterranean civilization; unfortunately, descriptions of these items are rudimentary (e.g., "pot"). There's also an exhibit on the mysterious Celt-like Ligurians who first peopled the coast; alas, displays focus more on the digs than the finds. However, the Egyptian collection—the second-largest in France after the Louvre's—is evocative, with mummies, hieroglyphs, and sarcophagi exhibited in a tomblike setting.

Displays in the upstairs Musée d'Arts Africains, Océaniens, et Amérindiens (Museum of African, Oceanic, and American Indian Art) are theatrical: spectacular masks and sculptures are mounted along a black wall, lighted indirectly, and labeled across the aisle. The complex also has changing exhibitions that might focus on fine art, photography, filmmaking, or cultural anthropology, among other things.

Made up of three sites designed by Rudy Ricciotti, MuCEM (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations) is all about new perspectives on Mediterranean cultures. Themes like "the invention of gods," "treasures of the spice route," or "at the bazaar of gender" are explored here. At one of the sites, you can access the 12th-century Fort St-Jean, built by Louis XIV with guns pointing toward the city to keep the feisty, rebellious Marseillais under his thumb.

If you're not the queasy type, walk across the suspended footbridge over the sea; it provides spectacular photo ops and unique panoramas. On the other side, you can visit a Mediterranean garden and a folk-art collection. A third building—the Center for Conservation and Resources, near the St-Charles train station—holds the museum's permanent collection of paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and objects. The museum's popular café, bistro, and restaurant (reservations required), overseen by star chef Gérald Passédat, are all great for meals and for taking in the views.

Nîmes's oldest museum, inaugurated in 1895 in a listed 17th-century chapel, contemplates the natural and human sciences via a vast collection of stuffed beasts, menhirs, and other wonders. The setting has barely changed since 1930s, when France was a still a vast colonial power. There's a planetarium, too.

Across the street from the Théâtre Antique, this small museum displays artifacts unearthed around Orange, including fragments of three detailed marble cadastres (land survey maps) dating from the first century AD. Upstairs, a vivid series of 18th-century canvases shows local mills producing Provençal fabrics, each aspect illustrated in careful detail. There are also personal objects from local aristocrats and a collection of faience pharmacy jars.

North of the village of Albaron, between Arles and Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, this former sheep ranch is now a museum devoted to the region's history, produce, and people, including the gardians. It's also a good place to pick up information about nature trails.

Another claim to fame for Aubagne: it's the headquarters for the French Foreign Legion. The legion was created in 1831, and accepts recruits from all nations, no questions asked. The discipline and camaraderie instilled among its motley team of adventurers have helped the legion forge a reputation for exceptional valor—a reputation romanticized by songs and films in which sweaty deeds of heroism are performed under the desert sun. The Musée de la Légion Étrangère does its best to polish the image by way of medals, uniforms, weapons, and photographs.

Although it's a hike from the center, this state-of-the-art museum is a good place to start your exploration of Arles. You can learn all about the city in its Roman heyday, from the development of its monuments to details of daily life. The bold, modern triangular structure (designed by Henri Ciriani) lies on the site of an enormous Roman cirque (chariot-racing stadium).

The permanent collection includes jewelry, mosaics, town plans, and carved 4th-century sarcophagi. One wing of the museum features a rare intact barge dating from AD 50, as well as a fascinating display illustrating how the boat was meticulously dredged from the nearby Rhône. Seven superb floor mosaics can be viewed from an elevated platform, and you exit via a hall packed with magnificently detailed paleo-Christian sarcophagi. As you leave you will see the belt of St-Césaire, the last bishop of Arles, who died in AD 542 when the countryside was overwhelmed by the Franks and the Roman era met its end. Ask for an English-language guidebook.

In 1943, Germans destroyed the neighborhood along the Quai du Port—some 2,000 houses—displacing 20,000 citizens, but this act of brutal urban renewal, ironically and literally, laid the ground open for new discoveries. When Marseille began to rebuild in 1947, workers dug up the remains of a Roman shipping warehouse full of the terra-cotta jars and amphorae that once lay in the bellies of low-slung ships. The Musée des Docks Romains was created around the finds and demonstrates the scale of Massalia's shipping prowess.

Housed in the 17th-century bishop's palace opposite the cathedral, this museum shows off garments embroidered in the exotic and vibrant style for which Nîmes was once famous. Look for the 18th-century jacket made of blue serge de Nîmes, the renowned fabric—now simply called denim—from which Levi Strauss first fashioned blue jeans.

There's no better way to learn about the local wine production than to spend an hour at the Musée du Vin Maison Brotte, a private collection of wine-making equipment displayed in the caveau (wine cellar) of the Brotte family.

You'll find an eclectic assortment of local treasures inside this 17th-century mansion, from faience to santons (terra-cotta figurines) to ornately painted furniture. The building is lovely, too.

This lovely and intimate museum houses the private art collection—ranging from 15th- and 16th-century Italian and Flemish paintings to Fragonard and Millet—of a wealthy 19th-century merchant family. Most of the works are displayed in situ, amid the beautifully appointed rooms of the family's 1873 mansion, so you get a real sense of the era's cultivated tastes in both fine and decorative arts.

Part of a network of marine museums around France, this branch, lodged in the graceful 18th-century section of the Toulon arsenal, is particularly fascinating. The rich maritime history in this part of the Mediterranean comes alive via model ships, paintings, mastheads, and a pictorial account of the city's role in World War II.

Don't bother to rush to this eccentric little natural history museum, but since it's next door to the Calvet Museum (and free) you might want to stop in and check out the petrified palm trunks, the dinosaur skeleton, the handful of local beetles and mammals, and the careful and evocative texts (French only) that accompany them. The museum is named for a local naturalist and functions as an entrance to the massive library of natural history upstairs.

The area's famous vein of natural ocher, which runs for about 25 km (16 miles) along the foot of the Vaucluse Plateau, has been mined for centuries, beginning with the ancient Romans, who used ocher for their pottery. Visit this museum housed in a former factory to learn more about ocher's extraction and its modern uses. English-language guided tours (50 minutes) are available. If the landscapes of Provence that inspired so many great artists have also inspired you, head for the on-site gift shop to pick up some bottled pigments or a set of ocher and indigo watercolors to use in your own creative endeavors.