8 Best Sights in Provence, France

This center of bohemian flânerie (hanging out) is a lovely place to relax by the fountain, in the shade of plane trees, or under a café umbrella. Its low-key and painterly tableau is framed by graceful 18th-century buildings, and the warren of streets surrounding it is full of young fashion designers, vintage shops, and hip boutiques.

Of all the elegant squares in Aix, this one is the most evocative and otherworldly. Set back from the city's fashionable shopping streets, it forms a horseshoe of shuttered mansions, with cobbles radiating from a simple turn-of-the-20th-century fountain. It makes a fine setting for the chamber music concerts that are held here in summer.

Shaded by plane trees, this square is the social nerve center of Avignon, with a concentration of bistros, brasseries, cafés, and restaurants that draw swarms of locals.

In pretty Place de l'Horloge, a campanile tops the Hôtel de Ville, and you can admire the delicate stonework on the arched portal and mullioned windows of a Renaissance house. Just past the tower on the right is an overlook taking in views toward Gordes, Roussillon, and Mont Ventoux.

On this broad square, the slender, expressive saints of St-Trophime overlook wide steps that attract sun worshippers and foot-weary travelers. The square is also home to the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville, a noble Italianate landmark by the great Parisian architect François Mansart (as in mansard roofs); a passageway allows you to cut through its graceful vestibule from Rue Balze. The obelisk of Turkish marble once stood in the Gallo-Roman cirque but was hauled to the square in the 18th century.

Stand on the site of van Gogh's residence in Arles—the famous Maison Jaune (Yellow House), which was destroyed by bombs in 1944. The artist may have set up his easel on the Quais du Rhône, just off Place Lamartine, to capture the view that he transformed into his legendary Starry Night. Eight other sites—each featured in one van Gogh canvas or another—are highlighted on the city's ( www.arlestourisme.com) "Arles and Vincent van Gogh" tour, including Place du Forum, the Trinquetaille bridge, Rue Mireille, the Summer Garden on Boulevard des Lices, and the road along the Arles à Bouc canal.

A 19th-century statue of the father of the fleur-de-lis reigns under shady pollards on this square with a mellow village feel, a welcome retreat from the clutter of souvenir shops on surrounding lanes. The pretty, bare-bones Église Notre-Dame des Sablons, on one corner of the square, has a timeless air (the church dates from the 13th century, but the stained glass is modern), and the spectacular Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs and Chapelle des Pénitents Gris are Baroque-era marvels.

An ensemble of 18th-century Italianate buildings frames this popular center of activity, bounded by Quai Neuve, Rue Fortia, Rue de la Paix Marcel-Paul, and Cours d'Estienne d'Orves, where one sidewalk café spills into another, and every kind of bouillabaisse is yours for the asking. At night, the neighborhood is a fashionable hangout for young professionals on their way to and from the theaters and clubs on Quai de Rive Neuve.