Les Baux-De-Provence: History, Art and Olive Oil

When choosing a hotel in Les Baux-De-Provence, the main focus of your trip can be a good starting point for planning. Les Baux-De-Provence brings together a range of themes: the Château grounds, museums and image projections, as well as wine, olive oil and insights into olive processing. You can therefore shape your stay around history and art or around tastings, without treating these offerings as interchangeable. The differences between the sights and experiences show which details matter.

Heritage, the Château and the route into the village

Les Baux-De-Provence is designated as a heritage site and has, among other distinctions, been named one of the most beautiful villages in France. The Château des Baux-de-Provence covers five hectares and is classified in its entirety as a historic monument. The area gives a concrete sense of the scale of the site; the classification applies to the Château as a whole.

The Chemin des Trémaïe offers a different perspective on the place: the path leads from the foot of the historic village up a flight of steps to the village centre. The starting point, destination and steps are all part of the route described. If you include this path in your plans, you can take the steps into account as an integral part of the walk.

Museums and image projections

At the Musée des Santons, the collection presents a contrast across time: Neapolitan nativity figures from the 17th and 18th centuries are displayed alongside church santons from the 19th century. The two groups therefore differ both in their origin or type and in the period in which they were made.

The Musée Yves Brayer is housed in the Hôtel de Porcelet, a manor house in the centre of the village, and presents a comprehensive retrospective of Yves Brayer's work. Brayer was a major representative of 20th-century figurative art and had a particular affinity for Mediterranean landscapes. This connection to landscape adds to the view of his work as a whole, without reducing the retrospective to a single subject.

The Carrières des Lumières offer a different focus: images are projected there using around 100 video projectors across more than 7,000 square metres, accompanied by music. Unlike the museum collections, which are placed within specific historical periods, the emphasis here is on large-scale projections and their musical accompaniment.

Wine, olive oil and how they are made

At Mas de la Dame, visitors can taste red, rosé and white wines, as well as olive oils. Mas Sainte Berthe offers wine and olive product tastings during the sales room's opening hours. The timing for this offering is specific: plan your visit around the sales room's opening hours.

At Moulin CastelaS, the focus is not just on the finished olive oil. A tour of the mill introduces visitors to the work of olive growers and millers, as well as to the processing of olives from delivery through to oil extraction. This makes the focus different from a tasting: visitors learn about the individual processing steps and the occupations involved.

This gives you a choice of different perspectives for planning your trip: collections featuring specific historical periods, a retrospective of figurative art, large-scale projections, or tastings and insights into olive processing. If you are looking for a hotel, these differences can help you decide whether to focus your stay on culture or food.

Discover more destinations: Beaurecueil, Cornillon-Confoux, Mouriès, Meyrargues, La Destrousse, Plan-D'orgon, Boulbon, Le Tholonet.

For the broader travel overview: Bouches Du Rhone.