Les Baux-de-Provence

Les Baux-de-Provence is a fortified hilltop village perched on a rocky outcrop of the Alpilles range in Bouches-du-Rhône, rising 245 metres above the surrounding olive groves and stone garrigue. The village is divided into two distinct zones: the living village (village habité), where some 22 permanent residents live among boutiques, galleries, and restaurants along the Rue du Trencat and Rue Neuve; and the medieval ghost town (ville morte) beyond it, climbing to the ruins of the Château des Baux at the summit. The Château des Baux covers the entire upper spur — a complex of fortified walls, a 10th-century keep tower, a 13th-century chapel, and rampart walks with sweeping views across the Alpilles, the Camargue plain, and on clear days as far as the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Admission to the castle includes a self-guided audio tour and occasional medieval siege-weapon demonstrations using reconstructed trebuchets and catapults. The views from the highest rampart walk are among the finest in Provence — the entire Alpilles chain runs to the west and the flat Crau plain stretches south toward the Mediterranean. Directly below the village on the D27, the Carrières de Lumières is a disused bauxite quarry — bauxite was first identified and named after this village — transformed into an immersive digital art venue where large-scale projections fill the 13-metre-high cavern walls and floor. Annual programmes feature painters such as Cézanne, Klimt, and Van Gogh in full multi-room productions. The village itself is heavily visited in peak season but early-morning walkers find the stone lanes largely deserted before 09:30. The Rue du Trencat is the main commercial street; the terrace restaurants along the southern rampart offer lunch views over the valley.