Lourmarin and the Luberon

Lourmarin is a hill village in the Luberon, about 75 km north of Marseille in the Vaucluse department of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France. It has a Renaissance chateau, vineyards and a Friday market, and the writer Albert Camus is buried in its cemetery. The best transport is a car, which takes about 1 hour 15 minutes via the A51 and the D973 and makes it easy to combine Lourmarin with other Luberon villages; parking is at the edge of the village. Public transport is possible but slow: coach 50 from Marseille to Aix-en-Provence, then Zou line 909 (Apt - Cadenet - Aix-en-Provence), which stops at Lourmarin Centre. The trip takes more than 2 hours each way, the Zou single ticket costs EUR 2.10 plus the Marseille-Aix fare, and the timetable should be checked on zou.maregionsud.fr or by phone on +33 4 13 94 30 50 before leaving. A suggested day arrangement is to arrive in the morning, ideally on a Friday for the market, and spend the first hours among the stalls and the lanes. Lunch can be taken at a village terrace. The afternoon suits a visit to the chateau, which has stairs, and the cemetery where Camus is buried, followed by a drive through nearby Luberon villages or a wine tasting at one of the surrounding estates. The village is mostly flat and easy to walk. The best seasons are April to June and September to October, and the villages are quiet outside the main season. Midsummer days are hot and busy, so earlier starts help. Visitors relying on buses should plan the return carefully, because services are limited. The overall exertion is easy, though the long drive or transit makes for a full day.