What to do in Aix-en-Provence, France
Aix-en-Provence is a picturesque town in the Provençale region in Southern France. It is often known simply as Aix and is also called the city of a thousand fountains. You can see many of them as you wander around the town. It has a Mediterranean climate and is situated about 30km north of Marseille (which is on the coast), and to the east of Aix is the large mountain, Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Aix is also famous for being the birthplace of the painter Paul Cézanne, and you can visit his studio and see many of his artworks in the museum.
How to get to Aix-en-Provence and Getting Around
Aix-en-Provence is most easily reached by flying into Marseille Airport and taking a 20-25 minute taxi ride. You could also fly into Nice, but then the journey by road is about 2 hours. Uber and Bolt are both very accessible here, so there were never any issues getting a taxi.
Aix-en-Provence has a pedestrianised Old Town area with lots of quaint back streets and market squares. It also has a large tree-lined boulevard (Cours Mirabeau) and the whole town is very walkable. In fact, unless we left the town to go to Marseille or the airport, we walked everywhere and didn’t need taxis.
Where to stay in Aix-en-Provence
When we visited Aix-en-Provence, it was mid-August, and the temperature was hot! Being away from the coast, we knew that we wanted somewhere with a pool so that the kids could cool off in the afternoons. This didn’t leave us a huge amount of options, as most of the hotels and Airbnbs in town don’t have pools. We settled on the Renaissance Aix-en-Provence as it was ideally located, a 5-minute walk from the center of town, reasonably priced, and they offered family rooms with two double beds. Perfect for us.
The hotel itself was lovely, very clean and spacious, and the room was perfect for us. The pool was small, but we were always able to find sunbeds around it, and it was plenty big enough for the kids to cool off in after a long morning sightseeing around town. There was a small gym which I used most mornings, and the spa looked really lovely – but being on family holiday I didn’t get a chance to use it!
If a pool isn’t a necessity for you, then you have many more options, from villas to cute boutique hotels to more opulent residences (including this one, the Villa Saint-Ange that really caught my eye when I was researching places to eat); there are so many accommodation options.
If you didn’t mind staying a little way out, then you have plenty of luxury options too. Some of our friends stayed in Chateau de la Gaude, and I saw the Villa Gallici whilst researching the area and thought it looked idyllic. The Lodges Saint-Victoire Hotel & Spa also comes highly recommended.
Where to eat in Aix-en-Provence
I did some research before travelling and booked a few restaurants as we were a large group (14 people), and I wanted some reservations in place so that we knew we would all be able to eat together. Aix-en-Provence has some incredible restaurants, many with Michelin stars and tasting menus, but as we were travelling with the kids, we avoided the super high-end ones. If you’re looking for exquisite fine dining, then these come highly recommended, but I can’t personally vouch for them.
The restaurants I chose were more brasserie-style, with a couple of higher-end ones thrown in that looked more accommodating for children. Kids’ menus in France tend to be grilled chicken or grilled fish or steak with chips and vegetables. This worked well for us but may be an issue for less adventurous eaters (there weren’t any fish fingers or nuggets served anywhere, but there was the odd pizza or burger).
For our first lunch, I’d booked a table at Le Mirabeau, a brasserie-style restaurant on the main street in the heart of Aix-en-Provence. With friends flying in from all over the globe, I figured it was a good meeting point (easy to find, since none of us had visited Aix before), with a relaxed but elegant vibe. It turned out to be the perfect choice; we all ordered light, fresh dishes. I had the seared tuna, but others went for options such as Caesar Salad and Croque Monsieur, while the kids were happy with grilled chicken, chips, and vegetables.
That first night we ate at Côté Cour – easily the most high-end restaurant that I’d booked for the trip. It’s easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for, as it’s through an unassuming door on the Cours Mirabeau. Once inside, it’s a completely different feel from the breezy boulevard outside. Cosy, dark, and refined, we had chosen a table in the outside courtyard adjacent to the restaurant.
The food was spectacular, and so was the wine list; easily the best meal we ate on our trip and a very decadent one. I had the tuna ceviche to start, followed by the turbot confit, but between us we ordered most of the dishes on the menu, and everyone had a taste. Every dish was outstanding, and the bottle of Château Simone that we ordered after a recommendation from the waiter became a firm favourite, and we ended up ordering it in most other restaurants on the trip! They were very accommodating to the kids, making them slow-roasted lamb with mashed potatoes and gravy. It truly was an exquisite meal, and I can’t recommend this place highly enough.
When I first saw La Rotonde after having already booked it, I was in two minds whether or not to cancel. As its name suggests, it was right on the main roundabout in Aix, which didn’t seem like a particularly picturesque spot for dinner. After discussing with our friends, we decided to keep the reservation and are so glad that we did. Although it is on the roundabout, it was set back enough and covered in plants and shrubs to create an almost garde-terrace feel, and you didn’t notice the traffic outside at all.
Again, this was a brasserie-style restaurant and the food was really good, especially the specials. I ordered the goat’s cheese salad, but others ordered the fish of the day and the chateaubriand, and everything was cooked perfectly. What I loved most, though, about this place was the effort they made with the children. They made pizzas for my girls which were really delicious, and then they brought them out a huge plate of profiteroles complete with sparklers and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them (which the girls found hilarious as it was nowhere near their birthdays)
We weren’t sure about going to an Italian restaurant in the middle of a French town, but Maurizio came highly recommended and had a table for 12 of us on Sunday lunch, which nowhere else could accommodate. The setting was beautiful, in the backstreets on a little square with a fountain in the middle. It seemed a very popular spot and for good reason. The food was delicious! The clean, fresh Italian flavours made a nice change from the rich French food that we’d been enjoying elsewhere. Sharing antipasti platters followed by seafood spaghetti, steak carpaccio, pizzettas and burrata salads were the choices of the day, and the fresh pasta was the absolute standout. Both my girls agreed that the spaghetti bolognese was spectacular.
My Nellie loves a cheese plate and, having told her that France was the land of 1000 cheeses, she was looking forward to sampling as many of them as she could. I had researched online and found a little cheese shop called Le Fromagerie du Passage. It was a cheese shop that also doubled as a restaurant and a wine bar, and she spent the whole trip asking to go there. What attracted me was that you could choose a cheese board from the shop and then take it up to the roof terrace with a glass of wine to enjoy the view over Aix. Unfortunately, the terrace was closed when we were there, but we were able to sit just outside the shop on the pavement and enjoy a few sharing plates of cheese before yet another dinner! The cheeses were all very different, and our little cheese monster had a great time trying each one and describing it to us all – she has yet to meet a cheese she doesn’t like, but any blue cheese is her absolute favourite.
And lastly, a restaurant that I wish I could recommend, but I feel that I just can’t. The food at La Petite Ferme was delicious; we loved the idea of sharing all the starters, and each dish really was incredible. From curried mussels to watermelon and feta salad to stuffed courgette flowers, the appetisers were all light and fresh and tasty. The mains were meat or fish, and most of us ended up having steak – the kids included – which was really well cooked.
But the attitude of the staff ruined what could have been an amazing meal. When we arrived, we informed them that a few of our party would not be attending (they had decided in the last hour that they were just too tired to head out and were going to stay in the hotel and go to bed that evening). Obviously this wasn’t ideal, but there was nothing we could do, and we had no advance notice of this to warn the restaurant. We arrived as a party of 7 (instead of 10) and explained the situation, but they were so rude to us. They yelled at us, saying they had turned people away for our table, so we offered to separate the table, which they could then resell as a table of 2 (which they managed to do in just a few minutes). They then proceeded to throw our menus at us, ignore us for most of the evening, overcharge us for dishes we didn’t receive, and charge us for expensive wine we hadn’t ordered. It was a real shame, as we felt very unwelcome. So in summary, the food was amazing, but their service left a sour taste in our mouths!
There were also two Restaurants at our hotel which we didn’t end up using, but both came highly recommended – Atmosph’r and La Table by Pierre Reboul.
Atmosph’r is more of an elegant brasserie with a nod to many global cuisines on the menu. From quesadillas to gazpacho to sushi, there is something from every continent for every palate.
La Table, which holds 1 Michelin star, was very chic and only offers tasting menus; you can choose between 3,4 or 6 courses, and they also offer wine pairing as an addition to each course. The idea is simple: a gastronomic experience of local food prepared impeccably in an open kitchen, which will astound and mesmerise your senses.
Some high-end restaurants which looked amazing but too fancy for our kid-friendly vibe were Étude, Les Galinas, Le Vintrépide and Âma Terra.
What to do in Aix-en-Provence
- People watch on the pedestrian streets. Much of the Old Town is pedestrianised, and you can sit outside in bars and cafés and watch the world go by. Take your pick from the Cour Mirabeau – a large tree-lined avenue with restaurants and bars and often market stalls – to the smaller back streets and squares. On our first morning we found a tiny café and ordered croissants and coffee and just watched the world go by, trying to get a feel for the place we would be staying in for the next few days. Or if you prefer something a bit more structured, you could always try a walking tour of the town with a knowledgeable guide. There are so many available, from foodie tours to wine tours to luxury tours to historical and cultural tours, from small groups to private tours, definitely something for everyone and every budget. And if you didn’t want to walk, you could even hop on the little tourist train to travel round Aix the easy way!
- Visit the market. There is a produce market every day (8 am-1 pm) in the Place Richelme, selling fruits, vegetables, cheeses, charcuterie, fish, flowers, honey, and local products like lavender and soaps. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, there is also an expanded market covering Place Comtales for an even wider choice. There is also a crafts and textiles market along the Cours Mirabeau on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and while we were there in August, this market even went on into the night so you could wander through after dinner and look at the beautiful jewellery, clothing and souvenirs. You could even go on a guided market tour if you’d like, with free tastings and a helpful guide to show you the best stalls and products.
- Visit Cezanne’s studio and see the small farm on the Lauves Hill where he created many of his masterpieces, and also the Musée Granet, which shows many of his works.
- Aix-en-Provence is famous for its baked goods, and while you’re there, you should try a Calisson, a traditional sweet made from almond paste and candied melon and orange peel and topped with royal icing. It’s similar to a marzipan flavour and dates back as far as 1300. Or if you want to get a bit more involved, you could even go on a croissant baking masterclass to learn how to prepare and cook the infamous pastry.
- Provence is the home of rosé, that beautiful blush pink nectar with a dry, fruity flavour. Sampling Provençale Rosé is a must, and you could try a wine tasting in town, or there are plenty of half- and full-day tours to various wineries in the region. You could pop to individual wineries or see a few throughout the day, or even travel in style in a sidecar to experience the Provençale countryside in a very unique way.
- If you’re craving a bit of a lower pace, then head to Parc Jourdan, just south of the town centre, to wander the tree-lined avenues, relax by the fountains or even take the kiddies to play in the playground. The shady spots can be a welcome haven from the summer heat, and there’s plenty of space for the little ones to run around and burn off some energy.
- Speaking of burning off energy, to the East of Aix is the imposing Montagne Saint-Victoire. Standing at 1000m tall, you could take a picnic, and there are plenty of hiking trails to follow, or for the more adventurous, you can even go rock-climbing, paragliding, horse riding, and mountain bike riding.
- Take a trip to other towns in the region. A few years ago we took a trip to Cassis with our friends, and this is equally doable from Aix-en-Provence. If you’re craving a bit of time on the coast, then you can get there in under an hour. Take a look at my What to do in Cassis blog post for some inspiration!
- Alternatively, you could take a trip to Marseille for the day (25 minutes away), where you could go on a trip to see the Calanques, a beautiful National Park with inlets and valleys carved into limestone cliffs that you can visit by boat or by kayak. We actually hired a boat between all of us and spent the day on the water, which was such a wonderful way to spend some time. Or you could go on a tour of the lavender fields near Aix that the region is so famous for. Aix-en-Provence really is perfectly situated to explore the rest of the Provence region.
So that’s my guide to What to do in Aix-en-Provence. We were only there a few days but managed to pack so much in!
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