Aix-en-Provence

Markets, Cézanne's studio and Sainte-Victoire over two Aix days

Two days cover Aix-en-Provence. Day one runs from the Place Richelme market (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) to the cathedral, the Quartier Mazarin, the Musée Granet and the Hôtel de Caumont. Day two is for Cézanne: his studio on the Lauves hill, the Terrain des Peintres view of Sainte-Victoire and the Bibémus quarries.

Day one, morning. Come on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday and start at Place Richelme, where farmers lay out cheese, olives and whatever is in season under the plane trees. The flower stalls on Place de l'Hôtel de Ville are a minute away. Walk north to the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur, whose baptistery keeps columns from Roman Aix, then wander back through Rue Gaston de Saporta and its carved doorways.

Afternoon. Cross the Cours Mirabeau at the Fontaine Moussue and slip into the Quartier Mazarin. The Musée Granet on Place Saint-Jean-de-Malte holds a small but telling group of Cézanne canvases; the Hôtel de Caumont, an 18th-century mansion turned art centre, is a short walk away and has a garden café. Evening is for an aperitif on the Cours, then dinner off Place des Cardeurs.

Day two. Book the Atelier de Cézanne on the Lauves hill for opening time, when the light in the studio is soft; it now opens on a seasonal calendar (early July to the end of October in 2026), so check the dates first. Walk ten minutes further uphill to the Terrain des Peintres for the view he painted of Sainte-Victoire. After lunch, take the guided visit to the Bibémus quarries, where the ochre rock cuts into blocks that look like his late landscapes. If the mistral is blowing, swap the quarries for the sobering Camp des Milles memorial on the western edge of town.

Calissons, market stalls and Provençal rosé in Aix

The food to seek out in Aix-en-Provence is market produce, the calisson (ground almonds and candied melon under white icing), tapenade and anchoïade with an aperitif, and daube on colder days. Eat in the lanes between Place des Cardeurs and the Rotonde, and drink Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence rosé.

Aix eats like a prosperous market town. The best meals come from what was on the stalls that morning: courgette flowers, Cavaillon melons in early summer, goat's cheese from the hills, and olives in a dozen cures. Restaurants pack the lanes between Place des Cardeurs and the Rotonde. The terraces directly on the Cours Mirabeau are for watching the promenade; for the food, turn into the side streets, where a set lunch is often the best-value meal of the day.

The local sweet is the calisson, a lozenge of ground almonds and candied melon under a thin white icing. Confectioners in the old town still make them in-house and will let you taste before you buy a box. Look out too for tapenade and anchoïade spread on bread with an aperitif, and pieds et paquets or a slow daube on colder days, dishes Aix shares with Marseille.

To drink, order a glass of Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence, mostly pale dry rosé grown on the plain and hills around town, or a pastis at a zinc counter. Students keep the bars around Place de l'Hôtel de Ville busy late, which also makes it the easiest square to find a table after 22:00.

The Festival d'Aix and the best months for Aix-en-Provence

April, May, June and September are the most comfortable months for Aix-en-Provence. July and August average 31°C, and July brings the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, an international opera festival that fills hotels months ahead. Autumn is the wettest stretch, and from late November the Cours Mirabeau hosts the Christmas market and santons fair.

Aix has a dry, bright climate with a sting in its tail. July and August average 31°C highs and July sees only about 16 mm of rain, so afternoons in the stone lanes can be fierce; locals shop early and disappear indoors after lunch. Winter days usually reach around 12°C with nights near 2°C, comfortable in the sun, raw when the mistral comes down the Rhône valley. The wettest stretch is autumn: September and October bring 77 to 88 mm, often in short heavy storms.

The calendar peaks in July with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, an international opera festival staged in the open-air courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace and at the Grand Théâtre de Provence. Hotels fill months ahead and restaurants stay open late. If you are not going to performances, come in June or September.

From late November the Cours Mirabeau hosts a Christmas market and the santons fair, where Provençal craftsmen sell the small clay nativity figures, from shepherds to fishwives, that families collect over generations. Spring is quieter: April and May bring highs of 19 to 23°C, the markets fill with asparagus and strawberries, and the Sainte-Victoire trails are at their best before the summer fire-risk closures begin.