One of our favorite towns we visited in the south of France was the small medieval town of Saint-Paul de Vence. I was so enamored with Saint Paul de Vence so much that I decided this town needed its own entire blog post.
There is so much history in the town of Saint-Paul de Vence. First being one of the oldest perched medieval towns in the French Riviera, it still maintains the 16th century ramparts surrounding the entire city. It is also well known for being a home to many artists including Pablo Picasso who lived here for a short period of time. Walk around for only a few minutes and its easy to see why artists fled here to gather inspiration.
My favorite thing we did while we were here was to stroll the pedestrian-only narrow streets. Rue Grande is the Main Street that is lined with art galleries and higher end shops. We wandered around for over an hour just taking it all in. We found the cutest toy store and I let the boys pick out one toy each (trucks and motorcycles of course) and they had a blast just pushing them down the streets of the village.
I had read online about La Miette, the former home of French poet Jacques Prevert. It is now a restored vacation rental home and although we did not stay here it was so beautiful to walk around the outside of the jasmine covered home and I could just imagine Prevert sitting out there with his notepad, writing away.
We had lunch at The Artiste, which is right next door to the beautiful Collégiale Saint Paul, and it was one of the best meals of the entire trip. We ate outside on the terrace which was actually surrounded by stone walls on all four sides. So intimate and also provided some much needed shade. They also had high chairs at this restaurant which allowed the adults to enjoy their food without a toddler on their lap (many French restaurants do not provide high chairs). The kids all had ham and cheese crepes as well as devouring the charcuterie and pate. And I had a Salad de Chèvre with foie gras that was truly amazing.
After lunch we walked around some more and discovered you can actually walk along the top of the ramparts for the best view of the villages below, the sea, and the countryside in the distance.
Our walk back to the car brought us right outside the Cafe de la Place Brasserie where the locals were all playing bocce. Nothing is more entertaining than watching 60 year old men get angry over being just an inch away. We all got an afternoon coffee and ice cream from L’épicerie Des Artistes on the way out and called it a day!
That’s a wrap on a quick one day visit to Saint Paul de Vence. I would absolutely add this to your south of France bucket list. It is unlike anyplace I have ever seen before and one that I would love to come back to again some time. And click here to watch a full video of our time in the South of France.
