# Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Village of Painters — The South of France > A walled village above the hills behind Nice, where the painters paid in canvases and a great modern museum stands among the pines. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, on the Côte d’Azur. *Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/saint-paul-de-vence/* --- By **The Editors** — _Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Alpes-Maritimes_ Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail Saint-Paul-de-Vence sits inside its sixteenth-century ramparts on a ridge in the hills behind Nice, a single oval of honey-stone houses you can walk around in twenty minutes and stay inside all day. For a century it was the village of painters — and it has never quite let the trade go. ## I. Inside the ramparts One gate at each end, one main lane, and a tangle of stepped alleys between — Saint-Paul is made for walking and nothing else. The walls were raised under **François I**; from the bastions the view runs down terraced hills to the sea. The galleries are thick now, perhaps too thick, but climb early and the stone, the fountains and the worn cobbles are still the village the painters knew. “They paid for their dinners in paintings, and the walls have never been worth more.” From the notebook ![A stepped stone alley in a Riviera hill village](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1503696967350-ad1874122058?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop) A lane inside the walls — Saint-Paul is all stairs, fountains and shade. ## II. La Colombe d’Or and the painters Just outside the gate, **La Colombe d’Or** began as a simple inn and became legend: through the lean years **Matisse**, **Picasso**, **Braque** and others settled their bills with work, and the dining room and garden still hang with what they left. You need a table to see it — but the village itself wears the same history more lightly, in studios and small galleries along every lane. ![Pines and a modern art terrace in the hills](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1554149082-75d460afced3?fm=jpg&q=76&w=2400&auto=format&fit=crop) The pinewood above the village — where Maeght built its museum. ## III. The Fondation Maeght In the pines above the walls stands the **Fondation Maeght**, one of Europe’s finest private modern-art museums — a building made with the artists themselves, a **Giacometti** courtyard, a **Miró** labyrinth, mosaics by **Chagall** and **Braque**. Chagall, who lived here for years, lies in the village cemetery; the whole hillside is, in the end, one long argument for the twentieth century. The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique ### Plan the _visit_ Getting there About 30 min from Nice by car or bus; **Vence**, with its Matisse chapel, is ten minutes on. When to go Early morning or evening; the village is small and fills fast in the middle of the day. Where to stay **La Colombe d’Or**, by the gate, for the art and the garden; quieter rooms lie out in the hills. Read next [Èze, the village in the air](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/eze-village/) E About the Author · L’auteur #### Élise Marchand Travel Editor — based in Marseille Élise has been driving the back roads of the Midi for the journal since its first issue. She pays for her own rooms and her own lunches — and only writes about the places she would return to. [More by Élise Marchand — voir ses articles](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/journal/) Continue reading · À lire ensuite ### More from the _South_ [ ![A village on the French Riviera](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1607001516094-d2568b288f1f?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop) Côte d’Azur #### Èze, the village in the air ](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/)[ ![A table on the Riviera](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1547768126-7baafccffdd8?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop) The Table #### Six tables worth the detour this spring ](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/the-table/)[ ![A hotel on the Riviera](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1567720512899-3a71832bd46c?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop) Stays #### Where to stay on the Côte d’Azur ](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/stays/)