# A Weekend in the Alpilles — The South of France
> Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Les Baux in two days. Roman ruins, the Van Gogh trail and a quarry turned to light, among the white limestone of the Alpilles.

*Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/provence/alpilles-weekend/*

---

By **The Editors** — _Saint-Rémy to Les Baux_

Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail

The Alpilles are a small range with a long memory — Greek and Roman at Glanum, medieval at Les Baux, and forever marked by the year Van Gogh spent painting the olive groves from his asylum window. Two days is enough to walk all three, if you keep to the villages and let the limestone do the rest.

## I. Day one — Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

Start at **Glanum**, the antique town at the foot of the hills, then the cloister of **Saint-Paul de Mausole** where Van Gogh painted the irises and the olive trees. Keep the afternoon for the old town — the plane-shaded squares, the Wednesday market, a terrace before the light goes.

“The olive groves here are the colour Van Gogh said they were — silver, then green, then nothing you can name.”

From the notebook

![The hilltop village of Les Baux-de-Provence](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1614888773798-df30e12a9b6c?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop)

Les Baux-de-Provence, carved into the rock — the village above, the quarry below.

## II. Day two — Les Baux-de-Provence

Climb to the citadel of **Les Baux** early, before the lanes fill, then descend to the **Carrières de Lumières** — a vast disused quarry where paintings are projected across the stone walls. Lunch in the valley among the olive mills, and leave by the back road through the **Val d’Enfer**.

The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique

### Plan the _weekend_

When to go

April–June and September–October. July and August are hot and busy at Les Baux.

Getting around

A car is essential; the two villages are a short drive apart, with no useful train.

Base yourself

In **Saint-Rémy-de-Provence** — central, lively, and the better dinner.

Read next

[The Provence table, from Arles to the Luberon](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/the-table/provence-table-guide/)

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_

[

![An olive grove in the Alpilles](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1578330466360-bd27f92d2fb1?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Provence

#### A weekend in the Luberon

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/provence/)[

![A Provençal table](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1445510491599-c391e8046a68?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

The Table

#### The Provence table, from Arles to the Luberon

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/the-table/)[

![A mas in the Alpilles](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516314477696-a6f8b681f331?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Stays

#### Where to stay in Provence

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/stays/)