# A Weekend in the Luberon, Village by Village — The South of France
> Two days through the perched villages of the Luberon — Gordes, Roussillon, Ménerbes, Bonnieux and Lourmarin — with the market at Apt and the lavender at Sénanque.

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

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By **The Editors** — _the Luberon_

Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail

The Luberon is a range of low hills and a string of stone villages, each one stacked on its own rock with its own opinion of the view. A weekend is enough to drive the loop slowly, stop where the light asks you to, and never once feel hurried. Take the back roads; they are the point.

## I. Day one — the north slope

Begin at **Gordes**, stacked white above the valley, then drop to the **Abbaye de Sénanque**, where the Cistercian monks still farm lavender below the cloister. Lunch at **Roussillon**, built from its own ochre, the cliffs behind it the colour of rust and apricot.

“In the Luberon the road is short and the day is long — which is exactly the right way round.”

From the notebook

![Ochre cliffs above a Luberon village](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516314477696-a6f8b681f331?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop)

Roussillon — the village and the cliff are quarried from the same red earth.

## II. Day two — the south slope

Cross the range to **Bonnieux** and **Ménerbes**, then end at **Lourmarin**, the softest of them, where Albert Camus is buried in the village cemetery. Time the Friday market at **Lourmarin** or the Saturday one at **Apt**, and let lunch follow the basket.

The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique

### Plan the _loop_

When to go

May–June for green hills, late June–July for the lavender, September for the harvest.

The markets

**Apt** (Saturday), **Lourmarin** (Friday), **Coustellet** (Sunday morning).

Getting around

By car — the villages are minutes apart but linked only by back roads.

Read next

[The Provence table, a field guide](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_

[

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

Provence

#### A weekend in the Alpilles

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

![A table laid in Provence](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1566720537031-8b3e498d2881?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

The Table

#### The Provence table, a field guide

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

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

Stays

#### Where to stay in the Luberon

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