Goult, Joucas, Coustellet, Gordes, Ménérbes & Bonnieux
After four and a bit months (we couldn’t bring ourselves to leave in the end so kept extending until ironically the heat finally got to us) we were beginning to feel like locals. It wasn’t until passing on tips to family and friends heading to Provence that we realised we have a fairly useful and unique insight into what to do/where to go/what to eat and more importantly what to drink in the area.
I suspect this will only be the start of a long list of recommendations and although summer in Provence may feel like a million years away, with these days getting ever shorter and colder, it’s perking me up no end just thinking back on it.
Goult – the locals’ village
Goult was our local village, wonderfully overlooked by tourists (at least relative to Gordes) and a proper functioning local centre that was largely open for business when we arrived in chilly early March. It is truly picture perfect, with regulars drinking their morning coffee with a pastis chaser outside the iconic Café de la Poste at the central square, and a postcard-worthy windmill perched at the top of the hill overlooking the town.
The gastronomy turns up a notch once the tourist season begins (Easter Sunday in most cases), with the opening of Michelin-worthy restaurants, Le Carillon, La Bartavelle and La Terrasse (which, as you might expect, waited until summer proper to open). They’re basically impossible to get into, so booking way ahead is the name of the game around here. We got a bit too used to (unsuccessfully) requesting une table de dernière minute.
Christine and her husband’s boulangerie is legendary (the festival baguette is the thing to get), as are the Auberts who run the boucherie, where you’re guaranteed to interrupt an hour long catch up/gossip chat with one of their customers.
Market day is Thursday – small but wonderfully local with zero tourists (at least until June-ish). It’s the place for tulips (grown at the end of our road) and the best place to get hold of our favourite rosé (Clos du Tilleul) sold from the back of a lovely little Provencal van.
The Joucas secret
Every week or so our highly animated neighbour, Phillipe, would pop his head up over the fence and request that we follow him somewhere. Neither of our respective French/English was good enough to communicate/understand where he actually wanted to take us, but we learnt pretty early on that we had to say yes every time.
Our first outing was to Joucas, a beautiful, quiet little village that we almost certainly would never have found on our own (hence our expectation that every outing was going to uncover a hidden gem). The village is dominated by a huge chateau at the top of the hill, along from another beautiful windmill, that is privately owned by a billionaire Swiss-man. One can but dream.
Be sure to pop into the beautiful little church, admire the sculpture and take a sneaky look down at some enviable gardens and roof terraces, A drink at Bistrot le Terrasse is a must (food average, but the view is up there and the terrace is covered in thick vines), although they take a laid back/sporadic approach to opening hours so you never know..! If it’s closed you can buy a EUR 6 bottle of rosé at the epicerie next door and drink it on the terrace.
Weekly shop in Coustellet
Coustellet hosted our nearest supermarket (Super U, love you dearly) and the best weekly (Sunday) market in the region, which kicks off in April, but before that is replaced by a great antiques market. Again, while we felt it become more touristy as we crept into summer, it is very much a locals market where people do their actual weekly shopping. Cheese, veg, oysters, tulips, endless saucisson.
It’s more of a town, and we didn’t explore it as much as we should have, but it looked like it had some decent restaurants and cool Parisian-y boutiques were opening up as we were there.
Boulangerie Patisserie Artisanale had the best baguettes in the area (sorry Christine) – on Route d’Avignon, opposite the market.
We also had the best pain au chocolat at Boulangerie Patisserie Lyse – opposite the Musée de la Lavande, which oddly was listed by Vogue as one of the top things to see in the area. In reality it’s as missable as it sounds. Having driven past it almost daily for four months, we finally caved on the day temperatures hit record levels (46 degrees) as it was the only place we could think of with aircon. So we dragged out our visit somewhat, and Alba slept through the whole charade.
Gordes
Gordes is probably the most well-known and visited village in the region, and rightfully so as it is beautiful, but it functioned entirely for tourists and was a ghost town until Easter. Even the main 5* hotel in town didn’t open until Easter Friday. Restaurant prices reflected this, and from April onwards it became hard to move in the weekly Tuesday market where prices were easily 20% higher than others (it’s all the same stuff).
However, the view from the centre of town off the charts, and we couldn’t recommend more Cercle Républicain, a little bar/café with the most incredible balcony spot. Terrible wine and terrible coffee so stick with the beer.
We became firm regulars
There’s also the legendary Bastide de Gordes 5* hotel down the road where you can splash out a casual EUR 30 on a drink, but look at the view…and the bar snacks are almost substantial and delish enough to warrant the price tag.. The Bastide apparently does a mean champagne Sunday brunch – we booked it a couple of times then realised we were being over-ambitious with the girls in tow, and no-one was going to have a nice time. So if you’re there and child-free then this is a must-do!
If you’ve got money to burn, you could stay a few nights at the Bastide, even if to just take advantage of the “Kingdom of Children” all day long crèche. The even have their own “no adults allowed” swimming pool. The stuff dreams are made of.
We were a big fan of the Bastide’s pizza joint in the main square, Le Bastide de Pierres (mainly because it was the only restaurant open when we arrived, and fought hard for the al fresco dining with piles of blankets).
We didn’t try any other Gordes restaurants, mainly due to the touristy-ness and prices, but we did splash out on a birthday Michelin meal at Les Bories, just down the road. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had and in the most idyllic setting. Highly recommended and worth the splash.
Peter Mayle’s Ménérbes
Ménérbes, Peter Mayle’s final resting place, is one of the three corners of Provence’s “Golden Triangle” (joining Gordes and Bonnieux) and therefore similarly popular with tourists, but it’s a very beautiful village with some great restaurants and vineyards nearby.
The top spot is the Bistrot le 5 solely al fresco restaurant – wonderful food, incredible view, great service (!), excellent wine. Can’t beat it. Go.
The vineyard of one of our favourite wines, Domaine Ruffinatto, is just down the road that leads from the other side of the village, so a post-lunch walk down to buy more of the wine you’ve been drinking all afternoon is exactly what you’ll need.
Another top spot in the area is Bastide de Marie – a beautiful vineyard/boutique hotel. The rosé is lovely, but the main attraction is the highly rated restaurant that we regretfully never made it to. You can eat lunch or dinner out among the vines, or in their beautiful dining room. It offers a fairly “set” set menu / evening programme, which kicks off before most kids are in bed (hence our failure to get there), but it looks amazing for a special meal.
We’d also highly recommend a visit to Domaine de la Citadelle – it has an excellent wine cave with very informative tastings offered. It also has a fairly odd bottle opener museum (le Musée du Tire-Bouchon), which I wouldn’t recommend so highly (odd that..), and a Jardin Botanique, which is linked to the vineyard’s commitment to biodynamic wine production.
They have two great rosés – one particularly interesting one (Les Artémes) that is bolder than many of the rosés we tried, and is a great example of rosés upping their game in compatibility with food. It’s aged for 3 months and is delicious. Both are available at SuperU at a lower price than the cellar door! Their reds are also very good, and includes a very drinkable, light Esprit de Citadelle that can be drunk fairly chilled.
Bonnieux
We were slightly put off by Bonnieux given its ghost town feel when we arrived – similar to Gordes, it feels very much like a village for tourists. Restaurants and shops opened very late in the season, so it didn’t offer us much. However we discovered the excellent Friday market on our last week, which was a little annoying (we often went to the Lourmarin market) – highly recommended, and some great cafés (i.e. bars) to sit and have your morning beer.
One little-known highlight in the village is le Jardin de la Louve – a wonderful private garden that spills down the hills of Bonnieux. The garden was built by a designer at Hermès who was also a keen gardener, and is now inhabited by a lovely couple from Normandy who open it up to the public by appointment and on occasional days without having to pre-book (info on website).
Restaurants
Goult
Café de la Poste – casual long lunches
La Bartavelle – high-end, Michelin * worthy (in the guide)
La Terrasse – serious French food in a casual rooftop setting
Le Carillon – small, friendly, high-end and Michelin * worthy (in the guide)
Gordes
Les Bories – Michelin star, beautiful setting
Le Bastide de Pierres – casual, great pizza, lovely terrace overlooking the main square, fairy lights
Bastide de Gordes – 2 Michelin starred restaurants (La Citadelle and the Clover Gordes) and a Sunday champagne brunch on offer in the beautiful Orangerie
Ménérbes
Bistrot le 5 – hands down our favourite spot. Child-friendly, mouth-watering menu, fantastic wine list and even better views.
Bastide de Marie – one for a special occasion meal in the vines.
Bonnieux
Le Bastide de Capelongue – La Bergerie – we didn’t make it here but it looks great! Casual but gastro-y
L’Arôme – also sadly never made it, but reviews are excellent, menu is delicious and it’s a very pretty little restaurant
La Fournil – highly rated, and lovely setting by the central square fountain, but it never seemed to be open when we wanted to go..
Joucas
Bistrot le Terrasse – perhaps one for a sundowner, given their fairly average menu and average food at not so average prices.
La Table de Xavier Mathieu – Michelin star food at the nearby Le Phebus Relais & Chateaux hotel. On our must-go list.
By way of Provence 