Luberon and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

Back in 1144, Sénanque Abbey planted its first rows of fine lavender; the stone terraces around the monastery, just 4 km from Gordes, still tell that story. The same pale limestone shaped the Luberon’s hill towns: Roussillon, whose ochre cliffs were protected in 1937; and Ménerbes, long linked to artists like Dora Maar. Distances are gentle—20 to 30 minutes from stop to stop—until water takes over in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, where waterwheels have turned since the 15th-century cloth mills and nearly 300 antique dealers animate weekends.

Collected from your Avignon hotel, you travel in a Mercedes with your dedicated driver on standby all day: you explore while they handle the road, and we wait while you taste. We time Gordes for the morning light, walk the Roussillon Ochre Trail (about an hour), choose Ménerbes or Bonnieux depending on the pace, then roll to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue for canals and antiques. With just 35 km from Avignon to Gordes, there’s room for a cellar stop, a photo from the belvedere, or a detour to the abbey if conditions allow.