Visit Provence: when to go, what to see and where to head

Avignon, the city of the Popes in the 14th century, keeps Europe's largest Gothic palace, its intact ramparts and the Saint-Benezet bridge. Around it, the Comtat Venaissin lines up the wine villages: Chateauneuf-du-Pape and its rolled pebbles, Gigondas, Vacqueyras. Orange rounds off the visit with its ancient theatre, the best preserved in Europe, and its triumphal arch, both World Heritage sites. The Avignon Festival takes over the whole city in July.

Between Cavaillon and Manosque, the Luberon range carries the Provence postcard: Gordes cascading in dry stone, Roussillon and its ochre cliffs, Menerbes, Bonnieux and Lacoste. The Cistercian abbey of Senanque is photographed in front of its lavender in June and July. Allow a day per village to avoid the peak hours, and l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in the valley below, holds its big antiques market on Sunday.

This small limestone range between Avignon and Arles holds the ancient site of Glanum, the Saint-Paul de Mausole cloister where Van Gogh was confined and painted around a hundred canvases, and the hilltop village of Les Baux-de-Provence with its ruined castle. In a former quarry, the Carrieres des Lumieres project immersive exhibitions. The whole valley produces an olive oil with a protected designation of origin.

Arles lines up a Roman arena and theatre still in use, the Saint-Trophime cloister and the Van Gogh foundation, plus Frank Gehry's tower at the LUMA park. To the south, the Camargue unrolls its lagoons, rice fields and ranches of horses and bulls; pink flamingos are seen at the Pont de Gau park and on the Vaccares lagoon, and Aigues-Mortes closes the delta behind its ramparts.

To the north-east, Mont Ventoux raises its bare white summit to 1,910 metres, a cycling legend reachable by three roads. At its foot, the Dentelles de Montmirail cut their limestone crests above the vineyards of Beaumes-de-Venise and Sablet, a place for climbing and hiking. The villages of Malaucene, Vaison-la-Romaine with its ancient site, and Seguret round off this greener, cooler area than the plain.