Limestone calanques, lavender fields at golden hour, and fireworks over Saint-Tropez on Bastille Day.
Provence & the Côte d'Azur · France
July 2019 • 7 women • 6 days
Lavender, rosé, and laughter so constant our bellies ached for days.
From the sun-bleached streets of Marseille to the lavender fields of Valensole, France delivered exactly what it always promises ,and then some.
Small clips from our days in France
The Video
The story
By our tenth annual girls trip, I knew the system by heart: pick a destination, find a week that works for everyone, and trust that whatever goes wrong becomes the better story later. France tested that theory before we'd even unpacked — our first night in Marseille landed us in the middle of police and football fans clashing in the streets after an Algeria–Ivory Coast match, tear gas and all.
Marseille seemed to forget the whole thing by morning. Sailing through the Calanques, water so turquoise it looked retouched, anchoring in inlets we were reluctant to leave, a drone that refused to land on a moving boat no matter how many times I tried, a bar near the Sofitel that had us dancing until the sky lightened.
Honey-stone streets and market squares in Aix, lavender and sunflower fields that swallowed the road whole, a tasting at a five-generation biodynamic estate, rosé enough to make it the actual theme of the trip, golden hour chased across the lavender rows at Valensole until the light gave out, a tiny pizza joint and another bottle of rosé, a night at Le Couvent des Minimes, a seventeenth-century convent turned hotel we left far too soon, an impromptu picnic at the Verdon Gorge, fireworks over the harbor in Saint-Tropez for Bastille Day, a bridal shower on the sand at Nikki Beach.
One last night back in Marseille. Ten years in, and the trip gave us exactly what it always does — lavender, rosé, and laughter so constant our bellies ached for days.
The Itinerary
Marseille · 2 nights
Valensole · 1 night
Saint-Tropez · 1 night
Marseille · 1 night
Where we stayed
Sofitel Marseille, Marseille
Hôtel Le Couvent des, Minimes, Valensole
Best Western Hôtel, Montfleuri, Saint-Tropez
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