I am still behind on my travels, but I am determined to keep this blog up. I love that I get to relive my dreamy trip with Kate, Brittany, and Caroline through this post.

My cousin, Brittany, spearheaded the planning and organization for our magical trip to southern France last summer. I was thrilled she chose Provence and the French Rivera because it was only a hop, skip, and a jump from Amsterdam.

France — especially southern France — is an absolute dream. Rolling, bright purple lavender fields, quant and quiet medieval towns, and rocky coast lines, create breathtaking scenery. Caroline and Brittany said Instagram should install a “scratch and sniff” button because the smell of lavender wafted through the air as the bees buzzed in the blazing summer sun.

We landed in Marseille to start our trip on Tuesday, July 10th. Brittany found a wonderful AirBnB right in the heart of Aix-de-Provence and it was perfect because we were right in the action. Aix de Provence is in the center of a beautiful region bordering Italy and the Mediterranean Sea.

We happened to be in France during the soccer World Cup as well, so the first night we scrapped our dinner plans and ended up grabbing appetizers and cheering for France with the locals. France won and the town celebrated all night long. We tried to sleep through the endless cheers!

The next day, we had a full day tour of Aix and the surrounding lavender fields with our tour guide, William. He new everything about wine, lavender and the region. In the beginning of the day, we stopped at a lovely lavender farm and picked up organic, lavender products and oils from some of William’s friends.

We drove around the area taking in the gorgeous views. William took us to the best photo spots in the area!

It felt like we were in a postcard!

Next, William drove us through the Luberon Region and we explored the hilltop village of Moustiers Sainte Marie.

We hiked up to the top of the village to a little church. Kate’s shoes kept slipping and so she had to stay back because they could not grip the rocks!

We ate lunch at a very cute restaurant in the village and it was the most incredible food.
We loved being right on the balcony and we drank delicious wine with William.

After lunch, we popped into this French pottery store and I purchased a lovely platter.

We also drove to the BEAUTIFUL lake of Sainte Croix du Verdon and watched as people took canoes and kayaks on the lake.

The next day, we went to two wineries on our drive down to the French Rivera. Bravo to Brittany who navigated the narrow French roads! Our first stop was a winery called Chateau Fontainbleau, and their tasting room was spectacular.

Our next stop pretty much inspired the trip: Whispering Angel. I loved our time at Whispering Angel with my angels. I could not get over how big of a place it was! It is a huge operation.

After we all purchased glass Whispering Angel wine stoppers, we kept driving down to St. Tropez. The first night in St. Tropez we ate at a restaurant called Restaurant Le G’ envie, it was really yummy and one of my favorite meals of the trip. 

By the way, I now understand why there is a ton of type around St. Tropez. It is unbelievably gorgeous.

We woke up the next day and had a bite to eat at the Senequier restaurant right on the water for breakfast. We spent the day at one of the famous beach clubs in town, Nikki Beach. It was quite the splurge and we had quite the time! There are too many fun and funny stories to share from our day, so ask us in person!

They had to kick us out of the beach club because we danced until the very end.

Brittany and Caroline flew out earlier than Kate and I did, so Kate and I drove to a quaint town called Gassin and had a snack at the restaurant Bello Visto because heading to Nice to fly out.

We loved the incredible views of the sea from the town.

I wish we could do this trip every year. If you are looking for a perfect summer trip, this is it!

I loved spending time with my closest girls in such a beautiful region.

Until next time,

Hila