France Favorites
French Riviera • Provence • Paris
I spent the month of May 2025 in France, and it was an absolute dream. I traveled for two weeks, and then spent two weeks as an artist-in-residence at Chateau Orquevaux.
For the first part of the trip we visited the French Riviera, Provence and Paris, balancing a bit of exploring with relaxing. So I thought I’d share our itinerary and a few of my favorite spots!
France Itinerary
Day 1–3: French Riviera
Day 4–6: Provence
Day 7–9: Paris
(I also had a few extra days in Paris, before heading to my artist residency.)
French Riviera
Nice • Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat • Antibes
Nice
We used Nice as our home base for the first leg of our trip.
Old Nice is particularly pretty with its colorful architecture, and it’s home to the Cours Saleya Flower Market.
We enjoyed a walk up to Colline du Château (the Castle of Nice). There are a lot of stairs, but you get a spectacular view of Nice. Plus, there’s a waterfall and a cute park at the top.
Nice has a lot of beach clubs, we grabbed a bite for lunch at one on our first day. The pebble beach also has lots of little sea glass fragments along the water’s edge!
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Nice is a short drive from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, so we spent an afternoon there.
I was most excited to walk the coastal path, Sentier du Littoral, starting at Paloma Beach. It takes you around the edge of the peninsula, and I snapped lots of photos for painting inspiration.
We also visited Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild with its beautiful gardens.
Antibes
Antibes is another coastal town in the French Riviera. We spent the better part of a day wandering through its historic streets and along its city walls.
Musée Picasso, previously Château Grimaldi, was the perfect rainy day activity. Picasso had a studio there in 1946. I quite enjoy a smaller art museum, it’s less overwhelming so you can really enjoy the art!
Provence
Lourmarin • Gordes
Lourmarin
We rented a car in Nice and drove to Provence, where we had a lovely stay at Le Galinier in Lourmarin. It was so peaceful there that we enjoyed quiet a bit of time relaxing at the hotel, and the village was just across the road.
We explored the quant streets of Lourmarin, chatted with expats and enjoyed so much delicious food! A few of our favorites meals were at Bacheto, Café Gaby and Restaurant l'Ormeau.
We went for a hike at the nearby Forêt des cèdres du Luberon (the cedar forest) where we saw Portalas Arche, a stunning natural arch.
We also enjoyed a tour of the castle, Château de Lourmarin.
Gordes
We made a day-trip to explore some of the other villages. Gordes was my favorite, as it’s a beautiful hilltop village.
The views from Gordes are stunning, as is the village itself. We were there for the market, which I thoroughly enjoyed with its cute stalls.
We also visited the nearby Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque, which is in a valley, surrounded by a field of lavender.
Paris
Paris • Giverny
Paris
I love Paris. We were there for Christmas a few years ago, so I already had a few favorite things to see and do, but I wanted to venture to some new places too!
Truly my favorite thing to do in Paris is to walk. There’s always live music, people reading in the parks, and exhibits to see. I also love that the cafés have outdoor seating, so you can leisurely enjoy a meal, or a drink, and watch the city go by.
We went Jardin du Luxembourg for the first time. Once to explore, and again later with my sketchbook. We also stopped in the nearby Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore, which is a book-lovers dream.
The Musée Rodin was one of my favorites. The grounds, the building itself and the art are fantastic. It was not crowded either, which was refreshing.
Musée de Montmartre was also lovely, especially if you enjoy a bit of art history.
We picked a couple of exhibits to see at Musée d'Orsay, the impressionism exhibit was excellent.
Shopping:
Magasin Sennelier and Charvin are my favorite art supply stores in Paris.
Calligrane is a paper lovers dream; and just a few shops down is Melodies Graphiques, an adorable paper and calligraphy shop.
Nina Kendosa is my favorite clothing store, they have a few locations around Paris.
Giverny
If you have extra time, I thoroughly enjoyed my day-trip to Claude Monet’s home and gardens in Giverny. It was crowded, but as a big fan of Monet, it was definitely worth seeing.
So there you have it, a few of my favorite spots from my month in France! Hopefully, I’ll be back to visit and paint again soon. In the meantime, you can checkout my France paintings here. Merci!
