Enjoy the wonderfully relaxed and graceful lifestyle of Provence during this three-week immersion program in Aix-en-Provence. Live like a local as you learn about France’s culture, history, cuisine, and language.

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Starting at: $5,790 * Price includes special offer Make a Reservation Ask Us A Question or Call 855-330-1542

Iconic lavender fields of Provence

Typical flower market in Provence. Credit: Sundrenched Gardens/Alamy

Fountain in central Aix-en-Provence

Traditional Provencal cheese market

Traditional condiments in Provence

Sunflowers, a common flower of southern France

Traditional French market

Shopping in the local market

Palais des Papes, Avignon

A town square in Arles

The portal of the Romanesque Church of St. Trophime, Arles

The Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct in Provence

Provencal village of Roussillon, the Luberon

Living in France: A Three-Week Stay in Provence

23 days from $5,790

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Tour Details

TOUR BROCHURE

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WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY

Smithsonian Journeys offered a once-in-a- lifetime experience with their Living in France program. The hotel/apartment was perfect for a long stay, the tour director was exceptional, provided meals were very good and excursions were hosted by knowledgeable local experts. Although I traveled with a friend this time, this kind of tour makes single travelers very welcome. I will be going on another Smithsonian tour!

- Deborah W.

If you want one of the greatest experiences of a lifetime take this trip. You will see things you could have never thought possible. It will change your life. It has mine.

- Lynn Marie L.

The Living in France tour gave us the opportunity to get to know a very beautiful and fascinating region. The length of the stay meant that we could set our own pace and have many wonderful experiences without feeling rushed.

- Lawrence R.

Aix-en-Provence captured my heart with its beauty, historical charm, walkability, and friendly people. The Smithsonian Journeys Program is so well organized and well managed that the traveler can relax, absorb and enjoy the culture and language. The hotel is well located within walking distance of everything, with nice accommodations and very friendly staff.

- Janice S.

JOURNEYS DISPATCHES

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Accommodations

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Adagio Aix-en-Provence Centre

Aix en Provence, France

Close to the Place de la Rotonde and the famous Cours Mirabeau, the Adagio Aix-en-Provence Centre is located in the very heart of the city, close to shops and entertainment. This first-class, recently refurbished and the fully equipped property has 89 air-conditioned apartments from studios to spacious three-room suites. Each apartment suite features a kitchen with a refrigerator, dishwasher, kitchen utensils, pots/pans, cleaning kit, microwave with grill, coffee maker, and a kettle. Full bathrooms feature fine toiletries, hairdryer, and a shower or bath depending on the apartment selected. Guestrooms also feature an LCD television with more than 35 channels. There is complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the property and in addition to your Resident Director a hotel Reception staff is at your service. A self-service laundry facility is available, and there is an iron and ironing board in each apartment suite. Laundry and dry cleaning are also available for additional charge. A weekly cleaning service is provided and towels are refreshed twice weekly. Freshly prepared breakfasts, not outlined in the itinerary, are available on-site at additional cost.

Activity Levels

Expectations: Three-week-long stay in Aix-en-Provence. This immersion stay features accommodations in a centrally located apartment, within walking distance to shops, restaurants, and program activities. Program includes three full-day excursions outside the city as well as walking tours and museum tours in Aix. In addition, each Enrichment Track involves different walking tours and activities in and beyond the city. Walking tours may entail uneven terrain (e.g. cobblestones, city hills, stairs without handrails, absence of elevators); archaeological sites; and some longer walks to get to city centers where coaches are prohibited. This program is geared for the independent traveler who will enjoy pursuing their own interests, making meal plans independently (either solo or with other travelers) and finding their way to activities independently. (Your Smithsonian Journeys Resident Director is always available to assist with plans.)

Appropriate for: Travelers who are physically fit and comfortable with longer days of touring (both walking tours and coach time).

Special Air Rates/Services

FlexAir is designed to provide you with the flexibility and choice you need to personalize your air travel experience. Explore a wide range of flight options in consultation with our experienced travel professionals to select the flights, routing, class of service, and dates of travel that most fit your needs. Our partner tour operator has negotiated contracts with a wide variety of carriers that allow them to hold flight reservations and then issue your ticket close to departure without additional fees. This protects you from the need to purchase published-fare tickets, which must be ticketed within 24 hours of purchase. FlexAir reservations provide the flexibility to adjust reservations without penalty and to accommodate extensions and upgrades right up until ticketing time, usually around 60 days before departure. We look forward to providing you with more choice and the best possible itinerary for your air travel plans.

Program Includes:

Guaranteed transfers between the airport and your overseas accommodations upon arrival and departure (in most cases). We will provide you with all of the details you need to guarantee your transfer.
Air schedule change and delay assistance. Book FlexAir to ensure assistance should schedule changes or delays impact your air travel plans.
Flight insurance worth up to $250,000, subject to policy terms, is automatically included.
Confirmed airline seat assignments at the time of booking (in most cases).

Testimonials

WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY

Smithsonian Journeys offered a once-in-a- lifetime experience with their Living in France program. The hotel/apartment was perfect for a long stay, the tour director was exceptional, provided meals were very good and excursions were hosted by knowledgeable local experts. Although I traveled with a friend this time, this kind of tour makes single travelers very welcome. I will be going on another Smithsonian tour!

- Deborah W.

If you want one of the greatest experiences of a lifetime take this trip. You will see things you could have never thought possible. It will change your life. It has mine.

- Lynn Marie L.

The Living in France tour gave us the opportunity to get to know a very beautiful and fascinating region. The length of the stay meant that we could set our own pace and have many wonderful experiences without feeling rushed.

- Lawrence R.

Aix-en-Provence captured my heart with its beauty, historical charm, walkability, and friendly people. The Smithsonian Journeys Program is so well organized and well managed that the traveler can relax, absorb and enjoy the culture and language. The hotel is well located within walking distance of everything, with nice accommodations and very friendly staff.

- Janice S.

Reading List

Highly Recommended

The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France

By: Ina Caro

Caro takes us on an unforgettable driving tour of France, from Provence to the Loire Valley to Paris. With Caro as an epicurean, knowledgeable, and delightfully opinionated guide, we can always be sure to find the most breathtaking vistas, the most extraordinary châteaux, the most inspiring cathedrals, and the very best meals.

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A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France by Brennan, Georgeanne (2008) Paperback

By: Georgeanne Brennan

A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France by B...

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DK Eyewitness Provence and the Cote d'Azur (Travel Guide)

By: DK Eyewitness

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Provence and the Cote d'Azur: Discover the Spirit of the South of France

By: McCulloch, Janelle

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Lonely Planet French Phrasebook & Dictionary 8

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A Traveller's History Of France

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Millions of travellers visit France each year. The glories of the French countryside, the essential harmony of French architecture, the wealth of historical relics, the myriad of cultural opportunities - all make the country a perennial and irresistible attraction. A Traveller's History of France takes the reader from the first conquests of ancient Gaul through the Renaissance, the turmoil and triumph of the French Revolution, and on through the 20th century of French history all the way to the present.

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Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe

By: Nancy Goldstone

Four Queens is a rich pageant of glamour, intrigue, and feminine power at a time when women were thought to have played limited roles. In thirteenth-century Europe, four sisters from a single family-Marguerite, Eleanor, Sanchia, and Beatrice of Provençe-rose from obscurity to become the queens of, respectively, France, England, Germany, and Sicily. All four were beautiful, cultured, and ambitious, and their stories offer a window into the era of chivalry, crusades, poetry, knights, and monarchs that will appeal to fans of Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser.

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M.F.K. Fisher's Provence

By: M. F. K. Fisher, Aileen Ah-Tye

The book highlights her strong sense of place - Fisher’s Celtic eye for detail - with a comparison of Aix-en-Provence, a university town, the site of an international music festival and the former capital of Provence, and Marseille, the port town. Fisher’s description of the sights and smells belonging to an Aix bakery shop window is her Platonic ideal of a bakery shop to be found anywhere in France, for example, with its delicately layered” scents of fresh eggs, fresh sweet butter, grated butter, vanilla beans, old kirsch and newly ground almonds.” Then, there is her portrayal of the sounds of Aix’s fountains mixed with the music of Mozart during the town’s festival, leaving her bedazzled. She would return again and again to stroll the narrow streets of Aix with two young daughters who seemed to grow like water-flowers under the greening buds of the plane trees.” It is the quality of Fisher’s writing that inspired photographer Aileen Ah-Tye to look for her Provence. In a letter to Fisher, Aileen would report back from Marseille: The eels and the prickly rascasse were exotique to my San Francisco eyes, the smells as pungent as you can get, and . . . miracle of all miracles . . . the men and women on the docks were exactly as you described them.” Thus, began a collaboration that illustrates Fisher’s passion for life and all its sensual pleasures that nourish the soul.

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Provence A-Z: A Francophile's Essential Handbook (Vintage Departures)

By: Peter Mayle

The ultimate “dictionary” for lovers of Provence: Peter Mayle's personal selection of the foods, customs and words he finds most fascinating, curious, delicious, or just plain fun.Though organized from A to Z, this is hardly a conventional work of reference. In more than 170 entries, Peter Mayle—bestselling author of A Year in Provence—writes about subjects as wide-ranging as architecture and zingue-zingue-zoun (in the local patois, a word meant to describe the sound of a violin). And, of course, he writes about food and drink: vin rosé, truffles, olives, melons, bouillabaisse, the cheese that killed a Roman emperor, even a cure for indigestion. Provence A-Z is a delight for Peter Mayle's ever-growing audience and the perfect complement to any guidebook on Provence, or, for that matter, France.

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The Popes of Avignon: A Century in Exile

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The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Provence

By: Martin Gayford

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A concise, accessible introduction to Paul Cézanne's portraitureThis beautifully illustrated book features twenty-four masterpieces in portraiture by celebrated French artist Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), offering an excellent introduction to this important aspect of his work.Arranged chronologically and spanning five decades, featured portraits range from the artist’s earliest surviving self-portrait dating from the 1860s to paintings depicting family and friends, including his uncle Dominique, his wife Hortense, his son Paul, and his final portrait of Vallier, the gardener at his house near Aix-en-Provence, completed shortly before Cézanne’s death.Art historian Mary Tompkins Lewis contributes an illuminating essay on Cézanne and his portraiture for general readers, alongside an illustrated chronology of the artist’s life and work.

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My Father's Glory & My Mother's Castle: Marcel Pagnol's Memories of Childhood

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Death at the Chateau Bremont (A Provençal Mystery)

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Travel Insurance

For the convenience of our travelers, Smithsonian Journeys includes a basic medical expense and evacuation plan through Trip Mate, a Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services brand, at no additional charge. This plan provides post-departure Medical and Dental coverage of $250,000 per person and Emergency Assistance and Transportation coverage of $1,000,000 per person (U.S. Residents Only). Note: For full details regarding these coverages please review the following Plan Documents here.

In addition, we recommend that travelers purchase a travel protection plan to help protect their travel investment from unforeseen events such as cancellation due to illness, flight delays due to adverse weather, baggage loss, and more. For your convenience, Smithsonian Journeys offers an optional Travel Protection Plan administered by Trip Mate, a Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services brand. For those interested, optional "Cancel for Any Reason" coverage is available for an additional charge. Note: Certain eligibility requirements apply and Cancel for Any Reason coverage is not available to New York residents. For full details regarding this coverage please review the following Plan Documents here.

To learn more about the Travel Protection Plan, you may visit https://www.generalipartner.com/smithsonianjourneys or call the administrator, Trip Mate, a Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services brand at (866) 501-3252.