The Area · Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Things to do, a few minutes from the door.
Art, walks, long lunches and days on the water — the Côte d'Azur at its most concentrated, all within easy reach of the mas.
Art, walks, long lunches and days on the water — the Côte d'Azur at its most concentrated, all within easy reach of the mas.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence sits at the heart of the Riviera's artistic country — galleries, foundations and Michelin tables within minutes, the coast and its islands a short drive beyond. A few of our favourites, by how you want to spend the day.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence began as a fortified hilltop settlement — a castrum — as far back as the 9th century, guarding the plain below. Its first ramparts rose in the 14th century; two of the original towers, the Porte de Vence and the Tour de l'Esperon, still stand.
In 1538, on his way to sign a treaty at Nice, François I visited the village and ordered the great bastioned walls that enclose it today — designed by Jean de Saint-Rémy, and said to be the first ramparts in France drawn by a French architect. They trace a near-perfect oval around the old town.
From the 1920s, the brown stone and the southern light began drawing painters — Signac, Dufy and Soutine among the first. They gathered at Paul Roux's inn, the Colombe d'Or, often settling their board in canvases; the collection hangs on its walls to this day.
The painters named in our rooms left their work all around the mas — much of it a short drive away.
One of Europe's finest collections of modern art — Giacometti, Miró, Chagall and Calder — in gardens designed for sculpture.
Website →The national museum devoted to Léger, its façade a vast ceramic mosaic, set in Mediterranean gardens.
Website →The chapel Matisse designed in full — glass, line and light — and considered his masterpiece.
Website →Renoir's own house and olive-grove garden at Les Collettes, where he spent his final years.
Cagnes-sur-MerDecades of Matisse's work in a red-ochre villa above Nice, from early canvases to the late cut-outs.
Website →The national museum built around Chagall's Biblical Message cycle — the largest public collection of his work.
Website →From a legendary art-filled auberge to a terrace over the valley — all within walking distance in the village, or a short drive to the coast.
The legendary inn where Picasso, Matisse and Léger paid in paintings — now one of the most storied dining rooms in France, hung with the results.
Website →A shaded terrace under a lime tree at the edge of the ramparts, with Mediterranean plates through the day.
Saint-Paul-de-VenceThe classic village café by the pétanque court — coffee, a glass of rosé, and the slow theatre of Saint-Paul.
Saint-Paul-de-VenceTerraced hillsides of olive and cypress, limestone summits, river gorges and the coastal path — all on the doorstep.
A gentle circuit of the village walls, with views over vineyards and hills toward the sea.
Saint-Paul-de-VenceA walk through the restanques — Mediterranean stone terraces of olive and cypress — crossing the little Malvan river between the two villages.
~2 hoursA climb up the great limestone baou to a summit with views across the whole coast — a Riviera classic.
~2.5 hoursRiver, waterfalls and one of France's most beautiful perched villages looking down the gorge to the sea.
Le Loup valleyThe sentier du littoral around Cap Ferrat or Cap d'Antibes — pines, cliffs and hidden coves along the water's edge.
Sentier du littoralThe coast is at its best from the sea — from our own boat to the islands off Cannes.
Private day trips along the coast on the owners' Azimut 50 — swimming stops, lunch on the water and the Riviera seen the way it was meant to be. Available to guests on request.
Details on enquiryA short crossing to the wooded island of Sainte-Marguerite and the monastery of Saint-Honorat, with its vineyard.
Bay of CannesOne of the deepest natural harbours on the coast, and the villa-lined peninsula beyond it — beautiful by boat.
East of NiceStables in the valley, designer shopping on the coast, and the Provençal markets in between.
Riding and lessons for all levels close to the village, with trails through the surrounding hills.
EquestrianTwenty hectares along the Loup river — lessons and rides for beginners through to experienced riders.
EquestrianThe coast's open-air designer shopping quarter, dotted with contemporary sculpture.
Website →The Marché Provençal in Antibes, the Cours Saleya in Nice and Vence's square — flowers, produce and brocante.
MorningsDozens of contemporary galleries and artisan studios line the lanes within the ramparts.
Saint-Paul-de-VenceAn 18-hole course in the hills behind the coast, among several within easy reach.
GolfTell us how you'd like to spend your days and we'll arrange the rest — from a table at La Colombe d'Or to a day aboard Day Off.
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