Gordes: One of the “Plus beaux Villages de France”

You know that France Countryside is beautiful. Proeminent on that, there is an association to preserve and promote the best villages. It has something like 130 members and rules are very strict. See a map at  http://www.villagesdefrance.free.fr/dept/page_vaucluse.htm

Departement du Vaucluse, which is our   area of Provence  on an administrative standpoint  boasts having 7 of them. They are Seguret which is more in the North, Venasque, Gordes, Roussillon, Menerbes, Lourmarin and Ansouis. So most are in Luberon and very close from us.

Gordes, one of "Les Plus beaux Villages de France".

Maurice Chabert, the smart Gordes Mayor is at the head of  the “Les Plus beaux Villages de France”  Association. He deserves it. Needless to say that Gordes has to be and is very well maintained  in all respects.

I am not going to repeat the content of a your guidebook, which says a lot.

Just a few advices :

- For parking, the best is the one on the road going up to Murs. It is 200 metres from main square on the left after the hospital.

- The most exciting place is the view on the right before arriving in the village. There people are so amazed that they rush out of their cat to make pictures and when they come back all their valuable stuff is gone… So, be careful. They are shrewd and they have a  lot of potential preys (in fact they look like you and not like outright bandits). You can easily park on the small square just below the place.

- A good idea is to walk down the “calades” (stone-paved narrow streets). Nice view. Like in the Middle Ages.

- Restaurants and shops like  most highly touristic places. Unequal in quality. For the restaurants, you must be very careful. See our list of recommendations.  The inside of the church and very much advertised Village des Bories have a secondary  interest (only if you have plenty of time). If you visit Musée Pol Mara ( interesting modern paintings mostly made of collage) you will also appreciate the decoration of the Renaissance Castle. (Hey, you save a trip to the Loire Valley Castles !).  Everything is in a good shape. And … temperature is cool.

- There is a way to visit Gordes by car. If you don’t have a map, you’re going to get lost immediately. We have a map for you : Very good spots for views, a lot of Bories everywhere.

- When you are in Gordes, you can think of going to Senanque Abbey. It is fine just for the scenic road. But there, if you stop, the visit takes at least one hour.