To stand in a Provençal lavender field on a July afternoon under a hot yellow sun and swimming-pool-blue sky, surrounded by a sea of spiky purple blooms and enthusiastically buzzing bees, is to be utterly engulfed by scent. The smell radiating from the flowers is rapturous and as supremely calming as a hit of olfactive Xanax. Inhale. Forget the troubles of the world—for here, at least, all is well.
A meandering, 2.5-hour drive southeast, where the mountains soften into the rolling hills that eventually give way to the gleaming Côte D’Azur, jasmine grandiflorum is reaching peak bloom in Grasse. The heady white floral aroma that fills the air will be distilled and bottled by Chanel and Dior, stoppered into fine fragrance flacons, spritzed on wrists from Beijing to Boise. But truly, nothing beats smelling it at its source.
The South of France is a paradise of glorious whiffs, not just for perfume lovers, but for anyone who derives delight from beautiful scents (and really, who doesn’t?). From the fields of Rose de Mai to the lush, stately gardens planted by 19th century aesthetes along the rocky coastline, it is a land of blooming bounty, a region rife with reminders of nature’s ability to dazzle by way of nose as much as by eye. After the mask-muted scent drought of recent times, it feels especially joyful to contemplate fragrance-focused travel adventures. So go on, stop to smell the roses—and anything else enticing along the way. From Provence to Menton, here’s the PRIOR guide to sniffing one’s way across the South of France.
The Lavender of the Luberon and the Sault Plateau
In July and August, the slopes of northern Provence are dashed with patches of purple, like swathes of brightly colored fabric that have caught on the wind and landed there, partially unfurled. Narrow roads wind through the Luberon Valley to the Sault Plateau, past medieval stone villages, vineyards and olive groves, with plenty of opportunities to pull off and gaze over fragrant vistas of what’s known locally as “blue gold.” Many of these lavender fields have small on-site distilleries and shops that sell bundles of flowers tied with twine and hand-crafted soaps in too-pretty-to-unwrap packaging. Among the best: the Distillerie Les Agnels, an organic farm near the village of Les Agnels, and the Château du Bois shop (family owned since 1890) and Lavender Museum in Coustellet, which offers a fascinating dive into the history of lavender cultivation in France. The town of Valensole hosts a wildly popular lavender festival on the third Sunday of July every year, and Sault celebrates annually on August 15th.
Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque
Lavender fields don’t get much more picturesque than this one, which surrounds a Cistercian stone abbey dating to 1148. The resident monks tend to the orderly rows of blooms and extract the lavender essential oil for use in soaps and candles, sold alongside lavender-flower honey and fresh produce in the small shop. (Tours of the abbey’s interior can be arranged by appointment.)
Ferme de Gerbaud Herb Farm
Situated just outside of Lourmarin, one of the Luberon’s most charming villages, the Ferme de Gerbaud offers 90-minute guided tours through its aromatic plots of rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, marjoram, savory, and lavandin, the variety of lavender that grows at lower altitudes. The farm’s shop is the perfect place to stock up on the region’s famous Herbs de Provence, and on certain summer evenings one can book a special fresh farm-fare dinner to be enjoyed al fresco.
Route du Mimosa
From January to March, bright yellow mimosa flowers burst into bloom across the South of France, a welcome harbinger of spring. Members of the acacia family, mimosa trees are native to Australia but were introduced to the Cote D’Azur in the 19th century by well-to-do foreigners who planted them in the gardens of their summer homes. Needless to say: the mimosas escaped, and now grow resplendently throughout the region. The best way to enjoy their golden glory is to drive the Route du Mimosa, a 130-kilometer drive that takes in eight “villages fleuri” (flowering villages) beginning in Bormes and ending in Grasse, where the blossoms’ intense honey-like scent is captured for use in perfume. Each town hosts themed events throughout the season, and local chocolatiers make celebratory mimosa-flavored treats (don’t miss the mimosa chocolates at La Muscadine in Saint-Maxime, and be sure to try a mimosette, a local brioche specialty decorated with mimosa seeds, in Pegomas). For postcard-worthy photos of the flowers’ frou-frou, canary-hued plumes against a backdrop of turquoise sea, stop in the charming Le Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer, which also has a botanical garden with stunning views of the coastline.
Grasse
Grasse wasn’t always the world capital of perfumery. It began as a medieval hub for leather manufacture, and was in fact notoriously stinky until scented gloves became all the rage in the 1600s—propelled by Catherine de Medici’s fondness for them—and fields of jasmine and rose began to be cultivated in the surrounding hills to meet demand. Once it was discovered that the unique terroir yielded especially divine flowers, leather production dwindled away, and Grasse became the fine fragrance Mecca it is today.
