Les Baux-de-Provence
A medieval stone village and castle ruins on the Alpilles plateau. The “Carrières de Lumières” immersive art projection in a disused quarry just outside the village is world famous.
Les Baux-de-Provence sits on a limestone plateau in the Alpilles, 15 km north of Arles. The ruins of the castle of the medieval lords of Les Baux occupy the top of the plateau, and the village clings to the slope below. It has been named one of the most beautiful villages in France. The Château des Baux (admission about €10 to €11, including an audio guide) is one of the largest medieval fortress ruins in France. It preserves the keep, a chapel and a dovecote. Replicas of trebuchets, siege towers and other medieval siege engines are displayed on the site, with demonstrations held daily from April to September. Climbing the keep gives views over the Alpilles, the Camargue wetlands and the Mediterranean. The village has 22 historic buildings, stone lanes, the Church of Saint-Vincent and the Yves Brayer Museum, and you can see it all in an hour's walk. Shops selling olive oil and Provençal handicrafts are plentiful. One kilometre from the village, the Carrières de Lumières (admission about €15, or about €21 combined with the castle) is Les Baux's most popular attraction. Works by masters such as Van Gogh, Klimt and Cézanne are projected onto the inner walls of a huge disused white quarry, accompanied by music, in a roughly 35-minute immersive show. The theme changes every year. Opening hours are 10:00 to 18:00 (extended in summer), and time slots must be booked online. The temperature inside the cave is about 14°C, so bring a jacket. Getting there: you can only drive. Paid parking is available below the village, but spaces are hard to find after 10 am in peak season. Alternatively, take the seasonal A54 bus from Arles. A suggested plan: visit the quarry in the morning, have lunch in the village at midday, and tour the castle in the afternoon. Combine it with a visit to Arles or Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where Van Gogh's asylum was located, in one day.
Opening hours
Open all day (castle 09:00–19:00, until 17:00 in winter; Quarry of Light 10:00–18:00)
Nearby sights
- Glanum
- Saint-Paul de Mausole
- Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
- Château de Tarascon
- Arles
- Les Halles d'Avignon
- Palais des Papes, Avignon
- Rocher des Doms