A Saturday in Provence: Apt, Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, & Goult

How to spend a Saturday in Provence starting with the biggest Provençal market in the Vaucluse region, then explore cute villages nearby!

Spending a Saturday in Provence

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Getting Here

Provence is a beautiful region of France for those seeking a taste of the slow life. If you love wandering through markets in the prettiest villages, exploring castle ruins, drinking Rosé wine, then you would love it here! To read about how to get to this spectacular region of Provence, check out my Gordes post here.

Introduction to the Provence Road trip

Our Provence tour is centered around market days. Sometimes we will witness a quiet village and sometimes it will be bustling with market crowds. Everyday in Provence is blissfully similar. We begin slowly with breakfast and then head to a new market in the region to gather provisions before a day of exploration. Market life is simply something to immerse yourself in and feel like a real local! It is a time to brave the waters and try speaking French everywhere you go. Trust me, you will be well-received if you try! And isn’t that what being a traveler is all about – doing as the locals do and stepping out of your comfort zone? Let’s jump in!

Itinerary for a Saturday in Provence

Market day in Apt

On this beautiful Saturday morning, we rose out of bed with the plan to drive to the biggest market in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. And boy was it huge! We got lost a few times trying to get back to our car, which was definitely not parked anywhere legal. Funny thing about market days, its a parking free-for-all! This market was full of food and textile vendors. It’s the perfect market to buy tableware!

girl at french market picking out fabrics — This is where we found our new picnic blanket! It’s basically an outdoor tablecloth and the vendor threw in some matching napkins for us 🙂

paella at the market — a huge pot of Paella

Picnics, Sweeping Views & Castle Ruins

Now once your market bag is stocked with wine, fruits, cheeses and bread, it’s time to hit the road briefly and drive to Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt. This lovely village is only about 15 minutes away from the bustling town of Apt. It is a village that not many tourists venture to. Our plan was to have a picnic at the top of the village at the château ruins and explore the rest of the village after our bellies were full.

church in saint-saturnin-lès-apt provence

The hike to the ruins was a hike! I was trudging along in my cute sandals and a heavy bag of goodies up these steep, stone paths in the intense summer heat. It was all worth it once we got to the top.

chateau ruins in France provence — Onward we go to explore these ruins!

chateau ruins with ivy and herringbone stonework

herringbone stonework on chateau ruins — The herringbone stonework

The sun was beating down so hard this day, we decided to have our picnic in the shade once we descended. But look at this herringbone stonework! A castrum (Roman fort) was established here in year 1009 and the first walls were built during the 11th century. Ramparts were then constructed during the 13th and early 16th centuries.

But as it was becoming too crowded, the village extended beyond it’s defensive walls and eventually the fortified castle fell to ruin. And as the 19th century brought about much change, the villagers here desired even more space and larger homes. They abandoned the old perched village entirely, but the ruins of old homes still remain.

chateau ruins in sunny provence perched up high

gorgeous gate in provence at the top of chateau ruins and a view of the valley below with rolling hills — If Heaven has a gate, it would look like this.

views at the top of saint-saturnin-lès-apt in Provence

Getting Lost is Fun

We took a couple wrong turns as we were descending from the ruins. We could not remember where our car was! These villages can be a maze sometimes. Luckily, this man painted on the side of a house showed us our way back! It’s like they knew we would need the help haha.

a mural on the wall of a man pointing the way to our car in a village in france — Friendly directions back to where we parked our car lol

Exploring the quiet Village of Goult

On our way back to our home base in Gordes, we drove through the sleepy village of Goult. It was not a market day; therefore, it was so peacefully quiet. We wandered the village streets and stopped by a little convenience shop for some…um…necessities? In my book, wine and chocolate are necessities. The most important activity you can do in Provence is wander. Your imagination starts spinning stories of your imaginary life as a local as you step into their world. Oh how amazing it would be to live in this fairytale!