The most beautiful villages of the Luberon

The association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France lists seven villages in the Vaucluse, and five of them are in the Luberon: Gordes, Roussillon, Ménerbes, Lourmarin and Ansouis. The other two, Séguret and Venasque, are further north. The label is a good guide, but some of our favourites, Bonnieux, Lacoste, Cucuron and Saignon among them, do not carry it.

Bonnieux climbs the hillside in terraces, and the villa is a seven-minute walk from the centre. Take the steps up to the 12th-century upper church for the view over the valley to Mont Ventoux, then come down for a coffee and bread from Du Pain et des Miettes. The Friday market fills the streets, the Forêt des Cèdres is just above the village and the Roman Pont Julien just below. More in our Luberon guide.

Facing Bonnieux across the valley, Lacoste is a quiet village of cobbled lanes climbing to the château of the Marquis de Sade, bought by Pierre Cardin in the 1990s. The château opens from May to September and hosts the Festival Pierre Cardin in July. The American art school SCAD also has a campus in the village. There is no big market, but ours on Friday is only eight minutes away.

Ménerbes stretches along a narrow ridge above vineyards, and Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence made it famous. Walk up to the church and the square, stop at the Maison de la Truffe et du Vin, and look out for Maison Dora Maar, where Picasso’s muse lived. The corkscrew museum is just outside the village. Market on Thursday mornings from April to October. See our culture guide for the museums.

Gordes is the postcard: stone houses stacked up a cliff beneath a Renaissance château. The Château de Gordes is open all year with exhibitions, and just outside the village the Village des Bories shows how farmers once built in dry stone. Sénanque Abbey is a few kilometres north. Market on Tuesday mornings. It is the busiest village in summer, so go early and have breakfast with the view.

Roussillon is built on ochre, and its houses glow in every shade from yellow to deep red. The Sentier des Ocres winds through the old quarries and is open daily from February to early January, closing on days of high fire risk or storms. Wear old shoes, as the ochre stains. At Ôkhra, a former ochre factory, guided tours explain how the pigment was made. Market on Thursday mornings.

On the south side of the Luberon, reached through the wooded Combe de Lourmarin, this is the liveliest of the villages, with cafés spilling onto the squares. The Renaissance château is open almost all year, and Albert Camus and Henri Bosco are buried in the cemetery. The Friday market is one of the prettiest in Provence, and there is a producers’ evening market on Tuesdays from April to October.

A small, peaceful village wrapped around its hill, topped by a château that is still a family home. The owners show visitors round the Château d’Ansouis from April to mid-October, by booking only. The Sunday morning market is held all year by the old washhouse. Ansouis pairs perfectly with Cucuron, a few minutes away.

A small town rather than a village, built on channels of the clear River Sorgue, with moss-covered water wheels turning in the streets and a richly decorated baroque church, the Collégiale Notre-Dame-des-Anges. It is best known for its antique dealers and its markets on Thursday and Sunday; the Sunday market adds antiques and brocante along the water. See our antiques guide.

At the head of a narrow valley, the Sorgue rises from a pool at the foot of a 240-metre cliff: this is the largest spring in France, most spectacular in late winter and spring. The Italian poet Petrarch lived here in the 14th century. On the short, flat walk to the spring, stop at the Vallis Clausa paper mill, where paper is still made by hand; entry is free. Go early in summer and combine it with L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Apt is where the Luberon does its shopping. The Saturday market fills the old town and is the largest in the area, and there is a farmers’ market on Tuesdays. Apt calls itself the world capital of candied fruit, and the old Sainte-Anne cathedral is worth a look. It is only 13 minutes from the villa, so it is easy to be back by the pool before lunch. The tourist office has more.

Most perched villages are best early in the morning or in the golden hour before sunset, when the stone glows and the coaches have gone. In July and August, park at the edge and walk in, and expect Gordes and Roussillon to be busy around midday. Market days are the liveliest, but also the hardest for parking. The Luberon park keeps a list of market days, and our market guide sets out the week.