Lourmarin

If your idea of a perfect Provence village includes cafes and restaurants spilling out onto the cobbled streets, Lourmarin is the place for you.

The café culture is sparse in some of the Luberon villages but not here, there must be 15 restaurants and cafes to choose from, and several of them are very good.
In the centre of the village where the roads converge there are tables everywhere on the sidewalk for anything from a coffee in the morning sun to a 5-course dinner.

The streets of Lourmarin meander round, past fountains and tight-packed houses, and you get the impression that they are circling around the impressive belfry (Castelas) at the highest point of the village. The belfry is built on the vestiges of the medieval moated castle that once defined Lourmarin.

Lourmarin has been an important staging post on the Marseille-Apt route since the XIth century. It is in the cleft that runs right through the Luberon mountain range, separating the Grand Luberon from the Petit Luberon, and marked by the course of the Aiguebrun river. The drive to Lourmarin is quite thrilling, winding through cliffs and forest, with a few hairpin bends thrown in.

Lourmarin itself is on a plain, with two slight hills (more like rises) - one houses the village of Lourmarin, on the other is the (mainly) Renaissance chateau. Between the two, a little on its own, the protestant temple dating from the start of the 19th century.

The chateau is known as the Villa Medicis de Provence, and is used for concerts and exhibitions. There are guided tours of the chateau and its art, including some engravings by Piranesi.