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France: Provence & the Gard Walking Tour

The southern French regions of Provence and Le Gard have beautiful landscapes, charming villages, fabulous food and wine, Medieval fortresses and colorful morning markets. Add to that an imposing Roman aqueduct and intact colosseum, a wildlife sanctuary for wild flamingoes, and traditional cowboys, and you have a stellar walking tour! Some of our guides started their guiding careers in Provence so we’re delighted to be going back.
Duration: 7 nights / 8 days
Dates: 2026: May 2-9. Other dates available upon request, contact us for details.
Trip starts/ends: Avignon, afternoon of Day 1 and Avignon (city or train station) mid-morning Day 8
Activity level: 2 -- GENTLE: easy walks on rolling terrain plus lots of city walking [more info]
Group size: min. 6 - max 14

Highlights

  • stay two nights in the historic city of Avignon, once home to the Popes
  • walk through the vineyards and have a wine tasting in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  • explore the small town of Uzès, famous for its local market
  • hike around the massive Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct, one of the largest and best preserved in the world
  • taste some of the best locally produced cheese and wine
  • enjoy hiking through the dramatic limestone hills of the Alpilles
  • explore the fascinating city of Arles, once an important Roman city (it still has a huge colosseum!) and then home to Van Gogh and Gauguin
  • visit the Medieval fortress town of Les Baux and charming St. Remy de Provence
  • walk in an ornithological park that is home to thousands of wild pink flamingoes and other birds
  • spend the day exploring the Camargue region, which is famous for its cowboys who raise bulls for (bloodless!) bullfights
  • relax in charming squares with sculpted fountains and stately Sycamore trees

Trip price includes

  • 7 nights in charming 3 & 4-star hotels
  • 7 breakfasts, 1 wine-tasting lunch, and 4 dinners
  • 1 cheese & wine tasting
  • all entrances and activities as per the itinerary
  • at least 1 bilingual Wild Sage guide throughout the week
  • all transfers from departure from Avignon on Day 2 to arrival back in Avignon on the morning of Day 8

Not included

  • 5 lunches & 3 dinners
  • drinks other than water at meals
  • anything not listed in the inclusions

ITINERARY

Days 1 & 2: Avignon & Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Make your way to the beautiful city of Avignon, just a few hours south of Paris by train. Explore the city with your guide and learn about the rich history, including the roughly 80 years when the Papacy left Rome and set up shop here! The following day enjoy a delightful day-trip to the wine-making region of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which received France’s first AOC designation in 1936. We’ll have a walk through the vineyards following by a tasting lunch. Return to Avignon for dinner together at one of our favorite local restaurants.
2 nights Avignon. 

Days 3 & 4: Le Gard & Arles
Spend the next two days in and around the charming small town of Uzès, an important town during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It is still classified as a Duchy, run by a local Duke, and the charming squares and Medieval archictures will help you travel back in time. Stretch your legs with a beautiful walk around one of the most impressive Roman aqueducts in the world, whose three stories of limestone arches and channels used to carry water for miles across the countryside to fill the city’s fountains. Enjoy a morning exploring colorful stalls of the famous weekly market and then spend an afternoon in the historic and lively city of Arles, once home to the artists Van Gogh and Gauguin as well as the Ancient Romans. 
Stay 2 nights in a former noble house that has rooftop views and loads of charm.

Days 5 – 7: Les Alpilles & La Camargue
The limestone mountains called Les Alpilles (or “little Alps”) are the heart of Provence and offer great hiking. See the beautiful small towns of St Remy, Les Baux, Maussane, and others, and sample deicious traditional foods — our hotel is right next to an awesome bakery! — and pair it with the best local wines. Our final day is an exciting day-trip to the coastal area of the Camargue. It’s full of estuaries and bird-life, and we’ll go to an ornithological park that is home to hundreds if not thousands of pink flamingoes! Walk through the park before heading over to see how local cowboys train bulls for the local (non-violent) bullfighting tradition. The riders on horseback have to artfully take a piece of ribbon from the bull’s horns in order to win! Spend 3 nights in charming Maussane, which doesn’t have the crowds of some of the other towns. 

Day 8: TOUR ENDS back in Avignon
We offer one group transfer from Maussane back to Avignon (train station or city) with arrivals in the mid-morning. Breakfast and ONE transfer included.


CONTACT US FOR A MORE DETAILED ITINERARY

2026: from €3,700
[info on prices]

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Activity Levels

Some tours have a range of activity levels through the week, where some walks may be more challenging than others, but this will give you a general idea of the type of walking/hiking involved on your tour.

1 – EASY: City walking, all or mostly paved, minimal climbing
2 – GENTLE: Moderate hills & easy terrain
3 – MODERATE: Some sustained hills with occasional steep grades on a mix of terrains
4 – HIKE: Classic hiking with rough/rocky terrain, sustained hills, and longer mileage
5 – CHALLENGING: Challenging hiking with steep climbs and descents over rocky terrain and some longer mileage

See below for more detail:

1 – EASY: City walking, all or mostly paved, with minimal climbing (though some cities may have steeper inclines). Archaeological sites may be unpaved but the grades and difficulty level is easy. TOURS: Sicily Coast-to-Coast and any “light active” version of a tour

2 – GENTLE: Moderate hills & easy terrain
The terrain is easy to navigate with packed earth or gravel roads. There are some climbs but nothing too challenging. TOURS: Tuscany, Puglia, Provence
[2+ The “plus” indicates more challenging terrain though the walks are gentle].

3 – MODERATE: Some sustained hills with occasional steep grades and rocky terrain
Here you find a mix of terrain with some steep stretches.
TOURS: Corsica, Sardinia, some of the Dolomites tours, and some hikes on the Greek Islands
[3+ The plus indicates rockier terrain or lots of stone steps (Amalfi, the Cinque Terre) or greater elevation gain/loss (the Dolomites)].

4 — HIKE: Classical hiking with rough terrain, sustained hills, and more mileage. These hikes are on a mix of rough terrain, sometimes involving steep stretches and difficult footing. TOURS: some of our hikes in Sardinia, some of the days in the Cinque Terre, some of the variants of our Dolomites tours.

5 – CHALLENGING: Longer days, challenging climbs, rocky terrain. We don’t do a lot of seriously challenging tours but we do have a Dolomites trip where we hike from hut to hut, so that’s probably the closest we get to a 5.

Info on prices

Prices indicated are usually for a minimum of 6 people (some tours may be different, see each tour page for specifics) and our basic itinerary based on double occupancy. A “single supplement” covers hotel prices only, we apply no extra fees. Departures with fewer people or with upgraded hotels will have a higher price. We can organize private departures for any number of people but prices vary depending on number of participants. Please contact us for details!