Our favorite villages in Provence, France with kids

Oh France, you are a dream! We just got back from spending 2 weeks with our 4 young children (ages 7, 5, 3, and 1) in both Provence and the French Riviera. I will share our favorite towns in both regions, but today's post is dedicated to the stunning hilltop villages and market towns of Provence. 

I first stepped foot in Provence 15 years ago when my parents whisked my siblings and I away to an old stone house nestled in the middle of vineyards as far as the eye could see. I felt as though we had traveled back in time...it truly was the French countryside at it's finest:) This time, our accommodations were also incredible as we used Home Exchange to swap houses with French families. The homes we stayed in were so stunning! You can read about our experience here. 

While there are LOTS of places to go in Provence, here are a list of our favorites. In my opinion, you really can't go wrong with any of them. It's just a gorgeous region! 

Avignon

We stayed in Avignon, truly a lovely city. The kids enjoyed seeing the Pont du Avignon (learning the history, and singing the song), as well as the Papal Palace. The Catholic Church moved the seat of the church from Rome to Avignon in the 1300's, and then a few hundred years later moved it back. So it's quite a sight to see. My kids had so much fun on the beautiful carousel in the main square, with multiple ice cream shops abounding. 

Arles

 

Arles is one of my absolute favorite town in Provence. It is bigger, so there's a good amount of sights to see. The Romans built both an amphitheater and arena in Arles which you can tour. Around the Arena are sweet little alleyways with darling shops filled with market baskets (my favorite) and French soaps and souvenirs. There is a large square which is a great place to grab an ice cream and people watch. They also have some fantastic markets here. My kid's favorite was the playground on the side of the hill by the amphitheater. 

Gordes

I almost didn't take our family to Gordes. I had heard it was very swanky, a place where the rich and famous stay, and somehow taking 4 young kids didn't sound like the best recipe for success. I AM SO GLAD WE DECIDED TO GO ANYWAY! It ended up being one of my most favorite mornings. First of all, it's gorgeous. It is very posh, but in an approachable way. The main square with a fountain in the middle of it was seriously oozing with charm and giving me all the Beauty and the Beast vibes. There's a lovely church you can walk in, delicious ice cream shops, and some wandering in and out of the colorful alleys. It was a fairly quick trip, but so worth it! 

Lacoste

I adored Lacoste. It's a city that winds upward, and I had a lot of fun hiking up with the kiddos and Kev. We were quite the sight with all our kids tromping up haha! There are So many iconic spots to take photos, so if you're in to photography like I am...absolutely check out Lacoste. I loved every minute of being in this little hamlet! Again, it's best to tag on to a day where you're seeing multiple of the little hill towns, they are all so close to and another. 

Menerbes

Menerbes is so pretty it almost feels fake. It is best to go if you're looking for a walk that leads to picturesque views...the landscape below filled with vineyards and farmland was breathtaking. There isn't much in this town, but I'm still glad we went to soak up the beauty. We were there around noon and tried to get an ice cream, and the owner (who was sitting outside with a friend) let us know it didn't open until 2pm. Haha, that would never happen in America, but I love that the French hold their work/life boundaries well! Menerbes is very close to many other hill towns so best to see in conjunction with Lacoste, or others! 

Aix en Provence

Aix was the biggest town we explored, and it did not disappoint. We felt like the beauty just kept going and going, and sadly we had to leave early to get to an appointment (our rental car had an issue so we had to take it back), so I wish we could have lingered longer. Aix has loads of fun activities for kids, including the iconic carousel, trampolines (In American these cost like $50 to do, but here they were $5 so we let the kids try them!), and of course some very yummy ice cream shops. The kids said their favorite ice cream was from Aix! Aix is a little further away than all the towns listed above, however if you're driving to Marseille or Nice, could make a great stop over! 

St Remy de Provence

This town is pure delight. The word I kept using to describe it to Kevin was "cute"! I may have said "THIS IS SO CUTE" approximately 53 times haha! But in all honesty, it was a great little town to explore. They had THE BEST Playground (maybe of the entire trip) with loads for the kids to climb on, and sweet little swings. The French know how to make cute playgrounds. The town is easily accessible walking, and they had multiple parking lots to try.

If you've been to Provence I'd love to hear your favorite towns! We obviously couldn't visit them all, but these are the ones we visited and really enjoyed:)

Home Exchange- How does it work?

 

Over a year ago a friend of mine sharesd about a platform called Home Exchange, and how she was traveling the world with her family, staying in places for free! I was intrigued and decided to sign up! 

Fast forward and we’ve now been on Home Exchange for over a year and it’s 100% changed the way we travel! We are currently in France right now and have stayed in 2 different homes and have paid zero dollars!

 I KNOW…it’s so wild! 

And the homes we are staying in are GORGEOUS! I sometimes have to pinch myself that we are not paying a single penny for accommodations! 

I wanted to take some time and answer some basic questions about the platform to give you an idea of how it works in case you are interested!! 

1) Is this like the movie The Holiday where you swap homes? 

Yes and no! There are multiple ways to use Home Exchange. The first way IS to do a reciprocal swap where you both go stay at each other’s home at the same time. The second way is to do a non-reciprocal swap where you swap homes, but not during the same dates. The third way to use it (which is what we’ve mostly done) is to use Guestpoints. You earn Guestpoints by signing up and also by opening your home. So a few times last year when we were on vacation, we opened our home for people to stay there while we were gone. We earned a lot of guestpoints and then used those to book these houses in France! Think of it like an Airbnb but with no money involved!! 

2) Do you feel weird opening your home to others? 

Not at all! We’ve been Airbnbing our home for years, so this actually feels like a step up. The people using Home Exchange (in our experience) are really amazing. A lot of them are retired professionals traveling or visiting their family. We had a young family stay in our home and they mailed us a gift afterwards and told us how much their kids enjoyed all our kids toys. It honestly feels like a family!! 

3) Do you pick up valuables? 

We usually keep one room of our house locked and then just put all our valuables (ie: laptops, checkbook, etc) in there! But we are fairly thrifty and aside from electronics don’t own much that we’d want to lock up haha! 

4) Is it hard to find exchanges/use guestpoints? 

Yes and no. It takes a lot of messaging to find the perfect home. I probably messaged about 10 people to find a place to stay in France, and 2 of them were yes’s! But honestly it’s fun to do! 

5) Do you receive a lot of requests for your home? 

I have actually been shocked by the number of people who have wanted to stay in our home. We probably get atleast 1-2 per month. It ranges from people who have family in our town, to others who just want a get-away and like our home. I try to accommodate people when I can, but there is never any pressure to say yes. 

Also, I always like to tell people that we do NOT live in a tourist town. So don’t discount yourself out if you don’t live anywhere on the tourist loop! You never know who might want to come visit your town!! 

6) Does the website cost money? 

Yes, there is an annual fee you pay which I believe is $170. This may sound like a lot but actually it’s a really good thing/ good deal. First, it’s good to have a buy in because that means no random Joe Shmoe is going to get on and try to mooch off people’s homes. Secondly, $170 is an average cost of a hotel, so theoretically, by paying for 1 night of accommodations and then getting the rest for free is phenomenal!! 

Do you have any other questions?? Send them my way!! 

If you’re interested in signing up, I’d be so grateful if you wanted to use my link below! We both get extra Guestpoints this way!!! Make sure to put in my Code for the extra perks...my code is: kathryn-e99fc

HOME EXCHANGE LINK

Travel the world and stay for free!

You all know we LOVE to travel the world, so I’m always looking for ways to minimize cost and maximize travel time:) Over a year ago a friend introduced me to an amazing community called Home Exchange, where you can swap homes with others around the world. But it’s so much more than just swapping homes…you can accrue “Guestpoints” by renting out your home to other on the site (while you’re on vacation or out of town), and then you can use those Guestpoints to book other homes! 

Now, if you’re skeptical because you feel like you don’t live in a desirable place, or wonder “who would want to stay in my home?”…all I can say to that is “you’d be surprised!!”. 

We do not live in a tourist destination, or really anywhere near a tourist destination. But we have had SO many requests to swap homes or people asking to rent our home for a few days to a few weeks! A lot of these people have family members in our town, or have just wanted a peek in to our American lifestyle! I have been blown away by the number of requests we have received! Think of it kind of like Airbnb with no money involved! 

The other thing is that you accrue so many points when you sign up you could literally just sign up and use your points to take a vacation! It’s amazing!! 

If you’re interested in signing up or at least checking it out, I’d love for you to use my link below! We BOTH get points when you use my link, it’s a win win!  

For more about our experience and FAQ's about Home Exchange, see my blog post here! 

In the meantime, you can check it out here:

HOME EXCHANGE LINK

Make sure to put in my Code for the extra perks...my code is: kathryn-e99fc

Please let me know if you have any questions! You can leave a comment below or DM me! 

We have been using it for almost a year now and have had nothing but wonderful hosting and guest experiences!! Truly, people around the world are so amazing, generous, and kind. Happy Travels!