Lavender fields in France, an unforgettable visit

In this article, we will tell you more about the places we saw in the video of the visit to the lavender fields in southern France. Information about where they are located and some recommendations for your visit that we did not mention in the video.

Lavender in the south of France, a tradition

Lavender is a plant that evokes southern France, more particularly the Provence region. Its pleasant aroma makes you think of summer days and particularly the holiday season. That is why it is a plant highly appreciated by locals.

Visiting the lavender fields

There are several areas where you can see lavender fields in the south of France, these are located mainly in the Luberon and the Plateau de Valensole areas, located in the Verdon Regional Nature Park.

What are the best dates to visit the lavender fields? for the Luberon area they can be seen from June to the end of August. On the other hand, for the Valensole Plateau it is best to get closer between mid-June to mid-July to be sure you can see the fields full of lavender flowers.

The Valensole plateau is 590 meters above sea level. And it bears that name due to the nearby town of the same name, famous for the lavender culture. The plateau is, approximately, about 800 square km that are devoted to the sowing of lavender, wheat and other cereals.

The fields we present here are located on the Valensole Plateau.

How to get to the lavender fields?

To go on your own the best is going by car. If you don’t have one you will need to rent it. The other option is to hire a tour from a southern city such as Marseille or Avignon.

Lavender Luberon tour from Avignon

Respect the fields

Those are obvious, but here it goes:

• Do not walk on the lavender plants, always go by the land lines
• Don’t pick up the flowers
• Avoid at all costs throwing trash

If you are a fan of insects, you are going to make many friends in the lavender fields. Just remember, respect them 🙂

Lavender souvenirs

Some of the typical souvenirs of the lavender fields in France are: dried bouquets (but buying them from producers), bags of dried lavender and products derived from lavender. For example, in the Arles Market you can find lavender soap, also you can check out what to do in Arles, a city full of Roman monuments.

The bags of dry lavender are made with fabrics of traditional Provencal motifs and are usually put in the wardrobe or drawers, making the clothes smell nice.

Field of the dovecote

The first field we visited, where we quickly realized that the lavender fields are anything but quiet. The incessant sound of bees and cicadas are present all the time.

Depending on where you park, you will see very close, or in the distance, a “little house” that is actually a dovecot built, probably, in the 19th century. And it is believed that it was built with materials from the destroyed Puimoisson castle, the nearby town. This mini hut was intended to house the pigeons, which were raised for their meat and their poops, which was used as fertilizer. Without knowing the stories of this construction we love it, since for the photos it looks very nice … of course it would be better if they had not graffiti it, as you can see in the photos ^^

Very close to the field, we can see the hives that house the bees that create the delicious lavender honey. Here we leave you the map so you can get to the field, the closest town is Puimoisson, where you can go for a few drinks after visiting and smelling the lavenders.

Our evaluations on this field:

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[mks_progressbar name=”Open to visitors” level=”Quite” value=”90″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Accessible by car” level=”Yes” value=”100″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

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The purple and pink field

In this field you can see a beautiful alternate plantation of lavender and sage, a pink flower, with which we will see endless blocks of pink and purple colors. Very nice. Although in this field it is where I could see less openness to the visitors, and in turn to the visitors doing improper things: here there was more than in the previous field and some were taking flowers. It appears that the owner of the field had called the gendarmes since they were there.

We got away from the crowds and went our way, always respecting the place. But yes, here you could see some dislike of the owner towards the visitors (she probably had her reasons). Friends of ours had come days before and had also experienced the annoyance of the owner of this field. But hey, at least you can visit.

As always the advice is: respect the place you visit and if there are many people try to get away from the crowd. Because if the gendarmes come for a complaint, they will go against the whole group. Also, it’s better to get away from the crowd for better photos 😀

Our evaluations on this field:

[mks_progressbar name=”Is it crowded?” level=”Medio” value=”60″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Open to visitors” level=”Regular” value=”60″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Accessible by car” level=”Si” value=”100″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

The field of giant lavenders

In this field the lavenders are enormous, or I don’t know, they seemed to me to be giants and that’s why I named it with this name. Ah yes, don’t go thinking that these are the official names of the fields, these are the nicknames I gave them to distinguish them: D

In this field there were more people than in the dovecot one, but less than in the field of purple and pink. Besides that it was very big, so it was enough to go away to find practically only the lavenders. In this the advice is to walk into the field to see the part where it is made as a kind of little hill (mini) full of lavenders, it looks like a purple wave.

Nuestras valoraciones sobre este campo:

[mks_progressbar name=”Is it crowded?” level=”Regular” value=”80″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Open to visitors” level=”Buena” value=”85″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Accessible by car” level=”Si” value=”100″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

The field of lavenders and sunflowers

This field is located at the entrance to Valensole, it was the one where we lasted the least, and in reality we visited it more than anything due to the presence of sunflowers next to lavenders. But here you could see more people visiting than in the previous ones.

Our evaluations on this field:

[mks_progressbar name=”Is it crowded?” level=”Si” value=”40″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Open to visitors” level=”Buena” value=”85″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

[mks_progressbar name=”Accessible by car” level=”Si” value=”100″ height=”20″ color=”#8057af” style=”squared”]

And the fields of Valensole village, can they be visited?

You are probably wondering this as we did not visit the town and its fields. In fact yes, they can be visited, and thus they are the most popular in the region. Not to mention the crowdiest. The only field that could be considered in this radius is the last field that we already visited on departure.

When we started the outward journey we passed through the fields of Valensole village and they were full of people! an impressive thing, not even what we saw in the purple and pink field that is where we had seen more people visiting it. I have to say that if I had seen only those fields, with so many people, I would have been a little disappointed. Because, certainly, when visiting these places what you are looking for is some tranquility 😀 in addition to the beautiful colors and smells of lavenders.

Tips for a happy visit

And before finishing, I want to give you some tips that will make your visit to the lavender fields in France (or in any other country) more pleasant:

• Put on a hat: honestly, before when I was seeing the pictures in the lavender fields and people always wearing a hat, I was thinking “how exagerate”, but after being in person, yes, I advise you to wear a hat, cap, etc. . Whatever covers the head. The sun hits hard.
• Wear comfortable shoes: if you want to do a photo session in high heels, ok, take them to wear them only when posing for the picture. But in reality to walk among the lavenders you need comfortable shoes, preferably closed, since there are many stones and pebbles.
• Put on sunscreen: something I completely forgot, I did not put it on and, despite having brought a dress that covered me a lot, I burned the few parts exposed to the sun. Vicente burned his arms. Now you’re warned 😀
• Bring water: for the same reason that the sun hits hard, always bring water with you.

And you, tell us, do you like the smell of lavender?

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