Luberon Markets

Market day is not just a time to buy what you need, it is also a time to observe this most French of rituals, when some of the stereotypes come alive.

Markets are as popular with locals as with tourists, and most of them are year-round, adding colour and vitality to even the most wintry village. They tend to be larger in the summer. Combining a morning at the market with lunch in a favourite restaurant is a geat way to spend a half-day.

What will you find at the markets: the best local, seasonal fruit and vegetables; meat, fish, bread, olives, tapenade, honey and conserves, herbs and spices, cheese, goat cheese, flowers, oils and wines, ready-to-eat rotisserie chickens, Provencal fabrics and housewares; clothes, the perfect straw hat or straw basket to take to the markets, and much else besides.

A  marché paysan is a farmer's market with produce sold by the farmers who grew it, and at an evening market like Velleron, picked the same day.

Farmers’ markets, or Marchés paysans, are markets where local farmers sell their own produce. So unlike other food markets, what you will find at a farmers’ market depends entirely on what is growing in Provence at that time of year. You will get fantastic produce fresh from the ground, just don’t expect peaches in April!