When to come for it
Lavender season in the Luberon
Luberon lavender is generally in flower from the middle of June to the end of July, with the first fortnight of July the safest bet. The field in front of Sénanque Abbey, five minutes down the valley from the house, is usually at its best from late June and is normally cut around the turn of the month.
Roughly when, allowing for the year
First colour
Mid-June
Best weeks
Late June to mid-July
Sénanque cut
Late July, usually
Higher plateaux
A week or two later
The dates move, so plan loosely
Lavender is a crop, not a calendar. A cold spring pushes everything back; a hot June brings the cut forward. A fortnight’s swing from one year to the next is normal, and nobody — including the growers — can tell you in February exactly which week will be the week.
If the flower is the reason for the trip, the first two weeks of July are the least likely to disappoint. If it is a bonus rather than the point, late June through late July will almost always give you something.
Where to see it
Sénanque is the one everybody photographs, and it is five minutes away: a twelfth-century Cistercian abbey sitting in a fold of the hills with its rows running straight at the front wall. Go before ten, or in the last hour of light. The monks still farm it and still live there, and visitors are asked to stay out of the rows.
The Plateau de Valensole is the vast, endless version — an hour and a quarter each way, higher, and consequently a week or so later than the valley. It is spectacular and in July it is also a traffic jam of people photographing it. Leave very early or do not go at all.
Closer to hand, the roads between Gordes, Murs and Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt have small fields that nobody stops at. These are often the better photographs.
Two things worth knowing
Most of what you will see is lavandin rather than true lavender — a hardier hybrid, grown lower down, with the big rounded bushes and the strong scent. True lavande fine grows above about eight hundred metres and the rows are finer and greyer. Both are beautiful; only one of them makes the expensive oil.
Distilleries run through late July and August, after the cut, and several near Apt and Coustellet are open to visitors. If you have missed the flower by a fortnight, this is the consolation and it smells considerably better than a field.
More about the Luberon