A market every morning
The markets of the Luberon, by the day they happen
There is a market somewhere in the Luberon every morning of the week. Gordes is Tuesday and under ten minutes’ walk from the house; Apt on Saturday is the largest in the region; and the Sunday brocante at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is the one people plan a trip around.
| Day | Where |
|---|---|
| Monday | Forcalquier · Lauris · Cadenet |
| Tuesday | Gordes · Cucuron · Lacoste · Lourmarin (night market) |
| Wednesday | Coustellet (night market, 5–7pm, June–September) · Gargas (morning) · Rustrel (morning) |
| Thursday | Roussillon · L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue · Goult · Ménerbes · Lauris (night market, 6–8pm in summer) |
| Friday | Bonnieux · Lourmarin · Pertuis |
| Saturday | Apt · Petit Palais · Manosque |
| Sunday | L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue · Coustellet · Ansouis |
How to do a Provençal market
Arrive before ten. By half past eleven the good stalls have thinned and the car parks have not. Take a basket and cash — many of the smaller producers still prefer it — and buy lunch rather than planning it: bread, a cheese, a rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, a melon, and something from the olive stall.
The distinction worth knowing is between a producteur, selling what they grew, and a revendeur, selling what they bought at the wholesale market that morning. The signs usually say. The queue usually tells you anyway.
The three worth building a day around
Gordes, Tuesday morning, in the square at the top of the village. Small, pretty, aimed partly at visitors, and a few minutes from the front door on foot — which makes it the easiest market of the week to actually enjoy.
Apt, Saturday morning, the largest in the Luberon. It takes over the whole town centre and runs on well past noon. This is where you go for volume and for the things the smaller markets do not carry.
L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Sunday. Food market and brocante together, with several hundred antique dealers, canals and waterwheels running through the middle of it. Twenty-five minutes away and the busiest morning in the valley; go early and stay for lunch.
What is in season
April and May
Asparagus — green and the thick white kind — then the first strawberries from Carpentras, young goat’s cheese, and artichokes small enough to eat raw.
June and July
Cherries from the orchards below Bonnieux, then apricots, and the Cavaillon melons that the town is named for. Lavender honey arrives from the middle of July.
August and September
Peaches, figs, tomatoes that taste of something, aubergines and peppers by the crate, and the first grapes. This is the month to buy more than you can eat.
October onwards
Pumpkins, chestnuts, the olive harvest and new oil in November, and from winter into early spring the truffle market at Apt — which is worth seeing even if you buy nothing.
More about the Luberon