Venasque, between valleys

Venasque always felt different from the villages of the Luberon. To reach it from our side, you leave the hills around Apt and climb towards Murs, before crossing the Venasque pass on a winding road that seems to stretch on forever. Suddenly the landscape changes. The views open towards Mont Ventoux and the Rhône valley beyond, the wind feels sharper, and fields of endless vineyards begin to appear. It already feels like another region. I remember taking that road many times on the back seat of my grandfather’s Peugeot 405. I would sometimes join him on his trips to buy wine from the cooperative in Cairanne. As a child the journey felt endless, the road twisting through the hills before finally dropping towards the plains below.

Venasque itself sits on a rocky spur above the valley, watching over orchards, vineyards and the road that winds its way down towards Carpentras. Long before the Luberon villages became known to visitors, Venasque was already an important place. In the early Middle Ages it was the capital of the Comtat Venaissin, the small papal territory that later moved its centre to Carpentras. Walking through the village today, that sense of age is still tangible. The narrow streets and thick stone houses feel older, heavier somehow than many villages nearby. Just below the church stands one of its quiet treasures, the baptistery, believed to date back to the early centuries of Christianity and considered one of the oldest religious buildings in Provence. It is the kind of place you might almost miss if you didn’t know it was there, yet it has been standing here for well over a thousand years.

Walking through the streets of Venasque, the first feeling is one of protection. The village is wrapped in tall fortified walls, and once inside, the narrow streets seem to close gently around you. Like many perched villages in Provence, it sits proudly above the landscape, yet there is something particularly sheltered about Venasque. The houses are full of character, with thick stone walls and quiet courtyards that feel almost untouched by time. There are also a few small B&Bs tucked inside the village houses which, although we have never stayed in them ourselves, look absolutely charming. Around the village, cherry orchards stretch across the countryside. The views are at their prettiest in spring, when the trees blossom and the landscape is still green, before the mistral and the long summer months leave the fields dry and pale.

Along the Grand Rue, the village’s main street, a few small shops bring life to the stone façades. There is also an unexpected library, something you might not expect in a village of this size. The atmosphere remains peaceful and slightly out of time. The same could be said of the Hôtel Restaurant Les Remparts, a place we have always liked for its unpretentious cooking and simple décor. Seasonal food, honest prices, and in the summer months a beautiful terrace looking out across the valley. On Friday evenings in the warmer months, the village also hosts a small market from 6pm to 9pm, when locals and visitors gather quietly in the square.

Venasque still feels somewhat isolated from the rest of the world, and that is part of its charm. If you are travelling through Provence, we would highly recommend a stop here, ideally outside the height of summer before the village becomes busier. If you are staying in the Luberon and heading back towards Avignon, it makes a perfect detour before joining the motorway, rather than following the more direct D900 road through Coustellet.

I still pass through Venasque regularly when I go to collect wines from the Vignerons du Mont Ventoux in Bédoin, including two of our favourites, Black Bud and Té. I now drive the same winding road my grandfather once took, but I enjoy the journey much more from behind the wheel than I ever did sitting in the back of the Peugeot.