South of France: Provence–Alpes–Côte d'Azur family holidays and breaks

Family Holidays in Bouches du Rhône

• Explore marvellous Marseille – Paris on Sea meets North Africa, with a heady cultural and ethnic mix, several great archaeological/history museums (including MuCEM, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations), the souk-like market of Noailles and the Vieux Port with its daily fish-market.

• Head along the Corniche, an ocean-side walkway and road, for views of the jagged fjords known as calanques, or view them by boat-trip.

• Venture into the neighbouring Camargue, the largest river delta in western Europe, with unearthly landscapes dotted with white horses, pink flamingos, black bulls, wild boar and French cowboys (gardians).

• Discover Arles, where Van Gogh did more than 300 paintings and drawings, including some of his most famous. Most were snapped up for prestigious museums and collections elsewhere, but kids can have fun walking around matching a book of his works with their original locations, and there are also UNESCO-listed Roman and Romanesque monuments, including a Roman amphitheatre. 

• Wander around Aix en Provence, best known for its links with Cezanne (whose old atelier you can visit), with pretty fountains, intricate doorways and wrought-iron bell towers that allow the mistral wind to blow straight through them. Just south of town, have a look around the Institut Pour la Forêt eco-museum and forest park.

Family Holidays in the Var

• Head for child-friendly Fréjus-Saint Raphaël. Fréjus boasts a long sandy beach, a marina and protected monuments from Roman and medieval times, with the amphitheatres and the Gothic cathedral the most impressive. Life in adjoining Saint Raphaël, meanwhile, revolves around watersports. St Tropez, also in the Var, is more famous, bigger and glitzier.

• In the Var capital, Toulon, the main port for the French Navy, take boat tours of the Rade or harbour, visit the Museum of the French Navy and amble around the  pedestrianised old town, famous for its fountains and Provençal market. Follow locals to the small seaside suburb of Le Mourillon, with its sheltered sandy beaches, and ride a cable-car to the top of Mount Faron, home to the Memorial Museum to the Landings in Provence.

• From the nearby resort of Hyères, hop aboard a boat to the Iles d’Hyères: Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant. The smallest, Port-Cros, has five old forts (one open to the public), and the whole island, including a 600m ‘maritime zone’ around its coast, is a National Park with a signposted underwater ‘nature trail’ (bring snorkelling gear, or ride in the glass-bottomed Aquascope). On land, 35km of signed paths and trails allow you to see various wild and protected species.

• Away from the coast, venture into the Var’s largely mountainous terrain. The foothills of the Alps are stuffed with pretty ‘perched villages’ such as Fayence and Callian. The ancient mountain range of the Massif de l'Esterel, leading back from the Var into the Alpes Maritimes, is great for hiking with slightly older kids, over rugged reddish rocks (porphyry) swathed in juniper, lavender, rosemary, wild thyme and heather.

Family Holidays in the Alpes Maritimes

• Discover some of the famous resorts and beaches of this département’s iconic coastline known as the Côte d’Azur or French Riviera. Cannes and Nice are the big brash names (along with the principality of Monaco), while Antibes is smaller and more family friendly. 

• Explore the rest of the Alpes Maritimes, away from the coast, from the perfume city of Grasse to family ski resorts that are, bizarrely it feels, within just an hour’s drive of the beaches of Nice. 

Family Holidays in the Alpes de Haute Provence and the Hautes Alpes

• Venture into the least touristy départements of the region. The Alpes de Haute Provence are home to the best-known part of the Parc National de Mercantour, the gorgeous Gorges du Verdon. The world’s largest canyon after the Grand Canyon, this gorge is popular for kayaking, whitewater-rafting, canyoning, mountain-biking, via ferrata, treetop adventures and other adrenaline-inducing activities, including aqua-hiking and hydro-speeding. The nearby man-made Lac de Sainte-Croix offers sailing, water-skiing, windsurfing and fishing.

• Head north into the Hautes Alpes, for uncrowded family-friendly (if untrendy) ski destinations and great outdoorsy activities in summer.

Family Holidays in the Vaucluse

• Carry on west, to Avignon with its spectacular monuments including the famous bridge, Palace of the Popes and excellent museums, the Roman sites in Orange and Vaison la Romaine, and the iconic, UNESCO-listed Pont du Gard, the world-famous Roman aqueduct bridge and France’s most-visited ancient monument, with a visitor centre on Roman civilisation, a kids' area, and a marked trail.

• Visit other must-sees in the Vaucluse: Serignan du Comtat’s Le Naturoptère, a ‘natural sciences cultural centre’ with hands-on displays related to insect and plant life, and the Nature Discovery Centre in Sault, which covers the wildlife of the nearby Mont Ventoux and traditional local human activities (including beekeeping and hunting) and regional products such as lavender, truffles and mushrooms.
 
• For something totally different, head to the Museum of Santons and Provence in Fontaine de Vaucluse, to see 2000+ santons (Provençal nativity scene figurines), of all sizes, including 60 crèches (one of them the world’s smallest, comprising 39 santons in a nutshell) and scenes from the work of Marcel Pagnol.

• At Gargas, explore a mysterious maze of old ochre quarries, and at Thor, walk along the fossil bed of the underground river that carved out Le Thouzon caves, marvelling at stalagmites, stalactites and other crystallisations.