Ride the Routes de Lavande

The South of France consists of 3 parts. The French Alps, the French Riviera and the Provence. In our last blog article, we explored the legendary Route des Grandes Alpes. This time, we share our motorcycle experience of the Provence.

The Provence is known for the beauty of its nature. Lavender fields and vineyards spring to mind. Lavender blossoms between June and August. So, best to book your motorcycle holiday during those months and enjoy winding roads across purple fields of lavender.

This article tempts you to explore the different Routes de Lavande of the Provence. We split the journeys into manageable parts of up to 250km per day. This is plenty of daily distance to cover on breathtaking roads.

Nice to Puimoisson: 245km

Start your ride from our shop in Nice and ride the Route Napoleon to Grasse, the world’s perfume capital. Then ride up to Gourdon and Caussols, where you encounter the first fields of lavender. Continue to Castellane and ride along the beautiful Lake Castillion. Rejoin the Route Napoleon N85 to Digne les Bains and continue to Thoard for more amazing lavender fields. Then descend to Puimoisson in the Verdon National Park.

Puimoisson to Carpentras: 204km

Get up overlooking the beautiful Lake de Saint Croix. Your first stop will be Valensole, which is one of the post card images of the Provence. The views are spectacular. Then follow on through Manosque and Forcalquier. Below Mont Ventoux, you will follow the typical tree lined roads of the region, vineyards, oaks forests, scrub land and lavender. Make sure you stop at the perched villages of Bonnieux and Gordes. The last leg takes you to Carpentras, where we recommend the Auberge du Vin for exceptional wine tastings and lodging.

Carpentras to Pennes le Sec: 224km

With Mont Ventoux the first thing to see in the morning, you will enjoy further spectacular sights during the day. Ride down into Lioux, where further lavender fields are waiting fro you. Then climb the twisty roads up to Sederon and make your way through plenty of vineyards and sunflower fields. The riding gets more technical as the roads are twistier with rock formations lining the roads. Follow the roads all the way into Orpierre and Saint Andre de Rosans. Then make your way to Pennes le Sec.

As you can see from the above pictures and maps, the Routes des Lavendes is a must for enjoyable motorcycling. This article touches the surface of the spectacular roads that are on the doorstep of our shop in Nice. The region lends itself to road trips – especially on a motorcycle. If you have any questions about route planning or other requests, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help.