St. Paul de Vence
St Paul de Vence is one of those villages that has several very different sides to it.
There is the St Paul you see on postcards: the medieval village perched high above the Côte d’Azur, its narrow streets filled with visitors arriving for the day. It is undeniably beautiful, and certainly worth seeing, but it is also very easy to experience only that version of it, particularly in the middle of summer, when the tourist buses arrive and the little streets can feel more like a tourist attraction than a village.
But there is another reason I keep coming back to St Paul.
Just beyond the village itself are two places that, for me, completely change the experience: Fondation Maeght, one of the most remarkable collections of modern art in the region, and Fondation CAB, with its very different take on contemporary art, architecture and design.
And then there are the places to stay. I have three favourites, each completely different from the other, and each good enough to make St Paul de Vence a destination in its own right rather than somewhere you simply stop for a few hours.
Add to that a handful of places I like to eat, and suddenly there is much more to St Paul than the postcard version.
So this week, we’re taking you around our version of St Paul de Vence — where I would stay, what I would see, where I would eat, and why I think it is worth spending more than just an afternoon here.
Fondation CAB
This is one of my favourite places to visit The Brussels-based foundation opened its second space here in a beautifully restored 1950s building designed Charles Zana. the foundation is dedicated to Minimalist and Conceptual ar. But for me, the appeal is as much the architecture and the atmosphere as the exhibitions. In the garden sits a 1944 Maison Démontable by Jean Prouvé, now a guest room, complete with Prouvé furniture. You can visit for the art and design, but I also stay for coffee or a light lunch at SOL
- Fondation Maeght >>> what makes it special >>> explain + also include the archtitecture and also include that you can sit in the garden for a coffee or light lunch
- Where to eat: When you just enter the village itself, immediately on the left hand side is
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