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Four Retreats in Provence, One Shared Philosophy: Which Is the Best One for You?
Written by the Only Provence Team • Last Updated September 17, 2026
Only Provence is an award-winning villa rental company with a collection of more than 200 luxury villas and châteaux throughout the Luberon and Alpilles. Combining deep local expertise with personalized service, we craft exceptional journeys tailored for discerning travelers.
Every retreat we’ve created for 2027 starts from the same place: old stones, gardens that feed the table, vineyards tended for generations, all of it inspired by the natural cycle of the seasons. Only Provence retreats invite you to feel history under your feet and to connect with a way of life still very much alive today.
Our focus is simple: noticing beauty; connecting with place, ourselves, and each other; and taking time that isn’t rushed. None of this is an indulgence. It’s what many of us need most.
That said, no two people arrive needing the same thing. So instead of building one retreat and asking every guest to fit it, we built four small-group retreats. These are not four versions of the same week, but four very different ways into Provence’s earthy, abundant world.
Ultimately, the question is: what do you actually need right now? Let us help you decide which retreat is right for you.
Spring — The Luxury Reset
May 2–8, 2027 · Center of gravity: the body
Spring bursts with scent and color, so this retreat is built around honoring a body that’s also waking up and stretching out after winter. It’s a delicate balance of rest and awakened senses, a cleansing that leaves room for reflection. We let nature take the lead and take our inspiration from what it’s doing.
This retreat is best for guests who feel a heaviness coming out of winter. Choose this one if you’re not looking to learn something or accomplish something specifically. You’re looking for space to breathe fresh air, eat well, and begin again.
Activities include picnicking among the spring flowers, a private visit to a biodynamic winery estate, an aromatherapy atelier at a local distillery, meandering through scented markets, and options for spa, yoga, a long walk through the countryside (or a nap if you prefer!), and farm-to-table meals built around what’s coming from the ground in spring.
Summer — La Vie Provençale
June 13–19, 2027 · Center of gravity: the mind
This is a week of the best of the best in the region: Provence in her prime, lavender in bloom, markets swinging into the first of the summer harvest. It’s a careful gathering of the region’s finest experiences, rooted in centuries of history and living Provençal culture: art, history, culture, nature, food, and wine, moving through hilltop villages, Roman ruins, ateliers, and private estates. This is best for guests who want it all: a cultural and historical retreat in Provence alongside the iconic, jaw-dropping rows of lavender. Choose this one if feeding your curiosity is what you need.
Activities include private visits to hilltop villages and Roman ruins, wine tastings at family-run estates, wandering through fields of lavender in full bloom plus distillery atelier, browsing the season’s first summer markets, and options for a guided history walk, a cooking class, or simply a long lunch under the plane trees, with meals built around the best of the summer harvest. Spa treatment with locally made essential oils and optional yoga or stretching.
Autumn — Vine & Table
September 19–25, 2027 · Center of gravity: hands and the tasting palate
Harvest is the one season here that asks something physical of you, and Vine & Table leans into that rather than around it. Guests work alongside vineyard teams during the harvest itself, tour the wineries that will turn that fruit into next year’s bottles, and take hands-on instruction from chefs who work in step with the land, pairing food to what’s just been picked. It’s participation, not observation, start to finish.
Best for guests who want a hands-on harvest retreat in Provence, deep in the land and in food, wine, and culture. Choose this one if you love to muck in and see what’s really behind the scenes, all while enjoying the best of authentic Provençal luxury.
Activities include hands-on grape picking alongside the vineyard team, private tours of the wineries turning that fruit into next year’s vintage, a chef-led cooking class pairing dishes to the day’s harvest, visits to ancient villages, options for Michelin-star dining, lavender distillery tour, long harvest-table dinners shared with the people who grew and made it all, spa treatment with locally made essential oils and optional yoga or stretching.
Provence Pilgrimage — Walking Village to Hilltop Village
October 3–9, 2027 · Center of gravity: the soul
Modeled loosely on the Camino de Santiago, this is a multi-day walking route through autumn-lit villages. Unlike the other three retreats, you won’t return to the same bastide each night. Instead, a different stone hotel waits at the end of each day’s walk, each one carrying a character all its own.
It’s the quietest of the four by design: long stretches without conversation, a route rather than an itinerary of activities. Guests come back describing it less as a vacation and more as a gift to self and soul. Choose this one if you’re not looking for restoration, knowledge, or a new skill. You’re looking for movement, connection, and quiet time to take in what’s around you.
Activities include an olive mill tasting, visits to 2 ancient abbeys along the route, a private biodynamic winery and cellar visit, market visit, farm-to-table meals including a Michelin-star restaurant, visit to renowned market, spa treatment with locally made essential oils and optional yoga or stretching.
At a Glance
What They All Have in Common
Whichever door you walk through, every one of these weeks is built around presence over productivity and small groups by design. Underneath all four sits the same handful of principles: beauty, authenticity, simplicity, time, conversation, restoration, gathering, and a real connection to land and tradition.
And underneath that sits the properties themselves: an 18th century luxury bastide, or stone hotels along the ancient paths. We’ve spent twenty years learning how to match to a feeling, not just a floor plan. The four retreats aren’t a menu of separate products. They’re honest answers to the same question: what do I need to feel good?
How to Register & Reserve Your Place
Registration for 2027 is open. If you’re still deciding between two of these, that’s just fine. Reach out and we’ll help you think it through.
If you’d like to join us, please email retreats@onlyprovence.com.
Questions Guests Ask Before Choosing a Retreat
A villa stay is self-directed. You rent the house and shape your own days. A retreat is guided and built around a small group, a specific theme, and included meals, instruction, and activities. Guests who love our villas but want it all done for them, with more structure, company, and a theme to move through are exactly who these retreats were designed for.
Yes, and this is actually where our villa business and the retreats meet. With around 200 villas to choose from and a team who knows this region inside and out, we can build you a private version of any of these four journeys, or something built entirely from scratch around what your group wants. Same craft, same eye for the details, just tailored to your dates, your group size, and your pace.
Three do: Spring, Summer, and Autumn are all based at our eighteenth-century luxury bastide. The Pilgrimage is the exception: because it’s a walking route between villages, guests stay in a different boutique hotel each night. Every one of those hotels was chosen for the same reason we chose the bastide: working vineyards, good food, a real sense of history, proximity to the best villages, so the feeling stays constant even though the address doesn’t.
Each retreat includes accommodation, all meals, guided excursions, and spa treatments as specified in the final itinerary. Transfers to and from the designated arrival/departure points, including Aix-en-Provence and Avignon TGV stations and Marseille Provence Airport (MRS), are included.
A boutique agency inspects and vets each home, so the villa lives up to its photographs, and matches you to the right property based on first-hand knowledge. It also provides concierge support before and during your stay, from arranging experiences to solving problems on the ground, which listing platforms rarely offer.
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© 2026 Only Provence
Only Provence co-founder Lydia Dean writes about their experiences raising a family, building a business in Provence, and later combining the love of travel with giving back in "Jumping the Picket Fence". In 2021, she published "Light Through the Cracks," a continuation of her journey, much of which has been based in Provence. Both books are available Amazon, Amazon.uk, and Amazon.Fr.