Life’s a beach
Argelès-sur-Mer is the ultimate beach town. Pizza joints and shops selling beach wares line its streets. Its sandy seaside is inviting. It features the longest stretch of beach in the entire Pyrénées-Orientales department. Then again, it’s so much more than a beach town.
The city and its immediate area boast no fewer than four châteaux and two nature preserves. Its Notre-Dame-dels-Prats cathedral dates back to the 14th and 17th centuries. Its dolmens, or stone ossuaries, are relics from about the first or second millennium BCE.
Argelès is a magnet for campers, with numerous upscale, four-star campgrounds, most featuring pools, on-site restaurants, bars and shops. The town’s slogan, “En Méditerranée, les Pyrénées ont une plage,” says it simply: “In the Mediterannean, the Pyrénées have a beach.”
Art imitates Collioure
For any art lover, the attractive village of Collioure is a must. Matisse visited here during a low point in his career and was inspired and revitalized by the lovely scenery. It’s easy to imagine how. The small town, with its ochre rooftops and castle at the edge of the shore, is endlessly charming.
His vivid paintings sparked a new art movement, Fauvism, which attracted other artists—Matisse, Picasso and Chagall among them—to this small town. They hung out at the bar of the Hôtel-Restaurant les Templiers, which doubles as an art museum now, but you can stay there to this day.
The village is packed with art museums and galleries, the highlight being the Chemin du Fauvisme. At this unique outdoor museum, you follow the trail to find replicas of Fauvist works posted in the spot where they were painted.
Dive right in
Port Vendres is a lively harbor city, an epicenter of aquatic activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing, windsurfing and boating. It is a land of dignified monuments, including an obelisk, various historic fort sites and a lighthouse that looks like a modern sculpture.
Saturday mornings, the village bursts to life with its enticing market featuring produce, Catalan specialties and spices as brightly colored as an artist’s palette. Vineyards overlook the village from the hills above.
Land of wine and honey
Banyuls-sur-Mer is the quintessential wine village in a string of Côte Vermeille wine destinations. There are numerous wineries here for touring and tasting—you can hardly find a spot where vineyards aren’t visible in the distance.
Its marina, at the last southerly port before Spain, is a center of activity. The aquarium here dates back to the 19th century. Stroll along the narrow Allées Maillol to find local artists practicing their craft. La Salette church, a quaint building that looks more Spanish than French, overlooks Banyuls. It is worth visiting just for the splendid panoramic view of village, sea and mountains.
"The end of the world"
Few French villages display the lively Catalan colors like Cerbère. The last Côte Vermeille town before you hit Spain (just a few minutes away), it is like a canvas come to life, with its brightly painted boats and centre-ville buildings.
Cerbère is one of the world’s most beautiful settings for strolls and hikes, and the city tourism office can provide four self-guided walking tours that leave from the heart of the village.
The last stop before entering Spain is Cap Cerbère’s solar lighthouse, called “le phare du bout du monde”—“the lighthouse at the end of the world.” Walking to the edge of the cliff, with nothing but sea stretching to the horizon, you almost believe it.
Published with permission from France Magazine, featured on this list of Top France Magazines
