Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

At the edge of the Camargue where the Rhône delta meets the Mediterranean, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer sits in a landscape that feels genuinely unlike anywhere else in France. The marshes behind the town hold flamingos, black bulls, and the white horses of the Camargue gardians, herded on horseback across a flat horizon that stretches in every direction without interruption. The town itself is small, whitewashed, and built around a fortified Romanesque church that doubles as a place of pilgrimage for the Romani people of Europe, who gather here each May in a ceremony of extraordinary colour and fervour. The beaches are wide and windswept and the mistral arrives without warning. It is not the south of France that most people come for, which is the most compelling reason to come.