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At their best, the reds are dark and powerful, the (rarer) whites intensely fruity.

It’s worth staying at this gorgeous chateau hotel just to enjoy breakfast on its clifftop terrace, looking out over the sea below (see Château de la Chèvre d’Or, Eze).

Locals sip their apéritifs at the counter and from the kitchen comes simple, flavoursome food (fresh fish soup, tournedos au gorgonzola ).

An affordable bed-and-breakfast with views of the countryside. There are three rooms, each with satellite TV and minibar, in a 200-year-old farmhouse.

Exceptional Provençale dishes such as pieds et paquets and daube (see Daube). Excellent value, with Provençal painters exhibited inside.

An unpromising looking warehouse, but the chocolate wizardry within is dazzling. Enter only if you have iron self-control.

France’s oldest music festival, started in 1860, has the town’s magnificent Roman theatre as its main venue (see Roman Theatre, Orange). The original stage wall ensures perfect acoustics for the classical operas which have earned the event an international reputation.

Also next door to the palace, Etienne has frescoes, a terrace and a way with Provençale fare – notably truffles and tomatoes.

When European nobility took to wintering in Nice, they colonized Cimiez Hill with mansions and hotels. The grandiose Boulevard de Cimiez is, thus, sumptuous with gardens and magnificent villas in styles from Louis XV, to Neo-Gothic, to Oriental. Most impressive of all is the Excelsior Regina Palace, a belle époque masterpiece where Queen Victoria once stayed. Most of the edifices now house apartments, but the opulence remains palpable.

Squatting on a steep-sided crag, high above the narrow valley of the River Durance, the formidable defences of the Citadelle guard one of the strategic gateways to Provence (see Sisteron). Built in the 13th century, the bastions and ramparts, crowned by towers and a graceful chapel, are an awesome piece of military engineering. In summer, they become the venue for the Nuits de la Citadelle, an enchanting festival of music, theatre and dance.