La Valette Boutique
Sanilhac-Sagriès, 30700 Gard, France
Where Van Gogh painted The Starry Night from a hospital window, a Roman city buried under alluvium for centuries, and a Wednesday market locals still plan their week around. About fifty-five minutes from Uzès.
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence sits at the foot of the Alpilles hills, about fifty-five minutes from La Valette Boutique, a town best known for the year Vincent van Gogh spent at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum on its edge, painting nearly 150 works including The Starry Night. A kilometre south lies Glanum, a Celto-Ligurian, then Greek, then Roman city buried under centuries of alluvium and rediscovered only in the twentieth century, its two best-preserved monuments, a mausoleum and a triumphal arch, still standing at the roadside where they have stood since Roman times. The town itself, birthplace of Nostradamus, holds one of Provence's best-known Wednesday markets.
| Location | Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence |
|---|---|
| Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur |
| Heritage status | Glanum is a French monument historique; not UNESCO-listed |
| Distance from Uzès | 54 km · about 55 min by car |
| Nearest airport | Avignon (AVN), about 45 min |
| Typical visit | Half a day to a full day |
| Known for | Van Gogh's asylum year and the Roman ruins of Glanum |
| Market day | Wednesday, 8h to 13h, year-round |
| Born here | Nostradamus, 1503 |
Fifty-five minutes from home
We expected a Van Gogh pilgrimage site and found a working Provençal town that happens to have one. The Wednesday market fills the boulevards around the old town with genuine local produce and crafts, not a display staged for visitors, and the streets Van Gogh described in his letters are essentially unchanged.
Glanum surprised us more. Standing beside the mausoleum and triumphal arch, aware they had stood at that exact roadside since before the town around them existed, and that the city itself lay buried and forgotten for over a thousand years, gave the whole visit a different weight than we expected from a modest archaeological site.
The Saint-Paul-de-Mausole site and the Alpilles tourist office both publish current opening hours and seasonal event listings on their own sites. We recommend checking before visiting, particularly for Glanum, which closes on Mondays outside peak season.
What it is
Vincent van Gogh arrived at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in May 1889 following a breakdown in Arles, and stayed a year. Largely confined to the grounds for much of that time, he painted the garden, the wheat field beyond his window, and the surrounding Alpilles, producing nearly 150 works, among them The Starry Night, Irises and several olive tree studies.
A kilometre south, Glanum began as a Celto-Ligurian settlement, absorbed Greek influence through trade, then became a Roman city, before being gradually buried under alluvial debris and forgotten. Only its two best-preserved monuments, a mausoleum from around 30 to 20 BC and a triumphal arch from roughly 20 AD, known together as Les Antiques, remained visible until systematic excavation began in 1921.
"The wheat field Van Gogh painted from his asylum window is still there, still a wheat field, and standing in front of it after seeing the painting is one of the more affecting things we know within an hour of home."La Valette Boutique, about 55 min away
Beyond the basics
When to go
Saint-Rémy works well most of the year; the market, the ruins and the asylum grounds are open in every season, with summer bringing the most visitors.
Comfortable temperatures for walking Glanum's open site and the town, without the peak summer heat or crowds.
If your visit can fall on a Wednesday, the market alone is worth the trip, filling the boulevards around the old town from early morning.
Glanum's site is largely unshaded, and midday heat makes walking it uncomfortable. Visit early morning or late afternoon instead.
Practical information
Full day combinations
Morning at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole and the Van Gogh Walk in town, afternoon at Glanum and Les Antiques, a natural pairing since both sit within walking distance of each other.
If it falls on a Wednesday, give the whole morning to the market, then use the afternoon for Glanum or a walk into the Alpilles.
Two very different sides of the same hills: Saint-Rémy in the morning, then a short drive into the Alpilles to the dramatic hilltop village of Les Baux in the afternoon.
Both make sense from La Valette on the same day if you leave early: Saint-Rémy in the morning, Avignon and the Palais des Papes in the afternoon, about forty minutes between the two.
Yes, particularly for Van Gogh's history and the Roman ruins of Glanum. It is about fifty-five minutes by car, workable as a full day trip, or paired with Les Baux-de-Provence or Avignon if you leave early.
About 54 km, roughly fifty-five minutes by car.
Saint-Paul-de-Mausole remains a working psychiatric clinic, but a section including the cloister and a reconstruction of Van Gogh's room is open to visitors, with reproductions of his paintings displayed near the views that inspired them.
Glanum is the excavated Roman city as a whole; Les Antiques refers specifically to its two best-preserved monuments, a mausoleum and a triumphal arch, which are visible for free from the roadside just outside the paid excavation site.
Every Wednesday, year-round, from 8h to 13h, spreading across the boulevards and squares around the old town.
No. Glanum is a protected French monument historique, but neither the site nor the town holds UNESCO status.
La Valette Boutique is in the Gard, about fifty-five minutes from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, five minutes from Uzès. Two boutique apartments in an 18th-century stone house.
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