La Valette · Cycling near Uzès
La Valette Boutique · Slow Travel A different tempo

Slow travel in the Gard

The countryside around Uzès operates on a rhythm that takes a day or two to find. Once you do, the temptation to rush anywhere dissolves. This is a place where the best plan is often no plan at all.

The morning

Markets, bread and café tables

The day starts at the boulangerie. Croissants and bread from seven, eaten on the terrace or carried back to the apartment while they are still warm. On Wednesday and Saturday, the market fills the Place aux Herbes with the smell of olives, roasted chicken and lavender. Buy what looks good. Sit on the steps. Let the morning happen.

The afternoon

Long lunches and empty roads

Lunch in this part of France is not a meal. It is a practice. A two-hour lunch at a terrace bistro followed by cycling the quiet roads back through the garrigue. Or a drive to a village you have never heard of, where the only café has three tables and a view that makes you stop talking. The afternoons here are long, the light is golden, and the roads belong to you.

The evening

Wine, stone and cicadas

By late afternoon, the limestone glows amber and the cicadas begin. A glass of Duché d'Uzès rosé on the terrace of La Valette Boutique. Dinner at eight, maybe nine. The restaurants in Uzès are five minutes away. The Pont du Gard light show runs on summer evenings, fifteen minutes by car. Or stay home, open the shutters, and listen to the village fall asleep.

Your base

Stay at La Valette Boutique

Two restored 17th-century stone apartments near Uzès, Gard, South of France. The kind of place where slow travel feels natural rather than aspirational.

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