What is the Aix-en-Provence self-guided walking tour?
The Aix-en-Provence self-guided walking tour is a narrated walk with your phone as the guide: the World City Trail app sets out the route and, each time you reach a stop, tells you the history, legends and odd facts behind what you see. Reckon on about 3 hours overall, including 43 minutes on foot across 3.6 km and 10 stops. The route moves between the 17th-century Mazarin quarter and the old town, the two halves of Aix divided by the Cours Mirabeau.
At the Musée Granet the narration introduces the painter who left his collection to the city, and Paul Cézanne, born in Aix, whose paintings hang inside. On the Cours Mirabeau you hear why one moss-covered fountain still runs with warm water, and at the Fontaine de la Rotonde which way Justice is looking. Place d'Albertas shows how one family had a square laid out in 1745 to frame its mansion, and at Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur the story goes back to the Roman forum beneath it and the ancient columns reused in its baptistery. The walk ends with King René and the bunch of muscat grapes he is said to have brought to Provence.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 43 min · 3.6 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Step by step on the walk
A chapter for each stop
Every stop has its own narrated chapter, mixing history with local legends and curious details, and each chapter can be read as well as heard.
Directions included
Google Maps plots every leg from one stop to the next; together the legs come to about 43 minutes on foot over 3.6 km.
Breaks built in
Head into a café or a museum whenever you feel like it. The app keeps your place, so you carry on later or another day.
Tips and flexibility
Along the way the app suggests local dishes and shops worth a look, and you can change the starting stop or the sequence.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who will like this walk
First time in Aix-en-Provence
A single walk links the main sights and explains each of them, so you get your bearings quickly.
Not a fan of group tours?
Nobody holds up a flag and nobody counts heads: stay longer wherever your curiosity is caught and move on when you want.
Families
Children get the legends, adults get the history, and anyone can pause the narration with a tap.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
From the Mazarin quarter into the old town
10 stops · about 43 min walking · start: Musée Granet · finish: Fontaine du Roi René
The walk begins at the Musée Granet beside the church of Saint-Jean-de-Malte, crosses the Mazarin quarter to the dolphin fountain on Place des Quatre-Dauphins and passes the Hôtel de Caumont. On the Cours Mirabeau you head west under the plane trees to the Fontaine de la Rotonde, then turn into the old town for Place d'Albertas, Place des Cardeurs near the town hall, Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur and the Église de la Madeleine on Place des Prêcheurs. King René's statue on the Fontaine du Roi René, where the Cours ends in the east, marks the finish. Every stop is outdoors, and the app lets you change the order.
Open the route map ↗
1Musée GranetStart
The museum occupies the 17th-century former priory of the Knights of Malta in the Mazarin quarter, beside the Gothic church of Saint-Jean-de-Malte. It is named after the painter François-Marius Granet, who left his collection to the city, and it holds several paintings by Paul Cézanne, who was born in Aix.
Read the full story →
2Place des Quatre-Dauphins
This small square in the Mazarin quarter takes its name from the fountain of 1667 by Jean-Claude Rambot, where four dolphins spout water around an obelisk crowned by a pine cone. The quarter around it was laid out in the 17th century on a regular grid of streets lined with elegant private mansions.
3Hôtel de Caumont
This aristocratic mansion was built in the first half of the 18th century and is one of the finest examples of its kind in Aix. Since 2015 it has housed the Caumont Centre d'Art, and behind the building lies a formal French garden.
4Cours Mirabeau
Laid out in the mid-17th century along the line of the old ramparts, this broad avenue shaded by plane trees separates the old town from the Mazarin quarter. Mansions with carved doorways and wrought-iron balconies line its south side, and in the middle a moss-covered fountain still flows with warm water from the town's springs.
5Fontaine de la Rotonde
Built in 1860 at the western end of the Cours Mirabeau, this large fountain stands in the middle of a busy roundabout. Three statues crown it, representing Justice, Agriculture and the Fine Arts, with Justice looking down the Cours Mirabeau.
6Place d'Albertas
Jean-Baptiste d'Albertas had this small square laid out in 1745 opposite his family mansion, to give it a worthy setting. Its uniform façades with pilasters recall the royal squares of Paris, and the fountain in the middle was only added in 1912.
Read the full story →
7Place des Cardeurs
One of the largest squares in the old town, close to the town hall, Place des Cardeurs is named after the wool carders who once worked in this area. Today its colourful façades are lined with restaurant terraces, and a modern fountain stands in the square.
8Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur
Built over many centuries on the site of the Roman forum, Saint-Sauveur combines Romanesque, Gothic and later styles under one roof. Its early Christian baptistery reuses ancient Roman columns, and the cathedral owns Nicolas Froment's triptych of the Burning Bush, painted in the 1470s for King René. Look closely at the carved Gothic portal of the west façade.
9Église de la Madeleine
This church on Place des Prêcheurs was rebuilt at the end of the 17th century on the site of the church of the Dominican friars, the Preachers who gave the square its name. Its neoclassical façade was only added in the 19th century, and the church owns the central panel of the 15th-century Annunciation of Aix.
10Fontaine du Roi RenéFinish
At the eastern end of the Cours Mirabeau stands King René, Count of Provence in the 15th century, in a statue by David d'Angers placed on the fountain in 1823. In his hand he holds a bunch of muscat grapes, recalling the tradition that he brought this grape variety to Provence.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.