Aix en Provence is located in one of Europe's most famous tourist regions in the South of France. Easily accessible by air, sea and road, the historical capital of Provence offers a lovely inner city with ancient fountains and beautiful mansions.

The main entrance to this jewel is Cours Mirabeau; one of the City's much attended tourist attactions. There, in a sidewalk café, in the shade of old plane trees, students and artists spend the day watching beautiful women walking up and down cours Mirabeau.

Lots of sun and dark blue skies make for brilliant colors. Cézanne painted and immortalized Mount Sainte Victoire. Van Gogh roamed its countryside. Picasso lived nearby:

Tourists enjoy the famous Côte d'Azur beaches, a rugged coast line with deep rocky inlets at Cassis, medieval hill-top villages in the Lubéron, the Verdon gorges where jade-green waters flow through a narrow canyon, Mount Sainte Victoire where a Roman emperor stopped an invasion from the north.

Throughout the seasons, traditional festivals add fun to the bright colors: the international danse and lyrical art festival in Aix, bullfights and ferias at Arles, Christmas fairs with its cribs and carved saints.

Most outdoor sports are practiced all year round: road and mountain biking, golf, horseback riding, bowling, squash, tennis, swimming, sailing, windsurfing and many more. Major sports events take place in the area in particular, a series of matches of the soccer World Championship took place in Marseille.

There is fun in everyday shopping at typical markets where flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables display their colors. In the famous Cuisine from Provence, olive oil and herbs from the surrounding hills flavor vegetables, seafood, lamb and game, accompanied by high quality wines from the Coteaux d'Aix which received world wide recognition when they were selected for the Olympic Games at Atlanta.