Where is Provence? Provence on the Map
What is Provence, and where is it? The French refer to the South of France as the "Midi". Midi means noon, the sunniest part of day, and the Midi is the sunniest part of France. Provence is the area in the "bottom right" (southeast) of the Midi. To the left, it starts at Avignon. To the right, it stops at the border with Italy. At the bottom, there's the Mediterranean.
Boundaries
It's hard to point exactly where Provence begins and ends because the borders have moved over time. Nowadays you could say that Provence is the sum of five French "departements", an administrative division larger than a county and smaller than a State. These five départements are called Vaucluse, Var, Bouches du Rhône, Alpes Maritimes and Alpes de Haute Provence.Detailed Maps of Provence
For driving, you have two excellent choices online: the Michelin maps (our favorite for France) and Google maps. They have a different look-and-feel, it's worth comparing to see which you like best. For hiking, you'll need paper maps. You can order the best topographical maps online from IGN, the National Institute of Geography.If you have found this page useful, please share, bookmark or comment.
