What's new in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ?

After a complex and difficult 2020, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region is showing its adaptability and determination by kicking off 2021 with an exciting palette of new projects. This year’s motto? Simplicity, ecology, and humanity. So let’s get the ball rolling with this year’s “What’s New” curated by our talented press team, promising to keep us all connected with a compelling line-up of new inspirations and discoveries.

Art & Archi

Modern & contemporary art routes

The new “Modern and contemporary art routes” website, courtesy of the Provence-Alpes-Côte Azur Regional Tourism Board, also available as a brochure, promises meaning to spare! The associated map, featuring the region’s top 27 collections, aims to make the worlds of our great modern and contemporary artists more accessible. In addition to the detailed itinerary, the website includes arty experiences from yoga in the company of paintings to night tours around major artists, plus artistic movements in Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur from surrealism to land art…

Hospitality

Country, sea or mountain ?

Camping Huttopia – near of toulon

To the far South of the Provence-Alpes-Côte Azur region, the verdant hills of Cap-Sicié curve around the end of Toulon’s magnificent bay. This brand-new campsite courtesy of the Huttopia collection, reputed for its rustic-chic style, is tucked away on the peninsula at the edge of a pine forest, just a few minutes from the charming beach of Fabregas. Cap Sicié is also a geological rarity: an outcrop of crystalline shale hovering over the sea. The perfect place to forget about the clock.

Camping Huttopia

The People hostel – Marseille

Situated in the Joliette quarter, 10 minutes on foot from Gare Saint-Charles train station, The People Hostel Marseille is embellished with Grem’s colourful graffiti. This new concept definitely lives up to its motto: “As accessible as a youth hostel, as friendly as a guest house, as stylish as a boutique hotel”.

The People hostel

Pure montagne resort – Southern Alps

The many exciting activities on offer at the sporty Vésubie valley are now united under the Pure Montagne® brand: rock climbing in Lantosque, summer tobogganing and ziplining in La Colmiane and indoor canyoning at the Vesúbia Mountain Park – a mountain sports complex unique in Europe. All activities are situated within a 15 km radius of Saint-Martin-Vésubie, 1 hour from Nice. From this summer, guests will love immersing themselves in the comfort of the new, four-star “Pure Montagne Resort” offering 45 chalets, at the gateway to Mercantour National Park.

Pure montagne resort

TASTE & TEMPTATION

Michelin : A star storm in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

A record in France! Boasting twelve new Michelin-starred establishments in 2021, i.e. 20% of this year’s 54 new addresses, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur region reigns supreme when it comes to fine wining & dining! What’s more, there’s a new Michelin 3-star address in Marseille: AM Alexandre Mazzia. This year, keen to highlight the diversity of professions forming France’s restaurant industry, also hit hard by the health crisis, the Michelin Guide inspectors decided to shine a light on our waiters, sommeliers, and pastry chefs too.

AM Alexandre Mazzia

La mère Germaine – Châteauneuf-du-Pape

La Mère Germaine is celebrating her 99th birthday in 2021 with a Michelin star! A fabulous reward for talented young chefs Camille Lacome and Agathe Richou, together with Isabelle Strasser who hunted them down at La Tour d’Argent. The couple – a cook and pastry chef – concoct tasty dishes honouring this iconic address and former meeting place for Parisian high society from Gabin to Fernandel. The cellar overflows with over 500 different wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape and elsewhere, while the General Manager, Antoine Pétrus, is the only person to have ever obtained a dual sommelier and head waiter distinction in France’s prestigious “Best Worker” awards. The restaurant and hotel, offering 6 rooms, have been completely refurbished.

La mère Germaine

Breaths of fresh air

The extraordinary bocages of Champsaur – Southern Alps

Panning out on the foothills of the Massif des Ecrins massif, the Champsaur-Valgaudemar territory is home to Europe’s highest bocage (from 800 to 1,350 metres in altitude) – a totally unique sight in the mountains. You can explore this extraordinary Southern Alps phenomenon – and learn more about the local climate – on foot thanks its to tens of kilometres of hiking trails and cycle paths.

Bocages of Champsaur

La Provence à vélo : made-to-measure mountain biking

Available as a brochure or download, this map features Vaucluse’s 850 km of signposted mountain bike trails and two official French Cycling Federation (FFC) areas. You’ll find “La Grande Traversée du Vaucluse”, measuring nearly 500 km, and “Les Grands Tours” ranging from 40 to 120 km – perfect if you want to explore the Petit Luberon, Mont Ventoux or Dentelles de Montmirail in a day. In all, a total of around a hundred routes that promise to get cycling addicts, novices and mountain bike enthusiasts alike saddled up in no time…