What does it actually feel like to discover Provence with a local who loves it?
There are two ways to experience Provence. The first is to follow the well-worn routes, tick off the famous sites and return home with a pleasant holiday and a camera roll full of photographs you have seen a hundred times before. The second is to have someone beside you who knows where the real Provence is hiding - the ceramic cigale on the farmhouse wall that most visitors walk straight past, the centuries-old olive trees with their particular twisted character, the small lake known only to locals where a picnic feels like the best meal you have ever eaten.Claire Paris is that person. She is one of the most passionate, well-prepared and genuinely enjoyable private tour guides working in Provence today, and a day in her company has a way of turning a good holiday into an extraordinary one. She is also in very high demand throughout the season. If you are planning a stay in Provence and want to spend one or more days exploring the region with her, the time to register your interest is now.
"I love little historical and folkloric anecdotes, so for me it is essential to bring Provence to life through the tiniest details invisible to an unfamiliar eye: the traditional shutters folded flat against the walls, the ceramic cigales on the facades of houses, the very particular olive trees of the region. Once you know them, Provence feels more familiar."
From Paris to Provence | how Claire got here
Claire was born outside Paris and grew up between the Parisian region and Lorraine, from a family rooted in Champagne and Burgundy - which, as she puts it, is the perfect blend. She came to Provence in 2010, drawn by new professional horizons and, in her own words, a great desire for blue sky. The decision to become a private guide followed naturally. She had long been passionate about languages and history and had trained formally as a guide before acquiring six years of experience working in leading companies across the French tourism industry, including a period as a concierge at Disneyland Paris and then with Relais and Châteaux. That background in luxury hospitality is visible in everything she does. She understands what an international clientele wants from a stay in France, she anticipates needs before they are expressed and she brings a level of preparation and care to each tour that comes from having worked at the highest end of the industry before going out on her own. She launched her private guiding business in 2013 and has been sharing her love of Provence ever since. She speaks English, French and Italian, accommodates up to six guests in her air-conditioned van and collects each group directly from their accommodation.
What makes a guided day with Claire different
Ask Claire what she enjoys most about guiding and she will tell you it is the small details. The things invisible to an eye not yet familiar with the region. The volets en cabane - the traditional Provençal shutters designed to fold flat against the wall. The ceramic cigales on the facades of old houses. The particular silhouette of the olive trees that grow in this part of the south. These details, once you know them, make Provence feel more familiar, more legible and more yours. That is what Claire sets out to give every group she works with.
Her approach is deliberately relaxed. Guests are on holiday first, she says, and the tour follows from that. She never rushes a site. She ensures that every group has had the time to absorb and enjoy a place fully before moving on, and she is firm on this point in a way that guests consistently appreciate. The pace is unhurried. The tone is warm and light. Nobody leaves feeling that they have been marched through a schedule. She describes the experience she offers in three words: tailor-made, attentive and relaxed. Those three words, once you have spent a day with her, turn out to be precisely accurate. Interested in spending a day exploring Provence with Claire? Register your interest with our concierge team and we will take care of the rest.
The guided tours Claire offers in Provence
The breadth of what Claire offers is one of the things that makes her genuinely useful as a guide rather than simply a pleasant companion. Provence is a large and extraordinarily varied region, and she knows it well enough to design a day around almost any interest or combination of interests. For history, she offers themed tours across Provence's Roman heritage, including Arles and the Pont du Gard, as well as medieval sites and perched villages of the Luberon, the Alpilles and the countryside around Avignon. A full day tracing the life and work of Van Gogh in Arles and Saint-Rémy de Provence is one of her most requested tours and one of the most genuinely immersive experiences available in the region.
For food and produce, a morning at a Provençal market followed by a picnic at a location known only to locals is one of her signature experiences. She helps guests select olives, tapenades, charcuterie, cheese, fruit and bread, then leads them to a spot - perhaps a quiet lake, perhaps under the shade of a fig tree on a working farm - where the whole purchase becomes lunch in surroundings that no restaurant could replicate. It is the kind of morning that stays with people.
For those who want a broader experience, Claire offers full day and half day driving tours across the region covering perched villages, Roman sites, local producers and the Provençal countryside in combinations designed around the group's interests, pace and level of mobility. She also conducts walking tours of Avignon and Arles for those who want to go deep into a single city on foot. What all of these tours have in common is that they are private. Claire works exclusively with private groups and every itinerary is built around the specific needs and interests of the guests she is guiding that day. No strangers are sharing the van, no compromises on pace and no generic commentary designed for an anonymous crowd.
Tours for families & multi-generational groups
One of Claire's particular strengths is her ability to design a day that works for everyone in a group regardless of age or interest. A multi-generational family with grandparents, parents and children presents a genuine challenge for most tour formats. For Claire it is a question of choosing complementary sites that cover the full range of what Provence offers: a Roman monument or medieval castle for the history-minded, a perched village with a café terrace for those who prefer to take things at their own pace, and a visit to a local producer - a goat farm, a nougat maker, an olive mill - that gives even the youngest members of the group something hands-on and genuinely memorable.
She gathers information about dietary requirements, any mobility considerations and specific interests before each tour, and uses that information to ensure the day is designed around the group rather than the other way around. Nothing is left to chance. The result is a day that tends to produce exactly the kind of conversation around the dinner table that a Provence holiday should.
A word on availability
Claire runs a deliberately small operation. She is personally involved in every stage of every tour, from the initial planning conversation to the moment she drops her guests back at their accommodation. She does not delegate and she does not scale. This means that the experience is consistently excellent and consistently personal, and it also means that her calendar fills up well in advance of the summer season.
If you are planning a stay in Provence and want to spend one or more days in her company, the time to register your interest is now. July and August in particular book out months ahead, and the shoulder months of May, June and September are not far behind. Our concierge team works directly with Claire and can advise on availability and the best touring options based on your villa location and the length of your stay.
Register your interest in a guided tour of Provence today. Our Experience service team will confirm availability and arrange all the details on your behalf.
À bientôt
