VINGT Featured in the Guardian's 'Been There' Travel Section: Aix-en-Provence, the Best Croissants in France

“Sous Les Tilleuls” offers a beautifully located base. The large suite available to rent on the 1st floor has a magnificent view on the colourful houses opposite and a gorgeous garden, featuring the famous lime trees of the name.

Owner Marie-Christine Ducros prepares a perfectly laid breakfast table with plentiful patisserie and pretty local tableware as well as supplying tips of what to do in the city.

She is a proud hostess (chambres d'hôtes are the rough equivalent of a British B&B - with a French flair of course) - her home and garden are comfortable and scrupulously clean. The 1st floor apartment could sleep 2 couples or a medium sized family. A relaxing salon-cum-bedroom space doubles as a playroom or TV room for evenings leaving the tranquil master bedroom overlooking a Provençal garden. The rooms are connected by a huge bathroom with a great jacuzzi bubble bath, tons of space and plentiful towel action.

The only thing I could remember about Aix was the amazing pain aux raisins I had eaten on a 2 hour stop-over years before and I was determined to retrace my steps and find that boulangerie again. After a few hours of circling, anxiety building, I finally found C. Poulain, Boulangerie, Patisserie, Confiserie at 42 rue Espariat. Thankfully historic bakeries generally don’t get transformed into Starbucks at the drop of a hat here. They confirmed, their pain aux raisin hybrid, a “pain aux raisins feuilletté” was what I was looking for…..just the right amount of the custardy stuff, packed with raisins and a light and flaky pastry. The un-healthiest but best breakfast snack in France.

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Comments

[badaude]

You're so right! I also found the best croissants in Aix. Mine were at the cafe L'astoria just off Place Verdun (see http://badaude.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/06/aix-on-saturday.html). There's obviously something going down this city, patisserie-wise...