Saint-Saturnin-les-Apt

Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt is a village of about 2,500 on the north side of the Luberon, 9 km north of Apt, at the foot of the Vaucluse plateau.

It is the ordinary-life alternative to the famous villages a few kilometres south: the same ochre stone and the same views, a working population, and a fraction of the visitors.

The castle and the dam

Above the village stand the ruins of the castle and the eleventh-century chapelle du Saint-Sépulcre, reached by a walled path of ten minutes. From the top you see the Luberon ridge to the south and the plateau behind.

Just below is something rarer: a dam of 1765, one of the oldest arch dams in France, built to hold the water of the Riaille above the village. It still stands, and the small reservoir behind it is part of the walk.

The village

• The old gates — the Porte Ayguier of the fifteenth century among them
• Église Saint-Étienne — with a Romanesque core
• Moulin à vent — a restored windmill on the ridge, one of the last on this side of the Luberon
• The fountains and washhouses in the lanes below

The Tuesday market is small and local. There is a bakery, a butcher and two cafés — which sounds like nothing until you have spent a week in villages where all four have become galleries.

The countryside

Saint-Saturnin sits on the ochre belt: the Roussillon workings are 10 km west and the Colorado Provençal 12 km east, and the earth in between is the same red.

Above the village the Plateau de Vaucluse begins — dry limestone, lavender and cherry orchards, with dry-stone bories in the fields and walking routes across it towards Sault and the Ventoux.

Getting there

• By car — the D943 north from Apt, 10 minutes; Avignon an hour, Aix an hour. See parking in France.
• Parking — free at the edge of the village.
• By bus — services from Apt, few and slow.

Around

• Apt — 9 km, with the biggest Saturday market in the Luberon
• Roussillon and Gordes — 15 and 20 minutes
• Colorado Provençal — 20 minutes
• Sault — 45 minutes over the plateau, for the lavender in July
• Bonnieux — 25 minutes, on the far side of the valley

When to go

April to October. Cherry blossom in April on the plateau; lavender from late June; the ochre is at its strongest in low light. This is a good base for the Luberon precisely because it is not one of the villages everyone stays in — rooms are cheaper and you can park.

See the Luberon and Provence.

Photo credits

Some photographs on this page come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences:

• The church and the castle path — Calips, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

Other places on this site within easy reach, as the crow flies:

• Sault — 15 km
• Lacoste — 15 km
• Senanque Abbey — 16 km
• Ménerbes — 19 km
• Lourmarin — 19 km
• Cucuron — 20 km

Weather in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt

Updated: 21 October 2026