Senanque Abbey

Senanque Abbey tickets: which one to buy

The abbey can be visited only on a guided tour, booked online in advance for a fixed slot; walk-up tickets are limited and often gone by mid-morning in summer. The tour lasts about an hour, is given in French with printed translations, and covers the church, the cloister, the chapter house, the dormitory and the calefactory. The shop sells the monks' own lavender products and honey. Senanque is four kilometres from Gordes down a steep single-track road with almost no parking, and the drive is the difficulty;

in July the queue of cars is notorious. Guided hikes from Gordes cost a moderate amount and solve the problem pleasantly in about ninety minutes each way. Cycling down is easy and the climb back is not. The monks sell their lavender essential oil and honey in the shop, and the proceeds pay for the abbey's upkeep rather than going to a concession. Photography is not permitted inside the abbey on the tour, which is stated at the door and applied consistently.

Visiting Senanque Abbey: what to see

Cistercians from the Ardeche founded Senanque in 1148 and built to the order's rule: no sculpture, no coloured glass, no tower, nothing to distract from prayer. The church was consecrated in 1178 and the cloister, chapter house and dormitory followed, all in pale local stone with the plainest possible capitals, and the result is one of the three great Provencal Cistercian abbeys with Silvacane and Le Thoronet. The calefactory, with its single fireplace, was the only heated room and served as the scriptorium.

A small community of monks still lives here, farms lavender and keeps bees, which is why the field in front of the church is planted with the rows that appear on half the postcards of Provence. The abbey is austere and working rather than picturesque, whatever the photographs suggest. The dormitory above the chapter house is a single barrel-vaulted room where the monks slept on straw in their habits, and its acoustics are used for occasional concerts.

Senanque Abbey opening hours and the best time to go

Tours run through the year with fewer departures in winter and none on some Sundays and feast days; the abbey closes entirely for parts of January. The lavender flowers from late June to mid-July and that fortnight brings the crowds, the traffic jams and the photographers before dawn; the rest of the year the road is quiet. Provence is very hot in August and the stone interior stays cool.

Silence is asked for throughout, and the monks ask visitors not to photograph them. Dress modestly. Allow ninety minutes with the drive. Gordes above, one of the most photographed villages in France, is where most visitors stay and eat. The Senanque valley has no phone signal to speak of, which surprises visitors who plan to book anything on arrival.