If you go to Provence, you need to prepare to feast. The world doesn’t know this region for its food without good reason, after all.

When we visited Aix-en-Provence the first time, we used the city as a base for touring amazing restaurants around this corner of the region. Though we had a few forays into Provence’s bakeries and patisseries, we used our second trip to dive a little further into the sweet—literally, not just figuratively—side of Aix-en-Provence.

A tough job, but someone had to do it.

Along the way, we kept a list of the bakeries and patisseries we tried and refined the selection to a few of our absolute favorites.

Our Favorite Bakeries in Aix-en-Provence

As we dined primarily at our rented apartment during this work-from-wherever week in Aix-en-Provence, we did a lot of exploring when it came to finding great bread to go with the food we’d whipped together.

We tried at least a dozen bakeries to settle on two favorites, each of which we preferred for different reasons:

• Hands down, we consider Farinoman Fou the favorite of our favorite bakeries in Aix-en-Provence (and of most places we’ve visited on our travels, frankly). Go here for artisan-made, creative breads made fresh and before your eyes in the rustic ovens directly behind the counter. You can’t go wrong with anything you order. Of the many we’ve tried so far, my favorites are the D’Isère et d’Ardèche (a magnificent fruit, nut, and grain combination) and Le Batard du Cousin (crunchy seeds over a delicious whole-grain interior). And we have so many more loaves to try on our next visit!

• Hat’s Boulangerie had the best traditional baguette that we found in Aix-en-Provence—and a daily baguette to go with each meal is a necessity in France (especially with a French husband). However, a note to my non-French readers: I had a discouraging run-in with one of the people working at Hat’s, who felt it necessary to criticize my French and my accent to the entire line of people waiting (including me, who stood there, mortified). I almost eliminated Hat’s from my list for this reason. However, the bakery really did have the best baguette we found. Just beware, I guess, if you visit.

We’ll undoubtedly try more bakeries in Aix-en-Provence, and I’ll update this list as we go.

Our Favorite Patisseries in Aix-en-Provence

With food cobbled together in make-do fashion at the rental apartment, we needed to at least find proper dessert to round out our repasts and feel like, indeed, we’d made it to Provence.

Right?

We explored what had to be at least two dozen patisseries to sleuth out the goodies.

Though we found a lot of deliciousness, we couldn’t get enough of the treats found at these two Aix-en-Provence patisseries:

• Unlike most of the macarons we’ve found throughout our travels, the bakers at Macarons de Caroline make their macarons fresh every single day. You’ll find all the traditional, classic macaron flavors along with innovative, seasonal offerings like litchi and rose and pear with tonka beans. Though you must always eat a few of the classic flavors when it comes to traditional desserts, do not stop there: The flavors of the moment deserve a try (and not a single one disappointed us). Further, the staff at the bakery in Aix-en-Provence had the warmth and welcome expected from an establishment in the south of France.

• I adore chou, especially when filled with cream and topped with caramelized sugar. (At our wedding, I preferred the French traditional croquembouche to the American-style layer cake—and by a distance!) No surprise, then, that I had to try a bakery called Monsieur Chou. Even with high expectations, Monsieur Chou surprised me. Though we tried only the sweet chou in a variety of flavors, you can also try savory chou in the form of sandwiches and hamburgers as well, if you’d like. Of the sweet flavors we tried, the Trianon, raspberry, yuzu, and lemon-meringue flavors really delighted me—though I didn’t dislike any of the ones we had!

Stay tuned for more favorites—I’ll update this post after our next visit to Aix-en-Provence.

Taste Testing Bread and Pastry

I’ve realized that when it comes to a visit to Provence, you need to expect to indulge on all sensory fronts—from the sites to the weather to the food, including the bread and the desserts.

And when it comes to the bread and the desserts, I can promise that we’ll continue to taste test for you—and I’ll update our lists with the latest favorites.

Taste testing bread and pastry—what a hardship.