The Alpilles are located in Provence in the department of Les Bouches-du-Rhone.
It is a small mountain range that stretches on about 40 kilometers long, from the Durance at Cavaillon to the Rhone at Tarascon.
Since January 2007, the Alpilles has been classified Regional Park, 5th in the region and 45th in France.
The Regional Natural Park of the Alpilles is a preserved natural site, a haven of peace, punctuated by its traditions, its unique Provencal culture, and its seasons.
The Natural Park of the Alpilles has a deeply rooted Provencal identity, concealing landscapes and places of exception, drawn by its olive groves, its vineyards and its rocks.
The Alpilles are primarily a rural area. The wealth of the massif rests on an exceptional nature, with landscapes shaped by man, benefitting from the first Directive Landscape of France since January 2007.
The park is classified "NATURA 2000", a European network to safeguard biodiversity.
More than a hundred rare or protected species, many of which benefit from an international protection status (such as the eagle of Bonelli, or the Big Duke Owl), several endemic species of Provence : Ophrys splendida, Scrophularia lucida, Galium trimeroyi, Mercurialis huetti, Campanula macrorhiza.
This area also benefits from an exceptional location in the heart of a tourist area of high attractiveness. It is surrounded by the Park of the Camargue and the Luberon.
The Natural Park of the Alpilles has two main sources of economic activity: agriculture (19%) and market services including tourism (40%).
The territory has approximately 2,000 farms spread over the territory of 16 towns, more than half of the farms have less than 5 hectares. The agriculture of the cities of the Alpilles is divided into 2 groups: agriculture of massif, where vineyards, olive trees and hay thrive, and lowland agriculture, with the production of vegetable crops.
The Alpilles have 201 archeological sites, 67 classified monuments, 58 inscribed on the inventory of historial monuments with notably : the aqueducts of the Alpilles, the Plateau des Antiques, the milling of Barbegal and buried heritage of the valley of Les Baux.
Witness of a provencal, rural (wash houses, fountains, windmills ...) and Christian culture (chapels, oratories, shrines...), very entrenched, retracing the life of the villages and their surroundings.
Highlighted through the villages, brought together in over 20 museums spread accross the territory :
Art and litterature : many writers and artists were born on this territory, such as Charloun Rieu, Marie Mauron, Maurice Pezet or Jean-Calendal Vianès, Frédéric Mistral or Alphonse Daudet.
Artists who immortalized the landscapes, like Yves Brayer, Auguste Chabaud, Léo Lelée, and the most famous one, Vincent Van Gogh.
The traditional festivals punctuate the live of the villages of the Alpilles throughout the year: celebrating the seasons and crops (harvest, olivades, grape harvest, Saint-Jean fireworks, transhumance festivals (parties ?), carretto ramado, pegoulado, town festivals).
The wine road where many wineries classified organic or AOC are to be discovered ; the discovery of the fruit of the region : the olive. Family or gourmet (fine dining?) restaurants offering regional dishes with thyme, rosemary or melon flavors...
Sites offering a series of unique landscapes.
Three remarkable gardens and an educational farm.
The Alpilles also have some thirty specialized craftsmen, notably in the production of clay figurines, textile work, earth work, stone work, wood or metal work.
The massif is characterized by an important number of outdoor activities.
The Alpilles are par excellence the land of hikers. The area is meshed by many hiking trails identified within the County Plan of Walks and Hiking (PDIPR for Plan Départemental des Itinéraires de Promenade et de Randonnée). The Regional Natural Park is crossed by the GR6..
The territory has 9 equestrian centers, much greater offer than that observed in the department.
Climbing is also part of the activities. The wall of Jan Jan, which is known worldwide, is widely practiced in the same way as hunting.
Two golf courses are located in the territory, an airfield, and six venues including one listed Class 1, that is to say sufficiently equipped to receive a permanent programming.
