This leafy, Provençal market town is synonymous with Van Gogh, who found inspiration in its light and landscapes, producing about 150 paintings here, and it is still a favourite with artists. It was also the birthplace of Nostradamus. The once sleepy town has become chic and cosmopolitan, distilling the essence of art de vivre with its café society, restaurants, luxury food stores and interior-design shops. Still far removed from the brash modernity of the Côte d'Azur, many visitors are attracted by the irresistible combination of sophisticated simplicity and top-class restaurants.

CHATEAU DES ALPILLES
(00 33 4 90 92 03 33; www.chateaudesalpilles.com). This elegant hotel has a discerning clientele. Has a swimming pool.£

HOTEL LES ATELIERS DE L'IMAGE
36 boulevard Victor Hugo (00 33 4 90 92 51 50; www.hotelphoto.com). A high-tech, ultra-minimalist and recently revamped hotel. Has a gorgeous pool.£

LA MAISON DU VILLAGE
10 rue du 8 mai 1945 (00 33 4 32 60 68 20; www.lamaisonduvillage.com). This townhouse hotel in central St-Rémy boasts rich, vibrant colours: bright-raspberry, violet, scarlet and aubergine combined with pale-pistachio, rose and cream. The owners, Esther and Stéphane Corcos, bought the house four years ago when it was derelict. Many of the original features remain (wooden beams, tomette tiled flooring), and antique mirrors, chandeliers and day beds have been mixed with contemporary sofas and chairs and quirky finishing touches. The result is a stylish and highly individual boutique hotel. There are five suites: Beige (a duplex off the courtyard garden with its own patio) and, in the main house, Violet, Pink, Raspberry and Ecru. All have a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom with roll-top bath, but each has a different ambience, layout and outlook. The hotel has handwritten, ribbon-tied menus, Côté Bastide bath products, background lounge music and glorious scented candles (the Corcos are the local suppliers for Diptyque), guests have access to the pool at the Hôtel L'Atelier up the road. Breakfast is served in the pretty, gravelled courtyard garden, and the salon de thé serves fresh, Italian lunches. Dinner is available by special arrangement to guests only. ££

CHEZ L'AMI
Hôtel Les Ateliers de L'Image, 36 boulevard Victor Hugo (00 33 4 90 92 78 40). Serves sophisticated Franco-Japanese cuisine. Closed Sunday and Monday.

GRAIN DU SEL
23-25 boulevard Mirabeau (00 33 4 90 92 00 89). Closed Wednesday evening in summer; Tuesday to Thursday evening and Wednesday, Saturday to Sunday lunch in winter.

L'APOSTROPHE
17 place de la République (00 33 4 90 92 02 13). Has a great tagine. Open daily.

BISTROT DES ALPILLES
15 boulevard Mirabeau (00 33 4 90 92 09 17). This popular old-timer has an eclectic, international menu, although the classic house special gigot a la ficelle still features. Open daily.

CHEZ BRU, LE BISTROT D'EYGALIERES
Rue de la République, Eygalières (00 33 4 90 90 60 34). Closed Monday; also Tuesday lunch June to Sept and Sunday evening October to May.

BISTROT DU PARADOU
57 avenue de la Vallée des Baux (00 33 4 90 54 32 70). Closed Sunday and Monday lunch.

ALAIN ASSAUD
13 boulevard Marceau (00 33 4 90 92 37 11). This excellent restaurant has a deceptively rustic pizzeria-style interior. Closed Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday lunch.

MAISON JAUNE
15 rue Carnot (00 33 4 90 92 56 14). This offers a Provençal menu de degustation. Closed Monday and Tuesday lunch in summer; Monday and Sunday evening in winter.

MISTRAL GOURMAND
12 avenue Durand Maillane (00 33 4 90 92 14 65). Another favourite for home-style, simple food. Be warned though, the service is authentically Provençal and very laid-back. Closed Sunday.

OUTSIDE THE CITY

OUSTAU DE BAUMANIERE
(00 33 4 90 54 33 07; www.oustaudebaumaniere.com). The chichi, two-Michelin-starred restaurant at this Relais et Châteaux property is worth a visit - if your credit card can handle the expense.

Tradition is still important here - if you visit in summer you are almost certain to catch some ancient festival or other (celebrating wine, bullfighting, horses or painters); concerts and services are regularly held in the Eglise St-Martin and the Wednesday morning market is a thriving event, as much about socialising as shopping.

THE ST-PAUL-DE-MAUSOLE CLINIC
Since 2003 is the 150th anniversary of Van Gogh's birth, the St-Paul-de-Mausole clinic, where Van Gogh was treated for mental illness, is a good place to start exploring. It is situated in a monastery, one kilometre south of town. St-Paul still treats patients with mental illnesses and a large part of the property is therefore off-limits. Its cloisters now house the Valétudo art- and music-therapy centre, which was created in 1995 and includes a permanent exhibition of paintings by patients, many of them for sale. The quality varies, but the paintings provide a fascinating, if unsettling, insight into mental illness. The upper floor is largely dedicated to Van Gogh: alongside a history of St-Paul-de-Mausole, is a chronology of the artist's life, letters to his beloved Theo, various medical diagnoses and a reconstruction of his quarters.

CENTRE D'ART PRÉSENCE VINCENT VAN GOGH
(8 rue Lucien Estrine) in the centre of town. This is also worth a look; although the permanent Van Gogh collection inside (just reproductions and slides) is perhaps overrated, it is worth it to see the architecture and location. The handsome 18th-century façade is especially picturesque when approached via Passage Blain.

THE HÔTEL DE SADE
(1 rue du Parage). The 15th-century Hotel de Sade houses archaeological findings from the Roman site of Glanum (see Outside the City), and the 16th-century Musée des Alpilles (place Favier), a Provençal heritage museum closed for renovation until January 2004.

VAN GOGH TRAIL
Van Gogh produced about 150 paintings during his year in St-Rémy including many of his most famous works: Irises, Starry Night, Wheatfield with Cypress and Siesta. In honour of his 150th anniversary in 2003, the tourist office has inaugurated a trail around the surrounding countryside which covers the key locations of his work. You can go alone, it is clearly marked with 20 panels, or accompanied by a guide. Either way, make the effort to head up into the Alpilles at some point, the stunning views and plant fragrances are reward enough.

ARTISTS
There are still more than a hundred artists working in St-Rémy and the surrounding area, spanning all media, tastes and subjects. You can peruse body sculptures by Jean-Phillipe Richard at 1 place Joseph Hilaire, classic Provence landscapes by Raymond Gizzi at Atelier Gizzi (6 rue de la Commune) or varnished clay pottery by Sophie Lassagne-Muller at 34 boulevard Mirabeau. Contorted 'sylvistructures' made from the trunks of almond trees by Pierre Leron-Lesur are on view at La Maison de l'Amandier in the 17th-century Hôtel des Lubières (11 boulevard Marceau); and there's a range of contemporary local artists at the gallery A l'Espace des Arts (6 rue Carnot). The Musée Jouenne (20 boulevard Mirabeau) features a permanent collection by Michel Jouenne, whose large painted canvases depict Camargue birds, Norwegian fjords, Middle Eastern street markets and New York cityscapes.

Take the opportunity to visit the ancient town of Glanum, a major archaeological site dating from 6BC with all the usual Roman remains: thermal baths, temples, basilica and forum. Excavations began in 1921 and work is still in progress, archaeologists believe that the total remains represent a surface six or seven times the size of the area already uncovered. Unmissable opposite the entrance to Glanum are the impressive triumphal arch and mausoleum known collectively as Les Antiques; originally they marked the entry to the town on the Via Domitia that ran from Spain to Italy. If you have transport, take a detour to Les Baux-de-Provence, a dramatic fortified hill-top town about 6km south-west of St-Rémy.

The large contingent of outsiders (anybody who isn't at least a few generations Provençal) explains St-Rémy's unfeasibly high concentration of home- decor stores. Larger pieces of furniture are sourced from the antiques mecca of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue about 20 minutes' drive away in the western Lubéron; smaller items and finishing touches from St-Rémy including classic Provençal bedspreads, Camargue chairs, table linen and lamps. But like all the best places, St-Rémy doesn't reveal itself easily.
Some of the best shops are tucked away, including Ebène, at the end of a courtyard off boulevard Victor Hugo (number 38), Villa Medicis and Du Côté de chez Jade both off boulevard Mirabeau (numbers 30 and 14a), and NM Deco (9 rue Hoche). For contemporary, colourful items, go to Penates (7 rue de la Commune).

To experience the light that inspired Van Gogh, go when it's sunny, but avoid August, when France goes south for the holidays. The best month is September.

AIRPORT
The nearest international airport is at Marseilles, 85km away.

AIRLINES FROM THE UK
Ryanair (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair.com) flies daily from London Stansted to Nîmes (40km away). British Airways (0845 773 3377; ww.ba.com) flies up to four times daily from Gatwick to Marseille (85km away).
Eurostar (08705 186186; www.eurostar.co.uk) also runs an indirect service to Avignon via Lille.

For more information on museums and the Van Gogh and Nostradamus trails, contact the St-Rémy tourist office, place Jean Jaurès (00 33 4 90 92 05 22) or visit www.saintremy-de-provence.com.