800km (497 miles) S of Paris; 51km (32 miles) SE of Aix-en-Provence; 30km (18 miles) E of Marseille

Cassis is unarguably the prettiest coastal town in Provence. The settlement dates from Ancient Greek times—that’s as far back as both Marseille and Nice—but its fame rose in the early 20th century, when famous personalities like Virginia Woolf and Sir Winston Churchill guzzled its crisp white wines. The resort recently found a new outdoor-oriented audience as the capital of France’s first mainland National Park since 1979.