Les Baux-de-Provence

Atop a rocky spur in the Alpilles mountains of southern France, Les Baux-de-Provence is a tiny medieval village built around a ruined castle overlooking the plains. The Provençal word bauç, meaning rocky spur, gave the village its name — and in 1821, when geologist Pierre Berthier first identified aluminium ore here, the village lent that name to bauxite. A member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, the village draws well over a million visitors a year despite having only a handful of permanent residents, with cafés and restaurants concentrated in the upper village and wine country spreading across the surrounding Alpilles.

• Population264
• Nearest water from center 0.9 km0.5 mi
• Nearest mountain from center 2.8 km1.7 mi