The famed vineyards of Provence on the southern coast of France are in a beautiful region. Spring and summer are excellent times to visit, because everything is in glorious, colorful, sweet-smelling blossom.

The Champagne air is enough all by itself to cause joyful giddiness. Consider staying in a comfy b&b in the area. Where else but in Champagne would you get wine with your morning jambon et oeufs (ham and eggs)? Plan a tour of Provence, and you’ll see the people and landscapes captured by artist Vincent Van Gogh and his drinking buddy roomie, Paul Gauguin. Other masters also left the dusty, dingy avenues of Paris to paint in the sunny fields and towns, including Chagall, Matisse, Renoir and Picasso.

See similar scenes of farm crews at work, wheat fields, brilliant sunflowers, and people on the streets of Aix-en-Provence and Avignon. Look for the famous yellow house in Arles where Van Gogh and Gauguin partied, fought and painted.

Of course, your itinerary should include the beaches of Nice and Cannes, where all the beautiful people attend the historic annual film festival each May. In the harbors, look for yachts once owned by Grace Kelly, Aristotle Onasis, Errol Flynn, shady investors, arms dealers and oil billionaires.