For Sunday Times Travel Magazine’s 2017 Total Guide to France, I wrote several pieces, among them this road trip along the Vermilion Coast from Collioure to Banyuls-sur-Mer and back.
Collioure road trip
A jazz band is blocking the street in Collioure. The four hipster dudes with pork pie hats strum, bang and bop to the beat while the Sunday morning market throngs with locals and tourists. No car is getting through here this morning, so my husband and I stand in the middle of the road too, perusing the market stalls from afar while tap our feet to the sound of gypsy jazz. With the plane trees towering above, colourful buildings surrounding us and galleries galore, this could almost be Saint-Tropez, but Collioure is way cooler.
Infused with a good dose of Catalan culture, it’s a colourful place, where artists have found inspiration for centuries. The Fauvist movement blossomed here in 1900 thanks to Henri Matisse and André Dérain. In the restaurant Les Templiers (hotel-templiers.com, 00 33 4 68 98 31 10) the walls of the atmospheric bar are crammed with paintings, swapped by the artists for food. Our own artistic skills are lacking, so we swap euros instead for piquant paella and Catalan lamb before strolling down to the quayside. Collioure’s waterfront is an artist’s dream – a pink-stone church tower and a jumble of colourful fishing boats, their sails stowed against their masts. Its shingly beach, however, isn’t the best for beach-lovers, so we wander back up through the town to retrieve our car and explore the coast from Collioure to Banyuls-sur-Mer. The sinuous road that cuts along this coast swerves around steep terraced vineyards, their neat green vines running down the hilllsides stopping just short of the sea. We stop at a small cabin selling local wines at one of the look-out points and, as we sip the friendly vendor’s wares in small plastic cups, we admire the dramatic coastline as it loops down to Spain. The red earth earns this coastline its name: the Côte Vermeille and, while Languedoc’s coastline further north comprises wide open beaches with golden sand and grockles galore, this stretch hides its stony shores between steep coastal vineyards, rocky coves and colourful towns.
At Banyuls, we stroll along the harbour admiring more colourful fishing boats as they bob in the water. Further along, behind the beach, the terrace of Le Pressoir (4 Place Paul Reig, 00 33 4 68 88 19 30 mains from €15.90) tempts us to Oranginas which we sip while looking out to sea.
Doubling back, the late afternoon sun beckons us to the water and at Paulilles, we wander through a curious visitor complex in an old dynamite factory (ledepartement66.fr/60-le-site-de-paulilles.htm, 04 68 95 23 40, . A museum tells its history, fatal explosions and all, and there’s a workshop building the traditional barque boats, along with a pretty garden and fig orchard. The jewel among the jumble of attractions, however, is the beach; a half-moon of silver shingle curls around an idyllic bay. We wander down the shore for a paddle and have the place to ourselves.
Our dinner date isn’t far. The Clos de Paulilles winery is one of the best in the area, and its restaurant La Table d’Aimé (cazes-rivesaltes.com, 00 33 4 68 34 35 77, menus from €28) something of a local favourite. Surrounded by vines, and under fragrant pine trees, I tuck into freshly caught fish accompanied by the house’s best wines while my designated driver looks on enviously. Banyuls’ speciality is a sweet dessert wine, so we buy one for later. Once back on our balcony at Le Relais des Trois Mas (relaisdestroismas.com, 00 33 4 68 82 05 07, doubles from €100, room only) we pop the cork and sip it from tumblers while overlooking the twinkling lights of Collioure.
Main picture: Maxim Yamkovoy, Pixbay