If you’ve ever watched Antiques Road Trip and fancied pootling through France looking for vintage bargains that you would never find here in the UK but wondered where exactly you should go then read on. France has many wonderful flea markets and antique stores but this pretty little place is a is whole a flea market town!
If you’re an antiques fan, then I promise you, this place is really going to float your boat! So if your idea of heaven is rummaging through stands overflowing with French antiques or bric-a-brac then you are really going to want to visit this town.
Lining the edge of a beautiful river in Provence, the men and women who make antiques their livelihoods arrive early, unpacking their vans and trucks even before the sun rises.
Rusted vintage cookie tins, straw chairs your great-grandmother may have sat on, an Art Deco mantle clock with bookends… even a chandelier, it is all here for you to discover.
This is after all the antique capital of France. Welcome to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue!
One visitor on thegoodlifefrance.com wrote: “I had heard that Isle-sur-la-Sorgue has lots of antique shops and flea markets. I’d seen some lovely photos of the town. But nothing prepared me for the sight when I walked a few yards along the road from the hotel and turned into Avenue des Quatre Otages. Filling the pavement and spilling into the road were stalls piled with things I wanted to take home. From furniture to paintings, ornaments, knick knacks, china, textiles, rockets (yes I saw a rocket), clothes, statues, garden furniture and this and that.
“Every alley, every side road, every entrance seems to lead to another antiques warehouse or shop or a whole cluster of shops in antiques villages. Shady squares and ancient buildings – full of stuff! It’s like the Antiques Road Show come to life right in front you times a hundred – or rather times 300 as that’s the number of permanent dealers here.”
And as if that’s not enough, every Sunday there’s an outdoor antiques market. If your idea of heaven is rummaging through stands overflowing with French antiques or bric-a-brac, you’ll want to visit L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue market on a Sunday.
L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is one of Europe’s leading hubs for antiques, and the town is crammed with antique shops, and twice a year, there are international antiques shows at Easter and in August. Around 200 more sellers arrive.
There are good reasons why Isle sur la Sorgue has become such a magnet for the antique trade. It’s location is ideal, near major trading cities like Avignon and Marseille, and the setting is stunning, attractive to visitors keen on antiques or not.
Tracing the town’s love story with antiquing goes back to the 1960s. Word spread, and soon there were 300 antique shops serving an ever-hungrier public. Add to this a number of second-hand shops, antique markets and annual fairs and you’ve developed a major antique hub.
Adding to the town’s unique atmosphere are the cobblestoned streets, the eclectic boutiques crammed with vintage clothes, and the buzz of a Provençal market town. Talk about retail therapy!
The town was just once a quiet fishing village but the antique trade has left its mark and fueled other businesses. The tourism generated by the trade gives a welcome boost to restaurants, hotels and art galleries.
The International Antiques and Brocante fair in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue will be held from Thursday August 14 to Sunday August 17 2025 It will be open from 9 am to 8 pm each day.
The 30th series of Antiques Road Trip is currently airing on weekday afternoons and production has already started on series 31, which will air later this year.
How to get to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue: By train from Paris via Avignon. In summer months the Eurostar runs direct from London to Avignon. The train from Avignon to Isle-sur-la-sorgue costs a few Euros and takes 25 minutes.
By air: Avignon Airport or Marseille-Marignane International Airport then take the train.
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