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Visit the village and discover the hotels and restaurants of Valbonne  which sit in the centre of a vast residential area spread through the surrounding woods.  This area outside the village includes luxury villas, housing estates for the nearby Sophia Antipolis high-tech business park and homes of the old-time generations of Valbonnais.

The old village, which has a large English population, has retained much of its 16th-century character and has a lively atmosphere all year round.  Unlike the twisty little streets in many other of the medieval villages nearby, Valbonne village is laid out in logical, symmetrical rectangles planned by the Abbot of Lerins, similar to the layout of Roman cities.

In the centre of the village is the delightful 16th-century Place des Arcades.  This central square is surrounded on all four sides by picturesque arcades, café terraces and little shops. The arcade at the “Hotel Les Armoiries” is engraved with a stone as “1628”.

Dispersed through the little streets are more shops and several well known restaurants here and there.

At the bottom of the village, across the street below the rectangle of the centre, is the 12th-century Eglise Saint Blaise, the attached Chalaisien Abbey (or “Ancien Couvent Chalaisien”), the Moulin des Moines (now a restaurant), and a very ancient-looking carved-stone monument. The Couvent Abbey has now been being restored to its former glory.

Beside the village to the west, across the street, is a new but small shopping complex and a parking lot. Just off the steps is the fashionable Café Latin restaurant, a newspaper shop, a superb butcher, the best fruiterers we have ever seen in the South of France and the post office is situated the far end of the parking lot.