Avignon · Self-guided audio walk

Rue des Teinturiers and the Dyers' Quarter

A short walk through the southern quarter along the Sorgue.

5Stops
1.9 kmDistance
30+ minTime

Photo by Herbert Frank from Wien (Vienna), AT on Wikimedia Commons

This is the walk to take when you want Avignon without the crowds. You start at the Gothic Église Saint-Didier, where King René's 1478 commission by Francesco Laurana still stands in a side chapel, then cut across the quiet southern quarter to the Sorgue canal.

Along the Rue des Teinturiers, four restored water wheels still turn among the plane trees, what remains of the twenty-three that powered the dyers' mills in 1817. The route ends at the Porte Saint-Michel in the 14th-century ramparts. The whole thing stays south of the Rue de la République and takes well under half an hour.

Hear it on the street

Get the turn-by-turn audio guide in the app. The narration plays itself as you reach each stop, hands-free and offline.

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Stop by stop

The route

Interactive map of the route. The full stop list below works without it.

Must see

Photo by Txllxt TxllxT on Wikimedia Commons

Église Saint-Didier

0:00

A Gothic church sheltering Francesco Laurana's marble Portement de Croix, ordered by King René in 1478.

You're at the Église Saint-Didier, a Gothic church on its own small square. Go inside and look for the fifth chapel on the south side. That's where the Portement de Croix hangs, a marble relief by Francesco Laurana. King René ordered it in 1478 for the high altar of the Celestins convent, and the work went up in 1481.

The center panel shows Christ carrying the cross while the Virgin faints, with a walled city behind them, and parts of the marble are still painted. During the Revolution the altarpiece was dismantled and sold, and the pieces were later gathered up and reassembled in this chapel. Look at the base of the slab and you can still see the traces of the saw cuts made to move it.

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≈5 min walk to the next stop

Local pick

Photo by Henk Monster on Wikimedia Commons

Collection Lambert

0:00

Contemporary art in two 18th-century mansions on the rue Violette.

The Collection Lambert fills two 18th-century mansions on the rue Violette, the Hôtel de Caumont and the Hôtel de Montfaucon, connected around a courtyard. The museum shows contemporary art across both houses, with temporary shows that change through the year. If you go in, a full ticket costs 12 euros, a reduced ticket 8, and a youth ticket for ages 12 to 25 costs 5. From September through June it opens Wednesday to Friday from 2 to 6, and Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 6. In July it opens every day from 11 to 6; in August, Tuesday through Sunday from 11 to 6. The museum closes on January 1, May 1, and December 25.

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≈11 min walk to the next stop

Must see

Photo by Reinhardhauke on Wikimedia Commons

Chapelle des Pénitents Gris

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The chapel of the city's oldest brotherhood, founded in 1226, still used for services.

You've reached the Chapelle des Pénitents Gris, tucked along the Sorgue at the top of the Rue des Teinturiers. This is the home of the city's oldest brotherhood, the Dévote et Royale Compagnie des Pénitents Gris, which traces its origin to 1226. That year, after the city surrendered, King Louis VIII walked in a penitent's sackcloth in a procession to affirm the Catholic faith, and a confraternity formed around that devotion. The gray brothers take their name from their gray robes.

Their chapel is a quiet, irregular space built up over centuries: a vestibule from 1631, a hexagonal room from the late 16th century, and a main nave rebuilt between 1816 and 1818. Services are still held here, and entry is free. If the door is open, step inside and look up at the host set in a glory of golden rays above the altar.

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≈1 min walk to the next stop

Free preview ends here · stops 4 to 5 continue in the app

Rue des Teinturiers

Six hundred meters of cobbles and plane trees along the Sorgue, where four of the dyers' old water wheels still turn.

in app

Porte Saint-Michel

A 14th-century gate in the ramparts, restored in the 1860s and again after the war.

in app

Good to know

Before you go

What is the Rue des Teinturiers?

It is a cobbled street along the Sorgue canal where the dyers' mills once ran. Four restored water wheels still turn among the plane trees.

Is the Collection Lambert worth a stop?

Collection Lambert shows contemporary art in two 18th-century mansions on the rue Violette. Because its temporary exhibitions can change the entry price, check its own site before you go.

Does this walk stay away from the crowds?

Mostly. It keeps south of the Rue de la République and follows the quieter streets of the old town, ending at the Porte Saint-Michel in the ramparts.

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Keep exploring

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The local mix

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Provenance · last verified August 22, 2026

Built from the Wayside route itself: the stops, their order, and the walk between them.

Photo by Herbert Frank from Wien (Vienna), AT on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Photo by Txllxt TxllxT on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by Henk Monster on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

Photo by Reinhardhauke on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo by Txllxt TxllxT on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0