Restaurant L'Essentiel

Top choice in Avignon


In the top tier of Avignon's restaurants for many a year, this elegant restaurant remains (as its name suggests) as essential as ever. First there's the setting: a lovely, honey-stoned hôtel particulier (mansion) with a sweet courtyard garden. Then there's the food: rich, sophisticated French dining of the first order, replete with the requisite foams, veloutés and reductions.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Avignon attractions

1. Église de St-Agricol

0.01 MILES

The relics of the patron saint of Avignon, St Agricol, are kept in this 14th-century church.

2. Musée Calvet

0.12 MILES

The elegant Hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan (built 1741–54) provides a fitting backdrop for Avignon's fine-arts museum, with 16th- to 20th-century oil…

3. Porte de I'Oulle

0.13 MILES

Porte de l'Oulle is one of the entryways to Avignon's walled city, located on the northwestern edge of the walls, near the River Rhône and Pont d'Avignon.

4. Palais des Papes

0.18 MILES

The largest Gothic palace ever built, the Palais des Papes was erected by Pope Clement V, who abandoned Rome in 1309 in the wake of violent disorder after…

5. Basilique St-Pierre

0.19 MILES

Basilique St-Pierre, in the centre of the walled city of Avignon, was built between the 14th and 16th centuries in the Flamboyant Gothic style.

6. Place du Palais

0.21 MILES

This impressive vast square surrounding the Palais des Papes provides knockout photo ops. On top of the Romanesque 17th-century cathedral stands a golden…

7. Porte St-Dominique

0.24 MILES

Porte St-Dominque is one of the entryways to Avignon's Unesco-registered walled city, located on the western edge of the walls, near the River Rhône.

8. Musée Lapidaire

0.24 MILES

Housed inside the town's striking Jesuit Chapel is the archaeological collection of the Musée Calvet, newly displayed since 2015. There's a good display…