Enter the smallest village in France, with incredible medieval charm!
Far from mass tourism, the villages of France seduce with their old-world charm, their gentle mobility, their historical, cultural, natural or gastronomic heritage. These preserved places, where we can finally breathe, have attracted more and more tourists since the Covid health crisis. If the most “beautiful villages in France” are widely coveted, there are villages which attract the attention of vacationers for other reasons. We never stop breaking records! There is a village in France which does not even fill the surface of the famous Place Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris, where the Arc de Triomphe stands…
In this smallest village in France, there is no school, no grocery store, no cemetery. Its 53 inhabitants only move around on foot; no cars can travel there. It must be said that the narrowness of the village does not allow this. In fact, this municipality has an area of only 3.54 hectares, with a perimeter that only reaches 970 meters. It is a tiny village located about sixty kilometers southeast of Bordeaux, in the natural region of Entre-deux-Mers.
The village of Castelmoron d’Albret is a medieval jewel of the Gironde, perched on a rocky spur, whose fifty houses with hanging balconies, where stones and vegetation mingle, dominate the Ségur valley. In this village in France, everything is tiny and charming: from the flowery and winding streets to the squares and staircases, including the houses, the smallest of which is only 2 meters wide.
Classified as a Historic Monument since 1973, the Castelmoron d’Albret site takes us to the heart of the Middle Ages, with its monumental defensive facade, its superb wrought iron entrance door, its tower of an ancient castle, these stone buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, its Sainte-Catherine-et-Notre-Dame church, its former ducal palaces, forge and grain market. Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre and mother of Henri IV, even took up residence there. The site has also had its hour of glory today, since it served as the setting for the TV film La Bicyclette bleue with Laetitia Casta.
Are you tempted to visit the smallest village in France? Since 2000, Castelmoron-d’Albret has hosted Christmas nativity scenes from the four corners of the world, a biennial event which takes place during the second half of December and arouses the curiosity of several thousand visitors, also enchanted by its pottery shop, art gallery and small tea room. The Christmas period is therefore the ideal time to take a (little) trip there!