Avignon is a walled city you can cross on foot in twenty minutes, which makes it unusually forgiving for solo travel. This route stays on lit, busy streets inside the ramparts, favours counter seats over tables, and adds one easy river crossing alone.
Avignon's covered market sits behind a 600m² living green wall planted by botanist Patrick Blanc. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 6am–1.30pm. Eat at the counter stools of the oyster bar or the traiteur, where solo diners are the norm.
The old dyers' street follows the Sorgue canal under plane trees, with four surviving waterwheels still turning. Bohemian, café-lined and calm at midday — take a shaded terrace table and nobody blinks at a cover for one.
Yvon Lambert's contemporary collection fills two 18th-century mansions on rue Violette: Basquiat, Cy Twombly, Anselm Kiefer and Sol LeWitt across 20 rooms. Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am–6pm, daily in July, with a courtyard garden café.
A square of plane trees and student terraces wrapped around the 14th-century Célestins church, five minutes inside the ramparts. Apéro hour fills every chair by 6.30pm and the single stools at the bar counters turn over quickly.
This townhouse museum holds the only Van Gogh painting still in Provence, 'Wagons de chemin de fer' from 1888, alongside Degas, Modigliani and Picasso in eight domestic-scale rooms. Wednesday to Sunday, 1pm–6pm.
A bistro on the small square facing the flamboyant Gothic carved doors of Saint-Pierre church, one of the quietest corners inside the walls. Provençal plates, a two-course lunch formula, and terrace tables that seat one without fuss.
Europe's largest river island lies 400m across the Rhône and the free Navette Fluviale ferry runs from Porte de l'Oulle every 15–20 minutes. Flat orchard lanes, riverside picnickers, and the postcard view back at the ramparts.
A self-service wine bar: buy a prepaid card, then pour your own 2cl, 6cl or 12cl measures from dispensers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Tavel and Vacqueyras. Everyone stands, card in hand, comparing what they just poured.
Cross the Rhône to the 14th-century royal fortress on Mont Andaon: twin drum towers, a walkable rampart circuit, and the entire Avignon skyline laid out below. Bus 5 from the Avignon post office takes about 15 minutes.
France's largest Carthusian monastery, with 24 monks' cells, three cloisters and the tomb of Pope Innocent VI. The café in the Tinel courtyard serves a light lunch and the cloister benches are built for an unhurried hour alone.
An 18th-century hôtel particulier on rue Joseph Vernet holding Avignon's fine-art collection: Joseph Vernet, Géricault, Utrillo and Soutine, plus an Egyptian room. Open Wednesday to Monday, 10am–1pm and 2pm–6pm.
An arthouse cinema in the old papal supply building, screening everything in original language with French subtitles across four small rooms. Its vaulted café-bar next door is the dependable place to close a solo day with a book.