Collioure, in the Pyrénées-Orientales region, was voted "The French People's Favorite Village" in 2024 during the France 3 program hosted by Stéphane Bern.
For the 2025 edition, which will take place on July 2 at 9:00 p.m. on France 3, Stéphane Bern will announce the "French People's Favorite Village 2025," chosen by viewers from among the 14 contenders, 14 incredible villages rich in history and culture.
Nestled between the sea and the mountains in the far south of the Pyrénées-Orientales, a jewel of the Vermeille Coast, Collioure was voted the French People's Favorite Village 2024. Bathed in light, it inspired Fauvist painters such as Derain and Matisse, as the colors of the facades echo those of Catalan boats.
Bathed in the special light that gives it its unique charm, the small fishing port of Collioure, voted "Favorite Village of the French" in 2024, has successfully spread its heritage far beyond our borders.
This incomparable bay, nestled at the foot of the Pyrenees, where a rocky coastline begins, has always attracted visitors from the sea since the Phoenicians. So much so that the village has thoughtfully preserved its lighthouse, transformed into an iconic bell tower, serving as a rallying flag for artists from all over the world, following in the footsteps of the famous Fauves. The kings of Majorca were not mistaken, having made this fortress their summer residence in the 13th and 14th centuries, long after the first Visigothic fortifications and well before Vauban's intervention, which radically changed the layout of the village, razing the old upper town to build the glacis and the new city wall, under the protection of Our Lady of the Angels, flanked by its precious altarpiece.
Unshakeable, however, remains the legendary and picturesque fishing district of Mouré, with its twisting yet elegant alleyways and cellars carved into the rock.
But nothing could replace the parade of the "belles" Catalanes, these proudly colored sardinal fishing boats with revolutionary or religious names, during the traditional Saint-Vincent celebrations, recalling the auspicious days when hundreds of them would dry their sails on the beaches of Boramar or Port d'Avall. A village devoted to the ever-changing flavors of anchovies, the small blue fish that never stops wriggling, blending art and fishermen in a devilishly inspired ballet for over a century.
A beautiful story, sometimes dark and serious, whose taste remains associated with the wines jealously produced on the terraces overlooking the village, sculpting a landscape that is both wild and constructed, a testament to the stubbornness of Colliourenc.
