2026Saint Anthony Abbey - Set

Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye, in Isère in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, was voted “France’s Favorite Village” in 2025 during the France 3 program hosted by Stéphane Bern.

For the 2026 edition, which will take place on Wednesday, July 8th at 9:10 pm on France 3 and france.tv, Stéphane Bern will announce the “France’s Favorite Village 2026,” chosen by a viewer vote from among 14 contenders—14 incredible villages, rich in history and culture.

“At the gateway to the Vercors mountain range, the village of Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye is a charming medieval town that unfolds like a history book, with its winding streets lined with half-timbered houses, glazed tile roofs, its old market hall, and its abbey church, a jewel of Gothic heritage in the Dauphiné region.” “In the gentle valley where the Isère River flows, a stone village clusters around a Gothic abbey with glazed roofs: Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye.

Here, the narrow streets wind into mysterious alleyways, the light clings to the half-timbered facades, and footsteps echo like a string of rosaries. From afar, people come: pilgrims from the West, travelers from the Middle East, princes and kings of France. All are drawn by the treasure held in the heart of the village, the reliquary of Saint Anthony the Egyptian, and by the renown of a hospitaller order whose charity has permeated the centuries: the Antonines. They treat ergotism, the “mal des ergotism,” this inner fire that consumes bodies and grips souls. Here, one learns to listen, the soothing diet, the comforting bread, the knowledge of herbal remedies, and the art of offering a helping hand.” Thus a reputation is born: in this stone enclave, the science of healing and faith speak in hushed tones.

Over time, life weaves its contrasts: peasants, merchants, and nobles share the same stone, the same water, the same market. The sacred rings from the bell towers, the secular laughs under the market halls; processions and fairs intersect, and the village, true to its values ​​of hospitality, also harbors its shadows—that ancient shiver where fervor and doubt brush against each other.

Today, the abbey, the cloister, the chapter houses, the sculpted facades tell this story. Museums, artisans' workshops, medieval festivals, and summer nights reinvent the legend, while the table brings people together: cheeses from the Vercors, golden walnuts, honeys from the hillsides, gingerbread with monastic aromas.

Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye, voted “France’s Favorite Village,” remains a place of passage for souls, a place where one walks in history as much as in light.

Here, the stone knows how to listen. The sacred pours forth its light, the profane its laughter. And when evening falls, the relics keep watch – the welcoming village offers bread, conversation, and shelter.