Petsitting in Aix-en-Provence: A Magical 3-Week Christmas Housesit

Petsitting in Aix‑en‑Provence gave long‑time HouseSit Match member Kemkem and husband Fede one of their most memorable Christmases — a three‑week stay in the old town caring for a tiny dog named Riley. In her personal account of how as a housesitter on a simple petsitting assignment blossomed into a heartfelt experience of local life, festive markets, generous homeowners, and the quiet joy of bonding with a beloved pet in one of Provence’s prettiest cities.

Petsitting in Aix-en-Provence: A Christmas to Remember

Some trips you plan for months. Others land in your lap in the form of a house sit and turn out to be among the best travel experiences of your life. Our three-week sit for petsitting in Aix-en-Provence, right in the heart of the old town, was one of those. It was our third house and pet sit through HouseSitMatch.com, and it may have been the most awesome yet—largely thanks to a dainty little dog named Riley.

How Our Petsitting Adventure in Aix‑en‑Provence Began

How did it happen? Let me back up a bit.

We first found HouseSit Match over 10 years ago from the other side of the arrangement. We had two lovely dogs of our own then, and we needed sitters we could actually trust. After using Lamia’s small, family-run company once, I dropped the other two sites I’d registered with—to the point that I would plan our vacations around when our favourite sitters became available again.

When our dogs passed away, we waited two years and finally admitted we didn’t want to take on new dogs of our own. However, we couldn’t imagine a life without pets. So we entered our second phase: this time as the sitters and carers.

Our first two housesits were in London, our favourite (but quite expensive) city. This was where we finally met Lamia in person, and she is every bit as lovely in real life as she had been across a decade of emails. Then came the posting that brought us to housesitting in Provence.

I saw one of Lamia’s posts on Facebook and fell in love with Riley, sight unseen. She is just that cute. I sent an email to the owners, and we communicated back and forth quickly. We arranged a face-to-face call where we asked whatever questions each side had to ask, and they agreed they would like us to do the sit. I booked our airline tickets the same afternoon.

Meeting Riley: The Little Dog Who Made Aix Feel Like Home

Riley’s parents were off to South Africa for three weeks, and our job was to keep their little girl happy, walked, and well-loved in her own home. She made it easy.

Part of the duty of any good dog sitter is learning a pet’s quirks, and Riley had hers:

• Rain? Absolutely not. She wanted nothing to do with rain—even in her little coat. On wet days, she would trot out, do her business, and march straight back to the door with a look that said, “We’re done here.”
• The Vacuum Monster: Her funniest quirk was her reaction to the vacuum cleaner. A local woman came by to clean weekly, and Riley spent quite a bit of time protecting us from the vacuum. I even have a video of it somewhere, and we still laugh at it!
• Toy Loyalty: She had three identical toys, but she only wanted the one specific, worn-out veteran of the trio. Trying to fool her was useless—I tried! She’d head straight for the pile to dig up her actual favorite.

On dry days, she was happy to walk the full distance, tail up, nose busy. Since she lived in a flat, she needed at least three walks a day, which turned out to be less of a chore and more of a gift: three built-in reasons to wander one of the prettiest towns in France.

The first night, Riley slept on her parents’ bed—probably expecting them to walk back in any minute. The next morning, she hopped onto our bed in the guest room, muzzled in, and that was that. It became our routine. By the second day, she was cuddled up against Fede or me for most of the day. Dog sitting in Provence is such a treat.

That’s the thing about house and pet sitting in Aix that no hotel can replicate. Within 48 hours, we weren’t visitors caring for a stranger’s dog. We were Riley’s people, and she was ours. Every day, we’d send her parents pictures of her in her element (I always ask beforehand, as some owners love daily photos while others just trust you’re handling it).

Daily Life While Petsitting in Aix-en-Provence

If you’ve never experienced petsitting in Aix-en-Provence at Christmas time, put it on your list. The town glows. Strings of lights arch over the Cours Mirabeau and thread through the narrow streets of the old town. The plane trees were wrapped and sparkling, and every shop window was dressed for the season. Walking Riley in the evenings felt like strolling through a postcard—a scene you’d normally rush through as a tourist, except we got to live inside it for three whole weeks.

Exploring Aix‑en‑Provence at Christmas on Foot with a Local Dog

Here’s a luxury we didn’t fully appreciate until we experienced it: we never needed a car. Everything—the bakery, the cafes, and the markets—was on foot. The markets ran three times a week just a 2-minute walk away.

They became the rhythm of our stay: fresh vegetables, cheeses, olives, whatever looked good that morning. Cooking with market-fresh ingredients in a real kitchen, in a real home, is a pleasure no restaurant meal can quite match. For Fede, who loves to cook, it was heaven. (We’re already used to fresh produce here in Spain, so it was like being home!)

Living Like Locals: Markets, Neighbours and Hidden Gems

Riley, it turned out, was our passport into the neighborhood. The shopkeepers knew her. Walks became a social event—a wave here, a chat there, a treat produced from behind a counter. When the neighbors know your dog by name, you’re not a tourist anymore.

We even discovered our own butcher that the homeowners hadn’t known about, which we proudly reported when they returned. We tried some of the restaurants they had recommended, found favorites of our own, and settled into the kind of daily life you simply can’t buy as a visitor.

The homeowners themselves were part of what made this sit special. The night we arrived, they cooked us a wonderful dinner. When they returned from South Africa, we reciprocated with an Italian dinner of our own.

They were such lovely people that they offered us their guest room for extra nights to cover the rest of our time before heading back home. (I suspect the pasta had something to do with it! :-)) We took them up on one more night, and they insisted on taking us to their favorite restaurant on our last evening together. It was fantastic, and we really bonded. We left the next morning to stay in a hotel room I had already booked in Marseille for our last three nights—and Riley, for the record, got a proper goodbye cuddle.

Why Petsitting Is the Best Way to Experience Provence

If you’re wondering whether house and pet sitting is for you, here’s what we’ve learned:

• Real Living: You get to travel and stay in real homes in real neighborhoods in exchange for looking after beloved four-legged family members.
• Local Lifestyle: You sample a place like a local—markets, butchers, neighbors, routines—the version of a town that tourists never see.
• Huge Savings: You dramatically cut your travel costs. Three weeks in the center of Aix-en-Provence, with a kitchen and a washing machine, is not a cheap hotel proposition. It’s not even a cheap B&B proposition, especially at Christmas time!
• Pets Win Too: They don’t have to be uprooted and boarded in an unfamiliar kennel. They stay in their own homes, on their own beds (or yours, in Riley’s case), with their routines intact and someone devoted to them full-time.
• Pet Fix Without Commitment: You get pets in your life without the full-time commitment—which, for former dog owners like us, fills a hole nothing else quite does.
• Owner Peace of Mind: Homeowners get total peace of mind knowing someone experienced and vetted is living in their home and loving their animal.

One word of caution: Please do not assume this is a ticket for free accommodation if you don’t love animals. The pets are the most important thing. Only do it if you enjoy spending time with pets and know that you have to arrange your time around their habits, not the other way around.

Why We Use HouseSit Match for All Our Petsitting Assignments

A word on the platform, because it matters. I’ve sampled other companies over the years, and the level of care with which Lamia runs HouseSit Match is simply excellent. It’s a small, family-run business, and it shows in the best way: both sides are vetted, so homeowners and sitters alike can be confident they’re getting what was promised.

There are free alternatives out there, and I’ll be blunt: free usually means you get what you pay for. It works out often enough—until it doesn’t. We’ve personally had to bail out friends whose “free sitters” abandoned the pets mid-sit. When the wellbeing of an animal and the security of a home are on the line, vetting isn’t a luxury. It’s the whole point.

Final Thoughts on our Petsitting in Aix-en-Provence

So that was our Aix-en-Provence Christmas housesitting in France: twinkling lights, market mornings, long walks through ancient streets, and a small warm dog curled against us at the end of every day. We came home rested, well-fed, and already scanning the listings.

We’ll keep sitting through Lamia. When I find a good thing, I stick with it. It applies to food, restaurants, cities, and petsitting in Aix-en-Provence too!

BIO

Retired pharmacist and passionate traveller KemKem Casinelli is the founder of the Nextbiteoflife blog. She and chef photographer husband Fede travel the world, petsitting and housesitting and sampling the delights of each new destination.

Further Reading

At Housesit Match we like to share useful blogs such as this one on petsitting in Aix-en-Provence, and also about housesitters and travel by housesitting. We hope you find this small selection of our articles useful.

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