Where to stay in Provence

published 12 March 2012

Bastide de Capelongue, Bonnieux

What's so special

This hotel is the Provenal base for one of France's finest chefs, Edouard Loubet. So it provides some of the finest dining in southern France in the setting of a beautiful, top-notch country hotel.

How they rate it

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Bastide de Capelongue "offers everything you could wish of a luxury country hotel", says Anthony Peregrine in The Daily Telegraph. "Perched above the village of Bonnieux, it is a little empire based on a fine old-fashioned farmstead transformed for the comfort-seeking classes." Former outbuildings have been turned into "contemporary apartments built of stone and concrete, but mitigated with bright colours and plump furniture". You could be "lounging about in a design magazine".

The menu

With one of France's best chefs at the helm, the hotel restaurant turns out amazing food. "Loubet does things with herbs and southern food that no one has ever contemplated." It may be pricey, but "it was one of the most memorable meals of my life", says Peregrine.

The cost

Rooms start from €140, room only. For more information, visit the website at www.capelongue.com, or call 00 33 (0)4 90 75 89 78.

Chteau St Martin Hotel and Spa, Vence

What's so special

This historic chteau offers guests a beautiful setting between Cannes and Nice. The hotel is situated on a hill, allowing you to enjoy views down over the gardens and beyond to the fabulous French countryside. Inside, the hotel's style is luxurious and classical, offering everything you would expect of a top-end French chteau.

How they rate it

Forget jumping on a long-haul flight for your next showstopper holiday; "grab a friend, catch a flight to Nice, and wake up with nothing but a day by the (magnificent) swimming pool, some spa treatments and a good dinner ahead of you", says Hilary Rose in The Times. "The whole environment radiates calm and relaxation." The hotel offers the best of both worlds, with a wonderful La Prairie spa and a two-Michelin-starred restaurant where you can overindulge after a day of being healthy.

The menu

There are three restaurants to choose from the two-Michelin-starred Le Saint Martin restaurant, the more casual Oliveraie Grill (with tables set in the gardens among the olive trees) and the Rtisserie, which serves international fare.

The cost

A double room costs from €360 per night. For more information, visit www.chateau-st-martin.com, or call 00 33 (0)4 93 58 02 02.

Undiscovered France

It may seem as if France has been well and truly discovered by the British tourist, but there are still some areas that are off the main trail. Here are three regions to explore, as tipped by Anthony Peregrine in The Times.

Gers in the heartland of Gascony offers a glimpse of historic France. "Towns and villages evoke distant pasts when doors were unlocked and every woman took a shopping basket to market." The countryside offers "hiking, biking, riding and boating, but fois gras, duck confit, Madiran wine and Armagnac generally get in the way". Stay at L'Echappe Belle (Echappee-belle.fr) and dine at Chez Simone in Montreal.

The "splendid" region of Drome "offers almost everything you like about Provence, but in secret". It also has a little bit more up its sleeve with "hills, mountains, olives and vines... wild sheep, cicadas and warm-scented breezes in the late afternoon".

At the southern end "undiscovered valleys pop you out at hill-hugging spots". Montelimar is the capital of nougat, which is "neither more nor less honourable than being the capital of custard creams". Stay at the Hotel Mirmande (Hotelmirmande.fr) and dine at the Restaurant Margot.

Beaujolais is France's "most famous unknown region famous for wine, unknown because nobody goes there". In places such as Bordeaux, "they can make you feel lucky to be allowed in. In Beaujolais you fight off food and drink." Stay at the 12th-century Chateau de Bagnols (pictured, Chateaudebagnols.fr) in the capital, Beaujeu, and dine at Chez La Rose in Julienas.