Hôtel Cloître Saint Louis(20 Rue du Portail Boquier, 84000 Avignon, ☎ 33 04 90 27 55 55, fax 33 04 90 82 24 01, hotel@cloitre-saint-louis.com, www.cloitre-saint-louis.com, 80 rooms and suites, three with handicapped access, direct dial phone, mini-bar, cable TV with BBC World Service, room safe, hair dryer, air conditioning, pool and roof-top sun terrace, shaded cloister courtyard, bar, lounge and restaurant, elevators. Private parking, buffet or continental breakfast and room tax extra, €€€€). Once the cloister of a 16th-century Jesuit school, the hotel was renovated in 1990, with a new wing added by the trendy French architect Jean Nouvel. Rooms are well-appointed and tranquil – some with exposed stone walls – although the standard rooms can seem a bit bare if Minimalism is not your style. Most rooms overlook the splendid cloistered courtyard, all pale stone and empty but for a half-dozen majestic plane trees. Well-located, on a quiet back street inside the city walls, not far from the SNCF Station.
L’Hôtel Les Ateliers de l’Image(36 Boulevard Victor Hugo, 13210 Saint Rémy de Provence, ☎ 33 04 90 92 51 50, fax 33 04 90 92 43 52, info@hotelphoto.com, www.hotelphoto.com, 24 rooms, seven suites, three with handicapped access, two pools, cinema bar, restaurant, direct dial phone, modem socket, satellite TV, hair dryer, air conditioning, parking, buffet and cooked breakfast, photo exhibition gallery, black and white darkrooms, photoshop, billiards, airport transfers. Local room tax extra, €€€€). How can you even begin to describe a place that lists one of its rooms as giving “access to a cabin perched by a drawbridge”? One featuring Bang & Olufson Hi-Fi/CD/DVD systems that swivel to face you when you turn them on? And that, in addition to being a hotel, provides photographic darkroom facilities? Luxury here is modern and the design is very high-concept – even the key rings and door knobs match! A sense of fun keeps it all from becoming too precious – indie movies play over your head in the spacious bar that was once a movie theater; we received a packet of tomato seeds as a comment on the accent color in our room. Located on the ring road, immediately outside the center of St. Rémy.
HOTEL PRICE CHART
Rates are per room based on double occupancy.
Under €55
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€56-€96
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€97-€135
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€136-€195
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Over €195
Mas de la Brune(13810 Eygalières, ☎ 33 04 90 90 67 67, fax 33 04 90 95 99 21, contact@masdelabrune.com, www.masdelabrune.com, 10 rooms and suites, one with handicapped access, telephone, mini-bar, television, air conditioning, pool, extensive gardens, enclosed parking. Breakfast and room tax extra, €€€€). This 16th-century mansion is a romantic fantasy overlooked by the Alpilles and the town of Eygalières. Rooms are individually decorated with simple elegance – in the Pierre Isnard suite, an airy, muslin-draped wrought iron bed and a vaulted ceiling. There’s an old olive press in the dining room and a huge, original fireplace in the living room.
Pierre Isnard, who built the house in 1562, may have been an alchemist, which inspired current owners, Marie and Alain de Larouzière, to create an extensive and unusual Alchemist’s Garden. Culinary and horticultural visits are held throughout the year. There is no restaurant but a chef can be arranged for parties of 10 or more.
