Haute Provence:

<< Refuges & Hostels || Tourist Information Offices >>

Hundreds of sports- and adventure-hungry vacationers lose themselves in these mountains all day during the high season, only to emerge at dinner time looking for one of the few tables around. If you want to dine well, you need to make reservations.

In Moustiers, restaurant standards were already high even before Alain Ducasse established the Bastide de Moustiers with its Michelin-starred restaurant gastronomique. But with the arrival of a team trained by the world-famous chef, competition has really heated up and there are several excellent restaurants in the town.

The Bastide de Moustiers (04360 Moustiers Sainte Marie, ☎ 33 04 92 74 13 60 and 33 04 92 74 67 97, fax 33 04 92 74 13 61) is not cheap (€€€ +) but,compared to other restaurants in the region of similar reputation, not badly priced. The cooking is adventurous modern French.

Les Santons (Place de l’Eglise,04360 Moustiers Sainte Marie, ☎ 33 04 92 74.66 48, fax 33 04 92 74 63 67, €€-€€€) is a well-established restaurant spread over several village houses. Decorated in ravishing Provençal style, it’s situated against a cliff. Food is contemporary and imaginative – lavender ice cream, spiced chicken in lavender honey.

With menus in the € to €€ range, Le Relais (04360 Moustiers Sainte Marie, ☎ 33 04 92 74 66 10, fax 33 04 92 74 60 47), offers good value for cooking that received Picasso’s seal of approval – the tablecloth with his sketch and comment “Here you eat well” is on display. The menu offers lamb so local that they will happily tell you where it grazed.

Near Castellane, the Auberge de Teillon (Route Napoleon, La Garde, 04120 Castellane, ☎ 33 04 92 83 60 88, €-€€€) serves good-quality, rustic cooking and a variety of traditional, local dishes.

You’ll find crêperies, pizza places and bistros in Castellane, La Palud and Moustiers. Most villages that cater to hikers have boulangeries (bread bakers), snack bars or shops selling bottled water and high-energy snacks. All the campgrounds have snack bars as well.

<< Refuges & Hostels || Tourist Information Offices >>