Rue de la Combe, Provence
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In the villages of Provence, the best houses give little away to the street. On rue de la Combe, among the old stone fronts, Airelles Gordes, La Bastide shows nothing more than three arched doorways in pale stone. A passer-by could take it for one more grand house shut up for the season. The modesty is deliberate, and it is the first trick of an extraordinary hotel: everything worth seeing is on the other side.
Behind the door the house keeps going, and going down. It descends level after level through terraces and hanging gardens until the Luberon valley opens below, like a reward for having come in. Christophe Tollemer and more than 150 artisans restored it as an eighteenth-century Provençal home: antiques, painted panelling, patterned fabrics, portraits watching from the stairs. Forty rooms and suites line the way, some looking into the village, the better ones across the valley. It feels less like a hotel than like a family house that has kept growing for five centuries.
What sets the house apart is not its size but its manners. Airelles has a way of making the bill disappear from the day. Breakfast, the minibar, the spa, laundry for a selection of clothes, valet parking, even the packing and unpacking of suitcases come with the room, and an old Citroën 2CV waits to be driven to a market. Nothing has to be signed, so nothing feels like a transaction. The effect is less of being served than of being expected.
The day moves through the door in both directions. Coffee can be taken on the village square, where the hotel runs La Bastide de Pierres, an Italian table. Then back through the narrow entrance for a swim in the terrace pool above the valley, and out again when the stone turns gold. Deep in the rock, the Guerlain spa keeps an indoor pool beneath vaults of Burgundy stone, probably the coolest room in Gordes in August.
Evenings stay inside. La Table de la Bastide serves Pierre Marty's Mediterranean cooking on a terrace facing the Luberon, while Jean-François Piège puts vegetables and the grill at the centre of Clover, under a pergola over the valley. Children have a summer camp with its own pool on a terrace above the trees, and even dogs find a bed waiting. By the time the lights come on across the valley, the village that looked so modest from the street has become a world of its own.
A house built down a rock makes its demands. The levels are steep, and the stairs between them are part of the stay. In summer the lanes outside fill with day visitors long before lunch, the terrace pool is lovely rather than large, and private outdoor space belongs to only three suites. Its prices sit at the very top of the market, although here, more than almost anywhere, they pay for the day as well as the night.
The most famous view of Gordes is the one of the village itself, seen from the road below. Airelles has found a better one and keeps it behind a door that looks like nothing at all. Every day most of Gordes walks past without guessing. The guests on the other side would not have it any other way.
On the ramparts
The Vasarely Suite's private terrace stands on the historic ramparts of the village.
On the street side, three arched doorways in pale stone open straight onto rue de la Combe, between the village houses. Garage and valet service come with every room, which spares a driver the village's narrow, steep lanes. According to the hotel, some rooms also have their own discreet way out into the village.
The Superior Valley Room, 29 m² for two, is the smallest category and the first to face the Luberon valley and mountains rather than the village. It carries the full house style of painted walls, period portraits and patterned fabrics. The bathroom has a bath or a shower depending on the room; the hotel notes that fittings vary from one room to the next.
Clover Gordes sits at the heart of La Bastide on a pergola-shaded terrace facing the Luberon. Jean-François Piège, who spent his childhood in Provence, cooks around vegetables and the grill, with produce such as Sisteron lamb and goat's cheese. It is one of three restaurants on the hotel's terraces, alongside La Table de la Bastide and, in summer, Beefbar.
The indoor pool lies beneath vaults of Burgundy stone and looks out to the spa terrace. Around it are a hammam, a sauna and four treatment rooms using Guerlain products, with a 90 m² fitness studio nearby. Spa access comes with the room, which makes the pool a practical alternative to the terrace pool on a cool spring or autumn day.
At a glance
Where
La Bastide, 61 rue de la Combe, 84220 Gordes, Vaucluse; in the heart of the village, on the cliff above the Luberon valley; Avignon TGV 30 to 60 minutes by road, Marseille-Provence airport about 45 minutes, Marseille city centre about 1 hour 20 minutes by car
Why this one
Terraces and gardens towards the Luberon.
Breakfast, minibar, spa, 2CV and bicycles.
Four tables, one of them in the village.
The Edit Notes
Each room category comes in two versions, and the name gives the outlook. Superior Village is 30 m², Superior Valley 29 m²; Deluxe Village is 35 m², Deluxe Valley 34 m². The village rooms are fractionally larger and look over the roofs and lanes of Gordes; the valley rooms face the Luberon plain and mountains. Size therefore decides almost nothing at this level. The real choice is between living inside the village and looking away from it.
For a house built on terraces, private outdoor space is scarce. The room pages list it for three suites only: the One-Bedroom Terrace Suite, 64 m² with a 23 m² terrace over the valley; the Vasarely Suite, 60 m² with 33 m² on the old ramparts; and the two-bedroom Duc de Soubise, 102 m² with 34 m². The 91 m² Baron de Simiane has a winter garden instead. Every other category shares the gardens and the terrace pool.
The standard room pages list breakfast, the minibar, access to the spa, non-alcoholic poolside refreshments, laundry for a selection of items, garage and valet, hot drinks, packing and unpacking, a Citroën 2CV and electric bicycles. Lunch and dinner are not on that list. The separate All-In Escape adds both, in the restaurants on site and in the village, drinks excluded, but requires three nights and is offered only when available. For a short stay, the ordinary room is the comparison.
The Airelles Summer Camp takes children from three, on a terrace set above the trees with its own supervised pool; younger children stay with an adult. Dogs are received with a bed, treats and their own menu, included. For a larger group, La Maison de Constance lets four bedrooms for up to eight, with a private pool and an olive-shaded garden of about 1,000 m², while keeping the hotel's services. It changes the village question: a house rather than a room.
The price question
The money buys a restored house that drops from a village street to the Luberon in terraces, with breakfast, the minibar, the spa, valet parking, laundry for some items and a 2CV folded into the room, and four places to eat within a short walk. It does not buy a private terrace, except in three suites, nor solitude: the lanes outside are shared with residents and day-trippers, and lunch and dinner are charged unless the All-In Escape is booked. The question is whether the inclusions and the setting outweigh rooms that start at under 30 m².
Book it for a few days of walking out into Gordes and back, with the Luberon as the view from the table and a valley room or terrace suite chosen with care. Look elsewhere for a quiet estate in open country, for a pool shared with few, or for a winter stay.
Crillon le Brave
A dozen old houses around the church of the village of Crillon-le-Brave, facing Mont Ventoux: 26 rooms and 17 suites, two pools and the Spa des Écuries in former 18th-century stables.
Coquillade Provence
A hilltop hamlet above the Luberon national park at Gargas: 63 rooms, three restaurants, a spa and the estate's own winery.
The Extra Edit
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