La Bastide de Moustiers, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, France

La Bastide de Moustiers in Provence is a former country inn turned boutique hotel, restored in 1998 by super-chef Alain Ducasse. The Bastide is an ideal place to visit for sumptuous food and lazy summer days in gorgeous surroundings.

The facilities

The four hectares of parkland around the boutique hotel offers guests the chance to stretch their legs in a beautiful environment. It’s the perfect place to have a picnic (with a full basket available to order from the chef), or to relax by the heated pool. Inside, guests may also indulge themselves with a massage.

La Bastide de Moustiers’s head chef Eric Santalucia has been awarded one Michelin star, and the food from this boutique hotel’s restaurant leaves his talent undoubted. Dishes change daily, according to what’s available in the kitchen garden. This brings a dynamic, vibrant feel to Santalucia’s cooking: “There is no carte at La Bastide,” he says, “because every day we prepare the vegetables, fruits and herbs that we picked the same morning in our garden. Our cooking finds its inspiration there. It’s rustic, but at the same time very refined.”

Every meal at the boutique hotel is delightful and surprising, and this rule extends to the wine selection too. There are more than 300 luxury wines divided between the two wine lists, including many rare bottles and exceptional vintages. The “Carte de la Bastide de Moustiers” list showcases the variety of wines from the South of France, while “La cave d’Alain Ducasse” displays the best pick from other French wine regions.

The rooms

The 12 air-conditioned bedrooms at this small boutique hotel are all individually decorated, each named after a colour, an aroma, or an image of Provence (sometimes the name combines all three!).

The rooms of the boutique hotel are as follows: Tournesol (Sunflower), Lavande (Lavender), Framboise (Raspberry), Amande (Almond), Potiron (Pumpkin), Blanche (White), La Volière (The Aviary), L'Olive, L'Abeille (Bee), Coquelicot (Poppy), Rose Trémière, and Pigeonnier (Pigeon House).

Each bedroom has a beautiful en-suit bathroom and access to Wi-Fi, plus a CD and DVD player.