Les Lodges Sainte Victoire Hotel & Spa

Les Lodges Sainte Victoire Hotel & Spa

Arrive at Les Lodges Sainte Victoire and the first thing in view is the mountain itself, Cézanne's Sainte-Victoire rising over the vineyards and century-old plane trees of the hotel's five-hectare park in Le Tholonet, a walk from the village and a ten-minute drive from Aix-en-Provence. The building is an 18th-century bastide that became a hotel in 2013, and its 37 rooms and private villas sit on a single floor, so guests move between wings rather than up stairs, and the whole property reads closer to a private estate than a hotel block. The kitchen carries a Michelin star under chef Julien Le Goff, who splits the offer into a brasserie-style lunch card and a more considered dinner menu built around a signature bouillabaisse and whatever is in season. The spa runs a heated indoor pool, sauna and hammam through the day, with a 24-hour fitness room, while outside there is an infinity pool for everyone and a separate zen pool kept for adults only. Riders, cyclists and hikers have horse trails, a golf course, tennis courts and bike rental within the grounds, and pets are welcome for an additional fee. This suits a couple who want good food and quiet mornings without driving into Aix each time, and it works for a family too, since the children's playroom and the adults-only pool run at different hours of the same day. It will not suit anyone chasing a lively town center after dark, since the estate sits in quiet countryside outside Aix, or anyone who wants a view that changes from one day to the next. Here the mountain sits in the same place all day, and so, mostly, do you. An 18th-century bastide turned single-floor hotel in Le Tholonet, ten minutes from Aix-en-Provence, built around a Michelin-starred kitchen run by chef Julien Le Goff. The grounds mix a family playroom with an adults-only zen pool, so both groups get quiet on their own schedule.