La Bastide de Moustiers

La Bastide de Moustiers

La Bastide de Moustiers keeps to thirteen rooms across two floors, folded around a walled garden and terrace, a short walk from the Chapelle Notre Dame de Beauvoir in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. The property runs a library and a picnic area rather than a full spa; the closest thing to pampering here is a single massage room, plain rather than dressed up as a resort circuit. Guests can borrow bicycles free of charge, set out on the hiking trail toward the chapel, or, less expected for a hotel this size, book windsurfing, a detail that sets it apart from stays that stop at a pool and a deckchair. There is a pool too, along with a restaurant, bar, and breakfast that can be delivered to the room for anyone unwilling to leave it. Rooms themselves are plain-spoken: bathrobes, slippers, a DVD player, a minibar, and soundproofing that matters given how close together thirteen rooms can sit. Connecting rooms exist for families or groups traveling together, arranged directly with the property. This suits a traveler who wants a small, quiet base for exploring rather than a hotel built around its own facilities, and who doesn't mind that the doors close between the end of October and mid March. It will not suit anyone chasing a big spa circuit or year-round sun. Check-in runs from 4pm, check-out by noon, and staff answer in English, French, or Spanish. Thirteen rooms, one library, one picnic basket, one trail up to the chapel: the kind of hotel that asks guests to slow down because there is not much else on site to speed them up. Thirteen rooms around a walled garden near Moustiers-Sainte-Marie's Chapelle Notre Dame de Beauvoir, with free bicycles, a hiking trail, and windsurfing rather than a spa circuit. Closed each winter, from 31 October to 15 March. Good for a quiet, active base; not for anyone wanting resort facilities or year-round access.