Hostellerie Bérard & SPA

The Hostellerie Berard is a departure from the traditional Provencal farmhouse inn. This charming hotel occupies a cluster of buildings in the hilltop village of La Cardière d’Azur. The central building, a former monastery dating back to the eleventh century, houses some forty rooms, updated in style from their ascetic origins into bright and colorful spaces, grouped around a swimming pool that would have sorely tempted the monks.

Two other houses, the Bastide and the Artists’ House, are home to more accommodations, and the fourth house is home to the reception, the lounge and the restaurant, which overlooks the vineyards and the surrounding countryside. Here René Bérard presides over an impressive restaurant, blending Provencal and Mediterranean influences, serving a cuisine that many find to be in itself worth the trip.

Mr. Bérard and his daughter Sandra teach cooking courses, another major attraction, in addition to wine seminars and landscape painting classes. Leisure opportunities include the pool, sauna and a modest fitness room, and for those with business to conduct, the monastery’s chapel and refectory have been converted into conference spaces. More than just an inn, yet not at all a traditional hotel, this is Provencal village living at its finest.