Domaine des Andeols

In many Provençal hotels you’d be hard pressed to detect any evidence of art, architecture, or design after about 1920, if not 1820. But Domaine des Andéols is, to say the least, no ordinary Provençal hotel. Here, just outside of the perfectly picturesque Lubéron village of Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, is a place where modern and classic collide: a collection of 11 distinct houses in familiar farmhouse styles, as well as eight Nature Suites in a much more modern architectural idiom (though still clad in warm-hued limestone).

Inside, in both the suites and the houses, you’ll find a wealth of visual interest, little of it in the pale pastels one expects from Provence. The furniture, in particular, is impeccably chosen — this place could double as a museum of modernist chairs. Nor are the artworks confined to tidy landscapes in frames above the headboards; the collection here is as bold and eclectic as the décor.

The accommodations would be enough to make it well worth a visit, but Domaine des Andéols adds more. Leisure facilities include a tennis court, a fitness studio, a hammam, a swimming pool, and access to nature via the estate’s parkland and the surrounding countryside. Meanwhile two restaurants serve the hotel’s guests: the bistronomic Le Platane and the fine-dining La Loggia.