Le Couvent des Minimes Hotel & Spa L’Occitane ★★★★★

My friends don't believe me when I tell them this job has its difficulties. They are certain I just fly around the world, looking for the ultimate luxury destinations and then stay for a couple of days, write my reviews, and explore the region, before moving on to the next place. While there is an element of that, yes, I also have a heavy cross to bear: lost luggage, airport queues, and a semi-permanent state of jet lag are some of the stresses I incur every day.

So when I was informed of my forthcoming trip to Le Couvent des Minimes Hotel & Spa *****, it could not have come at a better time. My regular travelling companion regrettably unavailable, I rang up my oldest friend and convinced her to accompany me, in an attempt to prove to her that my work is not just luxury pampering at some of the most beautiful hotels in the world.
Safe to say, I did not succeed.

Our room was simple and sumptuous, with two generous beds and a view extending over terracotta tiles to the gentle hills beyond. Each detail is carefully considered: the colour palette is crisp white cottons and fawn-coloured linens, with accents of gentle Provençal lavender; the furniture made from rustic oak. This pure and natural interior design creates a cosy but calming ambiance throughout the hotel. The spacious bathroom was stocked with samples of L’Occitane’s most popular goodies, which we inevitably squirreled away to distribute to friends back home. With a bath and a shower, and two stunning marble basins, even the bathroom was a paradigmatic example of discreet luxury.

But we weren’t there just to sample L’Occitane freebies, no: we were here on business, and business meant the spa. Shrugging on a fluffy white robe and spotless slippers, we tried out the laconium and the hammam, before putting ourselves in the expert hands of the hotel’s therapists for a massage with lemon and verbena oils. The spa also commits to reducing their environmental impact, while supporting civil responsibility initiatives: we were proudly informed that the shea butter used in the spa was sourced from a women’s cooperative in Burkina Faso. With an indulgent menu of delectable treatments, the spa offers something for everyone, including deep-tissue massage for men, among others. Aesthetic treatments are available too, so chip-free toenails can peep out from your K. Jacques sandals as you show off your skills on the pétanque pitch.

The Spa might be the best, but it certainly isn’t the only thing on offer at Le Couvent des Minimes. After a long day lounging on poolside sun beds, practising serves on the tennis court, or exploring the charming neighbouring towns, anyone would have worked up a decent appetite. The two in-house restaurants provide two very different approaches, in two different settings.

The stark and contemporary Le Cloître Restaurant is Chef Jérôme Roy’s gastronomic showcase. Though he completely falls short of his objective of “unpretentious cooking” (candied cherry tomatoes, milk foam, coriander veil...), each dish we tried was spectacularly presented and mouth-wateringly tasty, paired with delicious French wines. For a lighter meal, we enjoyed lunch on the sun-soaked terrace at Le Pesquier Bistro, before swapping our slippers for sneakers and hitting the road: back to work for her, and off to the next hotel for me.

Hard to find, and even harder to leave, this hotel is a genuine Provençal paradise. Rather than fun-filled family escapes, the stunning setting of Le Couvent des Minimes Hotel & Spa is an ideal destination for a lovers’ retreat, a girly getaway, or even business, if you’re lucky...