Oustau de Baumanière

Baumanière has been a pilgrimage site for French gastronomy since Raymond Thuilier opened his restaurant in a fifteenth-century farmhouse in 1945, drawing statesmen, painters and film stars to the wild limestone valley below Les Baux. The estate now gathers several old Provençal buildings—mas, manor and farmhouse—amid cypress gardens, with the ruined citadel glowing on the crag above.

Rooms are spread across these historic houses, mixing Provençal fabrics and antiques with a gradually lightened contemporary touch; several open onto private gardens or terraces facing the Alpilles. The pools, tennis court and gardens give the property the feel of a gracious country club that never lost its soul.

The heart remains the Oustau itself, where Glenn Viel has carried the kitchen to three Michelin stars with inventive, vegetable-forward Provençal cooking, while La Cabro d'Or offers a gentler second table under the olive trees. A serious spa and a cellar of great depth complete the estate. For a certain kind of traveller, dinner at Baumanière followed by a walk beneath the floodlit village is the essential Provence evening.