Luberon, France

Capelongue

Price per night from$334.40

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR309.09), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Campagne for peace

Setting

Bonnie Bonnieux

Amid the mistral-ruffled cypress avenues, olive groves and fruitful vines of the verdant Luberon national park, you’ll find Capelongue, a country estate with more rustic ​​Provençal charm packed into its leafy borders than a basket laden with sprays of flowers. This bastion of la belle vie is orbited by the region’s beauty-queen villages – hilltop eyries with castles of note, cobbled streets and top-tier gastronomy – and wilderness where adventurers can climb mountains, kayak along La Sorgue and, um, ride a donkey. But, we suggest slowing the pace for gentle afternoons of pastis, pétanque and repeat; sketching the scenery till the stars come out; or chasing fantastical takes on regional cooking with chilled glasses of wine. 

Smith Extra

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A glass of champagne each

Facilities

Photos Capelongue facilities

Need to know

Rooms

57, including 11 suites.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 4pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £291.34 (€340), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €2.50 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates usually include breakfast, a glorious farm-to-table spread of meats and cheeses, eggs, smoked salmon, fruit salad, crêpes and more.

Also

There are three bedrooms suited to guests with mobility issues.

Hotel closed

The hotel closes for the winter season from 28 October 2023 until 1 May 2024.

At the hotel

Swimming pool, extensive grounds, vegetable and herb garden, orchard, free WiFi. In rooms: flatscreen TV, Bluetooth speaker, tablet, minibar, coffee machine, kettle and teas, free WiFi and Grown Alchemist bath products. Some rooms and suites have a terrace or balcony.

Our favourite rooms

Perhaps it’s the birds’ synonymousness with peace, love and devotion that makes the Signature Junior Suites feel so romantic. It has a sun-drenched living room and a bedroom with light oak furnishings. But, the whole hotel is a ​​Provençal charm offensive, with antiques and that je ne sais quoi rustic subtlety the French are so very good at – and views are democratically divine.

Poolside

No mere spot for splashing about, the hotel’s free-style pool is the definition of ‘location, location, location’. It’s set amid bursts of lavender bushes, sentry cypress, and spreading olive and almond trees, and it has on-high views of beautiful Bonnieux and the lush Luberon beyond. Quite the spectacle with your breaststroke. A section of it is shallow for kids to safely play in (although there’s no guard on duty), and staff will bring you snacks and drinks.

Packing tips

Bring some locally relevant reading material by the region’s former residents. Say, the poems of Daudet and Mistral, some Camus novels, Peter Mayle’s seminal A Year in Provence book that shone a light on Bonnieux and the surrounding villages, or risqué poolside reading by the Marquis de Sade who lived in nearby Lacoste.

Also

Lean into the Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe fantasy (clothes probably not optional, we’re afraid) and ask the chef to fill a wicker hamper with a rustic picnic.

Pet‐friendly

Furry friends can stay for €25 each, a night. See more pet-friendly hotels in Luberon.

Children

Les jeunes are welcome here. The Family Junior Suite has ample space, or any of the other suites can accommodate kids too. There's babysitting on request (for an extra cost) and even Michelin dining for minis.

Best for

This stay is sleepy enough to bring very small children to juniors, but there's enough action to keep kids engaged.

Recommended rooms

The Family Suite sleeps two adults and two under-12s. Children can stay in all suites (Family Junior, Duplex, Bonnieux, Luberon and Pigeonnier).

Activities

Onsite, they’ll likely gravitate towards the pool, cycle through the gardens and play badminton and pétanque. The Luberon is a massive playground, although Mont Ventoux’s pinnacle might be a hike too far. Otherwise, kayak along the Sorgue, try ‘accrobranching’ (a mix of zip-lines and walkways), and tour the Disney-esque castles.

Swimming pool

The hotel pool has a shallow section for little ones to splash about in, but no lifeguard on duty.

Meals

Children dine very well here – there's a dedicated menus in La Bastide. You’ll not find anything so pedestrian as a chicken nugget, where the kids’ menu has the likes of smoked trout and sour cream, fish and farm-fresh vegetables and chocolate mousse.

Babysitting

The hotel can arrange babysitting from €35 an hour.

Also

Sleepiness and serenity are the point here, so bring distractions for squirmier kids to allow you to enjoy the pastoral peace too.

Food and Drink

Photos Capelongue food and drink

Top Table

We love the picturesque serenity of taking drinks by the pool.

Dress Code

Casually cool for La Bergerie and ethereal lavender-gatherer for La Bastide.

Hotel restaurant

There are two eateries at the hotel: La Bastide, the culinary contender with a Michelin star twinkle in its eye; and the down-to-Earth La Bergerie, which has whimsically titled cocktails such as ‘Provençal punch’ and the ‘Eau fashioned’. To counteract your cocktails, there’s also a delicious menu of locally sourced light goods, including truffled pizza, grilled artichokes and pan-seared pork. La Bastide’s duo of menus (the Luberon and garden) give new life to regional ingredients with hot takes on traditional fare: honey-grilled Sisteron lamb and spelt biscuits with lavender-infused ice cream.

Hotel bar

Capelongue Café is the de facto bar here, but you could drink by the pool or in the garden, or on your terrace… Alongside nips of pastis and cognac, kick things off with a kir royale or a herb-muddled garden spritz. Unsurprisingly, French wines from terroirs you can probably spy from the poolside take precedence.

Last orders

La Bergerie serves daily from noon till 9pm. And La Bastide opens for dinner, Tuesday to Saturday, from 7pm to 9pm.

Room service

Dine finely and Frenchly in-room from 11am till 10.30pm.

Location

Photos Capelongue location
Address
Capelongue
550 Chemin des Cabanes
Bonnieux
84480
France

The hotel sits amid the ‘golden triangle’ of the Luberon park, a five-minute walk from hilltop village Bonnieux, overlooking Mont Ventoux and the peaks of the Mont Vaucluse range, close to many treasures of the Vaucluse region.

Planes

The closest airport is Avignon, a 40-minute drive away; however, its direct flights are largely to and from major cities in Belgium. Marseille is much better connected, with routes throughout Europe and some further afield.

Trains

Even if you’re crossing a border, arriving by train is a breeze, with direct high-speed TGV services from Paris, Brussels, Geneva and Barcelona. So, UK arrivals can easily ride the Eurostar over and change.

Automobiles

There’s a reason why romantic film scenes set in the south of France take place in an open-topped sports car rather than on a bus; aside from the aesthetics, there are few of the latter to help you get around, making a set of wheels an essential.

Worth getting out of bed for

The Luberon has more exquisite hilltop villages than you could shake a baguette at. But, even with the stiff competition Bonnieux – a five-minute walk from the hotel – holds its own, with winding cobbled streets, still standing mediaeval marvels and stone houses with flowers trailing down the front. The hike to the 12th-century Gothic church at the top takes some adrenaline (although the views of Mont Ventoux and a sea of greenery are very rewarding), but otherwise life moves at an insouciant pace. Each Friday, market stalls laden with farm-fresh goods and local crafts pop up, and you can learn about vintage breadmaking methods at Musée de la Boulangerie. That covers most of what to do aside from wandering around ooh-ing and aah-ing, but arrive from 17 July to the 15 September and you can follow the annual Secret Art Trail organised by art collective Pablo. Each year, a theme is set and sculpture, drawing, painting and photograph installations are hidden in plain sight, often camouflaged into the timeless landscape; you’ll learn about the region’s modern-art scene and discover hidden corners of the village. Take morning yoga with a view, followed by a detox smoothie. And, from October to December you can help with the olive harvest, learning how they’re picked and milled before tasting the oil fresh from bottling. And, less than a 10-minute drive away is Château la Canorgue, an organic farm and vineyard where you can sip and swill some very moreish bottles. Those looking for more action can hike or bike up Mont Ventoux (about a 90-minute drive away) or trek through the thick cedar forest at the top of Luberon. You’ll want to hop from village to village, too: walk Rousillon’s ochre trail; see the Marquis de Sade’s castle in Lacoste; venture through Gordes’ abbey, castles and caves; and in Ménerbes visit the home of the artist Dora Maar (a muse of Picasso) and abstract artist Nicolas de Staël’s château. Plus, you can see the sparkling firmament uninterrupted after-dark, with the hotel’s stargazing sessions.

Local restaurants

The Beaumier hotel group is formed of decided gourmands, so the restaurant at Le Moulin is also acclaimed for its pan-Mediterranean fare and undeniably French dishes: fresh-from-the-oven fougasse, truffles liberally shaved over pasta… At, L'Arôme in Bonnieux, you can dine in a vaulted stone cellar. Food is simple and elegant, with salt-baked sea bream and bouillabaisse as the stand-outs, and some more experimental dishes, such as pink trout tartare with a wasabi marinade.

Reviews

Photos Capelongue reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this picturesquely pastoral hotel in the Luberon and arranged the basketfuls of flowers they’ve gathered in artisanal terracotta vases bought in the local market, a full account of their vie en lavande break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Capelongue Hotel in Provence…

Provence is perhaps the ultimate comfort destination: it envelopes you in a lavender-perfumed landscape of cypress, olive and almond trees; feeds you warm fresh bread, perfectly medium-rare steaks, truffle-topped pastas and steaming bouillabaisse; and hands you a glass of wine whenever you need it, like a trusted bestie. And, Capelongue Hotel, five minutes outside plus beau village Bonnieux, has captured the region’s rustic cosiness in its vintage farm buildings and country estate. It feels like a home with its antiques, flowers and local handicrafts, but there’s a bigger picture here, specifically the all-around views of the painter- and poet-inspiring Luberon national park, with its ancient hilltop villages and leafy mountains. Hike or bike to the upper echelons (church-topped peaks, cedar-clad summits), ride donkeys through the forest, canoe along Le Sorgue, learn about the creative characters who owned châteaux in the region (Camus, the Marquis de Sade, Picasso muse Dora Maar), and tipsily tour the vineyards. But idling is an art form here, so you could just lie back and listen to the cicadas chirp and the mistral breathe, roll pétanque balls about, sketch the scenery then take a leisurely meal of re-imagined local fare. Then, watch the stars streak across the sky and crawl under lavender-scented linens, comfy as can be. 

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Price per night from $334.40