Provence, France

Ultimate Provence

Price per night from$148.59

Price information

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

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR134.02), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Ultimate Provence Photos

Style

Raisin the bar

Setting

Provençal paysage

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Seemingly at odds with its full-on-rural Provençal setting, the Ultimate Provence hotel rather curiously identifies itself as an ‘urban wine estate’. Step inside, however, and it soon becomes clear. The ‘urban’ is in the attitude and the aesthetics. With its dapper young staff and swish mid-century styling, this is far as you can get from a musty rustic winery. But wine still sits very much at the centre of the experience. Whether flopped by the chic swimming pool or swooning over the top-notch cuisine, you’ll likely be doing it with a chilled glass of vin de maison to hand. 

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of rosé wine on arrival

Facilities

Photos Ultimate Provence facilities

Need to know

Rooms

33, which includes studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 4pm, although earlier check-in can be requested (subject to availability).

More details

Rates do not include breakfast; a buffet breakfast is €20 for each guest.

Also

Be sure to book in advance for a sommelier-led wine tasting experience, either at the off-lobby bar or in the more exclusive mezzanine area.

Please note

The hotel has live music throughout the summer, until early October; bands play live in the restaurant on Thursdays (on Sundays you'll find them by the pool).

Hotel closed

The property opens from April through to November.

At the hotel

Beach club, stylish swimming pool, spa, fitness centre, bike rental, 24-hour check-in, gift shop, daily laundry service (9am–5pm; cost depending on item). In rooms: TV, free WiFi, welcome tray, minibar, coffee machine and tea-making kit, air-conditioning

Our favourite rooms

Set on the ground floor, the Superior with Terrace has grand arched French doors that open out onto a secluded terrace. If you're travelling with little Smiths, the Family Room and Two-Bedroom Apartment both have space for four.

Poolside

At around 18 metres, the enclosed pool is long enough for your morning laps and is heated on chillier days. You’ll find pool towels already on sunbeds when you arrive, and food-and-drink service at the push of a button.

Spa

The wellness centre is located in a separate building to the hotel and draws largely from traditional Indian and Japanese healing practices, from Ayurveda to Reiki. Inside, there's a sauna, steam room and heated pool. Classes and coaching are available, and there are three treatment rooms and an aromatherapy room, which make use of Vinessime and Voya products. For the full walking-on-air cleanse, try the three-day Panchakarma detox (although it does involve fasting).

Packing tips

Be sure to leave enough space to take home some of the estate’s much-lauded rosé – the beautifully designed bottles alone are worth tipping you over baggage allowance.

Also

All common areas can be accessed by wheelchair, and one of the guest rooms has been adapted with wider doors and an accessible bathroom.

Pet‐friendly

Feline and canine companions are allowed in all rooms, with an extra charge of €50 a night. See more pet-friendly hotels in Provence.

Children

Kids of all ages are welcome, with family-friendly rooms and two-bedroom apartments available. Babysitting can also be arranged for €30 an hour (with advanced booking).

Sustainability efforts

As part of an organic vineyard, Ultimate Provence has impeccable agricultural credentials, achieving top marks for HEV (High Environmental Value) certification. The estate is also recognised for bee-friendly policies and there’s a charging station for electric cars.

Food and Drink

Photos Ultimate Provence food and drink

Top Table

For panoramas over the surrounding vineyards, snag yourself a table in the far corner of the rooftop terrace. It’ll give you a good vantage point over the evening entertainment, too.

Dress Code

Slip on your dancing shoes, a few glasses of vin and the infectious Romani rhythms will have you wanting to move your feet.

Hotel restaurant

With little else less than a drive away, Ultimate Provence has ensured that its onsite dining is an experience you’ll happily keep returning to during your stay. It’s mostly centred around the rooftop UP Restaurant. Executive chef Guillaume Rigaudias presents a fresh take on Provençal classics, with produce sourced from the surrounding countryside and coast. Waterside brunch and light lunches are provided by UP Pool, served either on the sunbeds or the pool deck.

Hotel bar

Forged from a shipping container set on the rooftop, the UP Bar comes alive by night with flickering candles and chilled-out tunes. As well as a handful of the classics, also in the mix are a selection of signature cocktails featuring UP wine.

Last orders

Lunch is served at UP Restaurant from noon to 2pm; dinner at both restaurants starts at 7.30pm and ends at 9.30pm. UP Pool is open from 10am till 6pm.

Room service

You can order up from a decent selection of lighter bites during kitchen opening hours.

Location

Photos Ultimate Provence location
Address
Ultimate Provence
7270 Route du Luc
La Garde-Freinet
83680
France

The hotel is located next to the Provençal village of La Garde-Freinet in the Var département of southeastern France, which includes a stretch of the Côte d'Azur.

Planes

The two nearest international airports are Nice and Marseille, at pretty much exactly the same driving time of an hour-and-a-quarter. Both connect to major flight hubs around Europe and beyond. Transfers can be arranged for an extra cost.

Trains

Nearby Les Arcs-Draguignan train station is a 25-minute drive from the hotel and connects directly to Paris in under five hours on the high-speed TGV. Trains run straight into Nice Airport’s Terminal 2 from here, too. Transfers can be arranged but prices depend on the car, number of guests and arrival time at the station.

Automobiles

Your own set of wheels is a must if you’re planning to explore this corner of rural France or the glitzy Côte d'Azur. You’ll find a cluster of car-hire options in Saint Tropez, a 45-minute drive away, or just pick one up at the airport. Parking at the hotel is free.

Worth getting out of bed for

As well as wine, the hotel is big on wellness with on-request yoga sessions to help ease yourself into the day. Positioned just on the edge of the Plaine des Maures reserve, you also have a vast natural playground on your doorstep. Choosing from hiking, cycling or horseback riding through pine-scented trails or around the nearby Lac des Escarcets with its striking African-savannah-like landscape. Ask the hotel to pack a picnic (and a bottle of wine) for a lakeside lunch. If you need to entertain the little Smiths, the Aoubré Adventure Park, with its treetop trails, petting zoo and butterfly garden, is a 20-minute drive. Or for a day at the beach, you’re half-an-hour away from the yellow sand of Plage de Grimaud.  

Local restaurants

Ask at reception for off-site dining options, and they’ll likely direct you towards La Table at Château Saint-Roux, a 10-minute drive away. It’s set in an utterly charming 15th-century country estate with farm-to-table dining in a rustic-chic Provençal setting. Their prix fixe lunch is especially good value. Alternatively, you’ll find a cluster of quaint eateries in nearby La Garde-Freinet. Le Carnotzet has seating that spills out into the pretty central square and a menu of simple rustic fare. Just around the corner, the family-run Restaurant La Petite Fontaine offers more cosmopolitan cuisine with entrecôte and moules as their two standouts. 

Local bars

With its excellent bar, regular live music and low-key DJ sets, you won’t find anywhere nearby with better nightlife outside the hotel.

Reviews

Photos Ultimate Provence reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

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 French country hotel in Provence and unpacked their magnum of rosé and lavender sachets, a full account of their wine-centric break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Ultimate Provence in Var…

When you invite acclaimed design duo Humbert & Poyet to oversee the look and feel of your hotel, you can safely predict the result to be rather special. And the Monaco-based architects certainly upended conventions of what you’d expect from a French winery. On arrival, the hotel’s ubiquitous initials are forged in soaring oxidised metal, ushering you inside. Here, a casually sophisticated, lofty-ceilinged lobby instantly scores high on wow-factor. It’s the first of a series of airy interconnected spaces, including a library, restaurant and tasting room, each finished in an artful melange of subtle industrial-chic and mid-century modern style. The hotel’s Gallic good looks are backed up with top features, too, from lively destination dining to serene signature spa treatments. And it’s all surrounded by swathes of fragrant gardens and over a hundred acres of scenic terroir extending to rolling Provençal countryside. At this chic rural wine retreat, it’s not long before you’re drinking it all in. 

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