Le Moulin de Lourmarin

In so many ways a wonderful hotel – beautifully restored, tastefully and authentically decorated, and perfectly located. Only slightly disappointed by the standard of the dinner restaurant and the annoying procedures around breakfast (where you can wait a long time for a second cup of coffee) – as well as the outdoor café, where the service never showed up (despite a small concert). Besides this a very friendly staff. But the main reason for the missing stars is the terrible smell of mold in the room. A smell of mildew. It lingered in our clothes and bags for the rest of our stay in Provence, and didn’t disappear until everything could be washed after returning home. Perhaps this is as good as it gets in an old building close to the water – but then it should be reflected in the price. And this is a rather expensive hotel.

We stayed twice here in September and both visits were excellent. The rooms were comfortable and charming and location was excellent in the lovely village of Lourmarin. But best of all was the wonderful staff who were always totally willing to help out with any request. They were all very pleasant with special mention for Hugo and Christina (sorry we didn't get everyone's names). Highly recommended, even if it is a bit expensive.

Great reception on a rainy Thursday night. Tired after travelling, we arrived in pouring rain and could not see where our prebooked parking place was. Dennis?Denny? came to our rescue. He unloaded the car and took the luggage up to our room, explained that he would move the car because of the Friday Market,and suggested a quick pre dinner drink before we went to our table in their Bacheto restaurant. Throughout our stay the hotel staff were all very friendly and helpful. However, they don't seem to have enough trained people on duty at breakfast and we had to wait quite a while for cooked dishes and call attention to the fact that we were still waiting. We only ate in Bacheto once on the first night as their way of serving things seemed a bit odd. I ordered Lamb Cutlets and thats what I got but with no accompaniement except the bread that was on the table. Overall we enjoyed our stay and our room was lovely but the food side was disappointing.

While we didn't stay here, we ate at the Bacheto restaurant and also separately enjoyed a glass of wine or two at Le Bar, where they had live music. It was great to sit at a table Parisian-style and watch the people walking down the little lane in front of the bar.

This hotel is very conveniently located for the shops and restaurants of Lourmarin. Room was clean and comfortable and staff were helpful and friendly. We didn’t pay for parking but always found a space easily enough. However, if you arrive on a Friday as we did, it’s helpful to know that you won’t be able to access the hotel by car until about 2:30pm due to the weekly market closing the access road. We parked in the village and took a stroll around and had some lunch while we waited.