Les Hauts de Gordes

Panoramic Provençal Bastide: An Iconic House Renovation

Overlooking what Travel & Leisure dubbed “the most beautiful village in the world,” this generous villa combines old stones with contemporary angles, on a terraced, manicured, six-acre plot spread across a rugged, tangled hillside in Provence. Entirely renovated at the hands of local artisans to the creative specs of native-born interior designer Jérémie du Chaffaut, the art-filled estate goes heavy on the glass, with a glass-ceilinged kitchen, a greenhouse-inspired lounge, and an atrium-styled dining room with views for miles.

Add a garden cinema with amphitheater seating, a huge swimming pool, an outdoor art installation in tribute to Vasarely, and two traditional dry stacked stone bories (Provence’s neolithic-era agricultural storages), and you’ve got an address worthy of Iconic House. The brainchild of brother founders, the Iconic House portfolio includes exceptional private homes like Les Bords du Lac, Le 1550, and L'Etoile des Baux, with five-star hotel amenities and services, plus locally curated experiences. 

Les Hauts de Gordes sleeps a crowd across several structures, with seven ensuite bedrooms (including one family suite with bunk beds). Arts and crafts are on display throughout the property, meaning museum-quality art can be enjoyed at home. There’s the outdoor kitchen’s traditional Box Tree Curtain, the striking blue entrance portal designed by artist Gaultier Rimbault-Joffard, artist Robin Vermeersch’s swimming pool, and ceramics and paintings by Victor Marqué.

Amenities include a daily breakfast, a villa manager and an electric mini-car for use during the stay, in addition to a wealth of local experience options, from cycling in the Alpilles to touring Provence’s “Colorado” and the villages of Bonnieux, Lourmarin and Lacoste. Market tours, truffle hunting and signature spa treatments are also available, along with hiking treks in the Luberon and Roussillon.

AROUND

Less than three kilometers from the village of Gordes in the heart of the Luberon Regional Natural Park, this is the Provence of dreams and fairytales. Tufts of lavender cover hillsides, twisting olive groves and aromatic shrubbery glint in the Mediterranean sun, and stone- and cypress-pocked hillsides hold tile-roofed, ancient stone villages zigzagged by cobbled alleys and crumbling walls. The Roman Abbaye de Senaque, with its fields of fragrant lavender, is only five minutes from the home. The market village of L’Isle sur la Sorgue, with its notable antiques and waterfront eateries, is a less than a half hour’s drive away, and the French Riviera is accessible within a couple of hours. 

Gordes offers visitors a slice of quintessential Provence, a breathtakingly pretty hilltop village built in the foothills of the Vaucluse mountain range. White stone buildings with terracotta tiled roofs are clustered atop the steep hillside, connected by cobbled alleys and narrow streets. A 10th-century chateau dominates the village, and the Romanesque St. Firmin church is also worth a visit. Views from Gordes’ elevated squares and rampart-like overlooks are stunning, and the sentinel village is considered one of the most beautiful in France.

LOCATION

Gordes, Luberon, Provence, France. Nearest airport: Marseille (1 hour)

BEST TIME TO VISIT: April to October