Le Palais D'Aglaé

The rooms are quite small and a bit cramped for two people. The dinner restaurant is very good, though its small menu can make it tricky for vegetarians. Breakfast is modest, with delicious local items, and the food and service are very good. It’s a cute little hotel just outside Gordes, and a great place to spend a couple of nights. Highly recommendable!

I absolutely loved our room, especially the balcony with all the pretty vines and plants. The food was good, and the pool was phenomenal, so warm, and I had it to myself for quite a while. The trouble was with dining as a group. For dinner, they squeezed us into a room that was clearly too small, with no windows open, and it got so loud I had to leave early. At the other two hotels on our trip, our group could sit wherever we liked at breakfast. Here we were all put in the same tiny room, with the sun in our faces, even though the main dining area had lots of open seats. It was a little less crowded because not everyone was ready to eat at once, and thankfully they eventually let latecomers use the quieter main room. An outdoor option would help. This was early May, and the weather was very suitable for it. Otherwise, it’s a great hotel, so this only matters if you’re travelling in a group. I hope they change the group dinner arrangements, perhaps splitting people between rooms or seating some outside.

Compared with my last visit in 2018, the service and facilities have really deteriorated. The daily room cleaning was very poor, and we had to ask repeatedly for the floor to be vacuumed. Calling the SPA a spa feels insulting: it’s a one-square-metre box with a small bath in a dark, rather sad room, and the chlorine level seemed close to toxic. Drinks were expensive, €8 for pastis and €17 for very average cocktails. The staff didn’t seem trained to make cocktails, so those prices felt ridiculous. Reception had a very strange smell. One woman wasn’t very friendly and chased us about checkout even though we were on time. We also asked several times for fresh water in the room and were ignored. The yoga area was neglected too, with dirty towels left hanging around for days. In my view, this is far from a four-star place.

The staff were so friendly and couldn’t do enough for us. Our room was very well appointed, and staff came by three times a day to check that everything was all right. There was plenty to choose from at the continental breakfast, and the gourmet dinner was high quality. With the lovely pool, relaxing in the sunny afternoons was a treat. The hotel sits in a beautiful spot with dramatic valley views. Hordes is a dramatic little town, and the market is worth visiting. A very relaxing place for a holiday.