Gite or Mas or hotel in Provence?
Jul 29th, 2004 | 07:58 AM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
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I don't have a lot of opinions on this as I think it mainly depends on finding a nice place where you want to stay -- except that a hotel vs. gite/mas are different things for different kinds of stays.
A gite is a shortterm vacation rental from an owner. It can be anything from an extra room on the side of the owner's house to an entire house. There's no one definition, but you are just renting from an owner and won't get hotel services, of course. Most rent by the week down there that I've seen, and often starting on Sunday.
A mas is a big older Provence house -- I don't know the technical definition, but they are made of some kind of stone and are the main building on an estate, I think (or used to be, now turned into a hotel). It's no different from a hotel to me and I"ve stayed at one -- some are very nice and some more modest -- they tend to have more grounds than a hotel would but that's not always true, either.
A gite is a shortterm vacation rental from an owner. It can be anything from an extra room on the side of the owner's house to an entire house. There's no one definition, but you are just renting from an owner and won't get hotel services, of course. Most rent by the week down there that I've seen, and often starting on Sunday.
A mas is a big older Provence house -- I don't know the technical definition, but they are made of some kind of stone and are the main building on an estate, I think (or used to be, now turned into a hotel). It's no different from a hotel to me and I"ve stayed at one -- some are very nice and some more modest -- they tend to have more grounds than a hotel would but that's not always true, either.
Jul 29th, 2004 | 09:48 AM
#4
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 5,110
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Bev, I think the advantages of the different types of accommodation really depend on your preferred style of touring. As Christina has pointed out, gîtes (and other houses) are typically let for a week at a time. They provide a home base from which you can make day trips to surrounding towns and sites. You can unpack, spread out, and prepare some of your own meals.
On the other hand, if you wish to cover a lot of ground, you may prefer driving from town to town and staying in hotels.
We have made numerous trips to Provence and Languedoc and have rented houses on eleven different occasions. (We found most of then through frenchconnections.co.uk and holiday-rentals.com.) We have been very pleased with our accommodations and have found this approach works for us.
Hope you have a good trip.
Anselm
On the other hand, if you wish to cover a lot of ground, you may prefer driving from town to town and staying in hotels.
We have made numerous trips to Provence and Languedoc and have rented houses on eleven different occasions. (We found most of then through frenchconnections.co.uk and holiday-rentals.com.) We have been very pleased with our accommodations and have found this approach works for us.
Hope you have a good trip.
Anselm
