Christina, saw your comments on this hotel on another thread. It looks really lovely but I have a few questions for you. How many nights did you spend there? 2 or 3 or more? Did you eat breakfast at the hotel? Are there restaurants in the area?

Hope you see this. Thanks.

topping for Christina

hi, Ronda. Yes, it is lovely, it is actually a little nicer than the photos even appear, I think. Maybe they have re-done the photos, a few years ago the room or salon photos looked a little old-fashioned and fussy, but they weren't that way in person.

I spend four nights there, as I recall, in July a couple years ago.

Yes, I ate breakfast at the hotel -- most people do as it's in the country, and they have a very nice breakfast out on a nice terrace. You can have it inside in the tables inside, if you want.

There are a couple restaurants in the area -- but it depends how far you want to go. I liked trying different places to eat and getting out for the evening, rather than just dining at the hotel as some people do at a lot of Provence inns (some places will state they require demi-pension, even though I don't think they are supposed to).

It's on a major road, so driving to nearby places is easy, and the place is easy to find even when it gets dark as they have a private entrance and it's lit up (I think you get a digicode to open the driveway gate if you come back after 10-11 pm, I forget). Plus, the roads are pretty easy to navigate around there, at least D or beter.

There is a decent Italian bistro as the closest -- it's just north of it on the same road maybe .5 mile. I also ate at the restaurant of a more modern hotel that is on a manmade small pond north of there, but off the main road. I can't recall its name -- you see ads for it and I was the only American there that I noticed, as it was sort of a place for French people to holiday. They did have live music, which I liked although it was rather bad -- so bad it was kind of funny, though. It was sort of that old Bill Murray lounge singer gag on Saturday Night Live. The food wasn't very good, though, although the desserts were okay. It was the Hotel Prato Plage. They were really nice there, and I enjoyed meeting locals and the maitre d' was so excited I was there when he heard I was from Washington DC, it was really cute. They don't really get a lot of American tourists there. So, it was an experience I enjoyed, but if you are foodies or really care about that a lot, the main dish was not great.

There are a few restaurants in Pernes les Fontaines, the closest "town" just south of the inn a few miles -- the best is Dame L'Oie and you should reserve for that as it's not large. It gets decent reviews in Gault Millau, etc.

Here is a URL with the main restaurants in the area and their addresses
http://www.cuisine-francaise.com/res...ines-45446.htm

Dame l'Oie used to have a webpage but I can't find it anymore. It's typical Provencale cuisine, moderately priced but more than most places around there. The hotel can reserve for you, if you want. It's closed Mondays, like a lot of places are around there.

Other than that, I went to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue for dinner once or twice, which is maybe 8-10 miles farther south of Pernes les Fontaines. There are a couple restaurants along that route outside town limits, also, you can notice when you drive along it, but I didn't dine there. I think they were mostly Italian/pizza, for some reason. Anyway, there is no worry about not being able to eat dinner fairly easily.

BTW, Ronda, have you been in contact with this hotel? I just re-read my post where I mentioned this to Bnail, and she (He?) said she had reserved a room there with AC. I didn't think they had AC, but maybe I am remembering wrong and some rooms do and some don't and there weren't any with AC when I wanted to book, or something else about them didn't suit me. It's possible they've added AC, also, since I was there, I guess.

I just checked l'Hermitage website in case I missed the AC, but it doesn't seem to say anything about it.

I found some info on Dame l'Oie at this website
http://www.ville-pernes-les-fontaine....php?num_axe=5

If that doesn't work, go to homepage and look in the Annuaire for Restaurants, which lists about 10, most same as I gave on prior list. Here is the info on Dame l'Oie


<<Dame l'Oie
Restaurant de France.
Au centre de la salle, trone une fontaine entourée d'une centaine d'oies. Le chef propose 3 menus englobant une cuisine du Grand Sud. Un menu "autour d'un plat" en semaine, (13 &euro, un menu gourmet à 20€, un menu gourmand à 26€, et un menu enfant à 10€. Etablissement recommandé par les guides Michelin, Gault-Millau,et le Routard.
56 rue Troubadour Durand
84210 Pernes les fontaines
Tél : 04 90 61 62 43
Fax : 04 90 61 35 79>>

Not sure if you can read that -- prices are modest; the gourmet prix-fixe dinner is only 20 euro. The info at the beginning is rather interesting -- that the restaurant has as a place of honor in the center of the room, a fountain surrounded by about 100 ducks. That's a lot of ducks, but maybe they are little. I've seen photos, it's very nice, but I missed it last time I was there.

Now the main URL is the city's website, and if you go to that area, you should check it out as it is one of the better websites I've seen for places that size. It gives maps and information on what to see in the town, with photos of the fountains it is known for, and some other monuments. I spent about a day just in Pernes, it's a nice little town. Of course, you can stop by the tourist office when you get there for more information and a good map.

Ronda,
Based on Christina's recommendation, I booked a room at l'Hermitage. Their website is www.hotel-lhermitage.com. On the link 'The Hotel' it states that most of their rooms have AC. They were very quick to respond to my email and reserved a room for me and husband with AC. I believe they reserved what they called a large room with two beds for 82E.

Thanks for the update on the hotel, I was looking at their old URL
http://lhermitage.ifrance.com/
which is still running and is basically correct but the prices are a little out of date (2003). It doesn't mention the AC, either.

The new URL you gave is more complete with information and photos. Maybe they did have some rooms with AC when I was there and I just couldn't get one -- I remember I was booking a little late for the season. I notice the website says most rooms have AC, not all. That's good to know as I'd like to get back some day, that was one of my better hotel finds in France.

Thanks for all the info; I was gone for a couple of days and so just now viewed the post. I haven't contacted them but as BNail stated, I did note that the web site stated some/most of the rooms have AC.

It does look lovely.