A dozen tumbledown village houses have been stitched into one hotel here, joined by lanes and stone bridges, with Mont Ventoux filling the end of every terrace. Lunch at La Table du Ventoux runs long over the vineyards, and the kitchen will happily teach you to cook it. The village has five hundred-odd residents and no shops to speak of, and takes its name from Henri IV's favourite soldier. The king's famous line to him, 'Hang yourself, brave Crillon; we fought and you weren't there', is probably apocryphal, but nobody here minds. Nothing much happens up on this hill. That's the appeal.
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The bar sits on the ground floor of Maison Roche, the oldest building here, under a pastel-painted vaulted ceiling, with a fire lit in autumn and pétanque (like bocce but French) outside. Spa des Écuries fills the eighteenth-century stables: three treatment rooms, hammam, sauna, jacuzzi, cold bath. The gym has taken over a chapel. Two pools look out over the valley, one adults-only. Creeper on the stone, a century-old olive in the courtyard, terraces stacked down the hillside. Lovely, in fact.
Mountain view or not: that's the first thing to settle, and rooms with Ventoux in the name have it in the window. The rest overlook rooftops and gardens and are priced accordingly. Paris designer Charles Zana's interiors run to red floor tiles, linen, antiques, aniseed green and storm grey. Superiors are compact; the Signature Ventoux tops the lot, with a fireplace, six windows at the mountain and two roll-top baths. Character shifts from house to house, so check which one you're in.
Bédoin, a couple of kilometres below, is where the classic climb begins: forest first, then the café at Chalet Reynard where the trees give up, then bare white rock and, near the top, the memorial to Tom Simpson, the English cyclist who collapsed on this road during the 1967 Tour de France. Walkers get the same climb more slowly. The Dentelles de Montmirail rise in limestone fins to the west, Gigondas and Beaumes-de-Venise pour nearby, and Vaison-la-Romaine keeps two excavated Roman quarters and a bridge still carrying traffic after two thousand years.
Ventoux at breakfast. The Giant of Provence stands entirely on its own, so that bald white summit is there above the terrace whichever way you turn.
Drive to the summit at first light, before the cyclists and the heat. On a clear morning half of Provence lies below you, the Alps stand up on one side and, with luck, the Mediterranean glints on the other.
Cyclists come in numbers, because the hardest road up the mountain, 21 kilometres from Bédoin to the 1,909-metre summit, starts just down the hill. If you pictured a hushed romantic hideaway, expect a good deal of lycra and gradient talk at breakfast.
Start with a recommended trip or create one from scratch
Crillon le Brave can be booked with Timbuktu as part of a tailor-made France trip, rather than as a standalone room reservation. Start online, customising one of our recommended France trips featuring Crillon le Brave or get advice and suggestions from one of our France specialists who will design the trip around your dates, check availability and handle every booking for you.
Stays at Crillon le Brave start from around $220, or US$220, per person per night as part of a tailor-made trip. The exact price depends on your travel dates, room type and the shape of the rest of your itinerary. A Timbuktu travel specialist can give you an accurate quote for your dates.
An aromatic wonderland where lavender whispers sweet nothings to the olive groves, and the light seems to dance with an artist's touch.
