Hôtel & Spa des Gorges du Verdon, in La Palud

The house

It is the hotel of the family that came to La Palud when the Verdon was only beginning to receive tourists. Hendrika and Maurice Schaeffer built it in 1973; in 1986 their daughter Hélène and her husband, Jean-Michel Bogliorio, took it over, raised it from two stars to four and added a spa, and since 2016 their children, Soizic and Thibault, have worked in it. It is, therefore, a house of three generations, not of a chain.

It stands at 938 m, on the edge of La Palud-sur-Verdon, on the north bank of the canyon. From here the Route des Crêtes is a few minutes away and the Blanc-Martel trail shuttle leaves from the same village, so it is the base to look for if you are going to walk along the bottom of the gorge or to do the viewpoints in the last light. The building is of stone, with a large iron lizard on the façade, and has environmental labels (Clé Verte, European Ecolabel) for its waste management, solar panels and heat pumps.

Rooms and spa

There are thirty, among rooms, ten duplexes and three suites. The simplest, the Standard Verdon, is 17 m² and the website advertises it from €180 a night; the Observatoire adds a balcony (from €220) and the Supérieure, a terrace or adapted access (from €280). For families there are 35 m² duplexes with a private terrace, for four, from €420, and suites of 40 to 55 m², up to six people, from €495.

The outdoor pool is heated and covered according to the weather and season. The jacuzzi and hammam are free for guests to use; the spa, of the Cinq Mondes brand, also has a private area with a pool, sauna and chromotherapy shower, and massages by booking. The hotel restaurant, Le 938, by cook Sandrine Gorce, serves a buffet breakfast and dinner of local, seasonal produce.

When it opens and how to get there

It closes in winter: in 2027 it opens on 23 April, and the phone is answered again in early February; before then, book on the website or by email. Check-in is at 15:00 and check-out at 11:00. Parking is free and enclosed, and animals are accepted with a supplement. You arrive from Moustiers on the D952 in about half an hour.