Château de Berne

Super nice hotel! Everything about it is perfect. The Michellin dinner was also incredible. Worth the travel if you are visiting southern France.

After you see the sign off the D10, it’s a 15 minute anticipatory drive toward the grand entrance. You will not be disappointed, the grounds are breathtaking. If you arrive after sunset, go slowly as the directional signs are not lit and they are small. When you come to a fork in the road, stay right. Methi in Reception provided a warm welcome, offering a gel for my sisters’s sore back. We benefited from her attentive hospitality and missed her on her days off. Our six day stay was magical, enhanced by the most wonderful staff. They brought my sister a large heavy plastic sealed bag of ice for her sore back. Three days in, Rhazi, from room service, brought her another without her asking. Kevin in Engineering showed us how to operate the tv and returned to change batteries in our room phone. Nightly, Rhazi and others from Room Service, brought a wine bucket full of ice for our room, as Americans, we love ice, even in bottled water. Our Junior Suite with terrace with seating for six was perfect, providing the extra room we needed for an extended stay. The setting was extremely quiet, even over the busy weekend. We appreciated the little touches - bottled water for our car each morning, bottled water for the room every night along with a little sweet which changed nightly. The buffet breakfast offerings were endless: order eggs cooked to your liking, pancakes, French toast, smoked salmon, a large cheese selection, cereals and granolas, homemade bread and endless breakfast pastries. You’ll take your breakfast in the stunning Le Jardin Michelin star restaurant. We ordered Room Service three nights, tired from a day of touring the area and preferring not to go out. Everything was delicious and beautifully presented. Even on the night when the kitchen was closed, a staff member brought us a modified menu. Try the artichoke barigoule with bacon and onion, it was a nice surprise, more like a light vegetable soup. Treat yourself with an extended stay, you will not be disappointed.

The grounds and setting at Château de Berne are truly beautiful — the vineyards, architecture, and peaceful atmosphere make for a breathtaking escape. However, the experience was let down by the service, which felt rigid and unwelcoming. We stayed one night and arrived around 4 PM. I asked for a second room key, which is a pretty standard request at any hotel, and was told rather curtly that they only give out one. The next morning, I asked if we could extend our checkout by just 30 minutes to an hour — again, the answer was a flat-out no, with no effort to accommodate or even acknowledge the request politely. The staff made it clear it “wasn’t their problem.” It’s unfortunate that such a beautiful property is let down by a lack of flexibility and warmth from the team. For a five-star relais & château, I expected a much higher level of hospitality. We stay at their sister hotel in St Paul De Vence every year, and the experience didn’t match.