Editor Pick
L'Escalo
- September 3, 2006
- Rated 4 of 5 by
yevochka from Montreal, Quebec
L'Escalo is a perfect place to leave your baggage as you venture to explore the Gorges du Verdon and the lake of Saint Croix. It is located right in the center of Moustiers Ste Marie, squeezed between two touristy stores, and offers comfortable, clean rooms along with tasty breakfast that consists of locally produced honey and jams on right-out-of-the-oven baguettes. The breakfast is served between 8:30 and 10am, though when my husband woke up on the last day at 10:30 the owners were nice enough to not only offer him breakfast but also invited him to eat it with them. You can either breakfast in the kitchen or in the lovely garden that overviews the lower valley (depending on the weather of course, in late August it was too cold in the mornings to eat in the garden).
The rooms are very neat, and I found that the owners have a very nice taste in interior design. We slept in the cheapest room of the house (€49) that was located right under the roof, next to the kitchen. The walls aren't very sound proof, but what can you expect from a house that is 4 centuries old? In the mornings we were woken up by people having breakfast in the kitchen, and they most likely heard us taking our showers. But at night, however, the silence of the Provence sounded like heaven to my ears too tired from the honking of Marseille.
If you are traveling by car, L'Escalo does not provide any parking places (naturally since it is located in the part of the town where cars are not allowed). There are several parking places around Moustiers, but since it is a well known tourist destination, expect to drive in circles for a little bit before you find one. The hotel, however, provides a map with some parking places in the area on their site http://lescalo.odepp.org/. Don't worry if you think you've driven too far, the village is so small, that wherever you park, you can easily find your way back to the center.
So overall I give L'Escalo 4 stars. Because (in my opinion) nothing can beat cleanliness, comfort, and genuinely warm welcoming, not even noise in the morning and lack of parking spots.
From journal Gorges du Verdon