Le Couvent des Minimes – a 1613 convent rises to Three MICHELIN Keys

In September 2026 the MICHELIN Guide lifted Le Couvent des Minimes from Two to Three Keys, the distinction reserved for what the guide calls extraordinary stays, placing this former convent among a small circle of French addresses at the very top of its hotel ranking. The building dates to 1613, when Melchior de Forbin de Janson, newly made lord of Mane, built a convent here for the penitent Order of Minims; its facades still stand below the Volx Rock, which has sheltered the site from the Mistral for four centuries. The gastronomic restaurant takes its name from Louis Éconches Feuillée, the explorer-botanist who grew up in the convent and was later named royal botanist to Louis XIV. Reopened in June 2023 after a two-year renovation led by the Geneva-based De Planta agency, the hotel now counts 49 rooms and suites, including fifteen new ones, and the 2,500 m² L'Occitane spa, while the kitchens of Burgundy-born chef Louis Gachet, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2023, hold one Michelin star.

01The house

Mane sits in the hills between Forcalquier and Manosque, inside the Luberon Regional Nature Park, and the convent that gives the hotel its name was raised a quarter of a century after Melchior de Forbin de Janson acquired the seigneury of Mane in 1588. Several Minim friars who studied here went on to become theologians, mathematicians and naturalists, the most celebrated of them Louis Feuillée, later honoured with the name of the restaurant.

The 2021–2023 renovation, overseen by hosts Fabien and Valérie Piacentino with architect Antony Micoud and the Geneva agency De Planta, restored the original convent typology while building the new spa wing. The estate now runs partly on geothermal energy as part of a declared commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, and the terraced Mediterranean gardens climbing the hillside behind the hotel remain one of its defining features.

02Rooms and suites

The 49 rooms and suites are divided between the former convent itself and two newer buildings, La Restanque and Les Deux Serres, set among the terraced gardens with lavender fields visible beyond. Decoration runs to oak, linen, stoneware and wicker in a palette of white, beige, brown and olive green, with large windows opening onto the Mediterranean grounds.

Insider tip

About an hour from Marseille-Marignane airport and Aix-en-Provence's TGV station.

Categories move from Classic and Superior rooms through to Superior and Deluxe rooms with their own terrace, and three rooms are fitted to welcome guests with reduced mobility. Fifteen of the forty-nine keys are new, added during the most recent renovation alongside the expanded spa.

03Where to eat

Dinner is served at Le Feuillée, awarded its first Michelin star in March 2024, in a dining room of understated materials that gives way, in summer, to a terrace shaded by a single plane tree. Chef Louis Gachet, who earned the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title in 2023, built his career in some of France's most decorated kitchens before bringing an instinct for his native Burgundy's produce to this Provençal table.

The wine list, put together by head sommelier Florian Nédélec, leans on Var and Provence domaines to match the kitchen's produce-driven style. Le Feuillée seats guests Wednesday to Sunday, from 7.15pm to 9pm. By day, the Pamparigouste bistro offers a more relaxed version of the same regional cooking, for anyone not reserving the starred table.

04The bar

Drinks come in two registers on the property: L'Alambic, for a late cocktail indoors, and the poolside Galinette bar for something colder in the afternoon sun. For a closer look at the region's winemaking, La Dame Jeanne tasting cellar is set aside entirely for sampling local bottles.

05Spa and wellbeing

The L'Occitane Spa spans 2,500 m², the result of the extension built during the last renovation, and the hotel describes it as the world's first spa certified by Ecocert Greenlife under its Sustainable Wellness Establishment programme. Its circuit runs to an indoor pool, an outdoor Nordic pool, two saunas, a hammam, a salt grotto, a multi-sensory pool and a cyclone shower, backed by ten treatment rooms, two of them designed for couples.

Beyond treatments, the programme extends to yoga classes, naturopathy workshops and a gym open around the clock; access to the spa itself is restricted to guests aged 16 and over, with those under 18 required to be accompanied.

06The neighbourhood

Mane lies between Forcalquier and Manosque, inside the Luberon Regional Nature Park, with lavender fields nearby and roughly an hour's drive from Marseille-Marignane airport and from Aix-en-Provence's TGV station. It was here, in 1660, that Louis Feuillée was born and educated at the Minim convent before later sailing for Louis XIV to chart South America's coastline and catalogue its plants — a piece of local history the hotel's restaurant now carries in its name.

07Making the most of a stay

Book a table at Le Feuillée well ahead of a visit: the restaurant closes for its winter break from 1 January to 2 March 2027, reopening for dinner on 3 March. The wider hotel also closes briefly each December, from the 22nd to the 25th, reopening on the 26th at 4pm.

A member of Relais & Châteaux, the house keeps 12 electric-vehicle chargers and private valet parking on site, useful for anyone arriving by road from the Côte d'Azur or Avignon rather than flying into Marseille.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.