Provence, France
Visit Alain Ducasse's gourmet getaway

From the April 22, 2002 Issue of New York

If food is your deity of choice, you'll want to make the pilgrimage to Alain Ducasse's alimentary ashram, a breathtaking 90-minute drive north of Nice in the tranquil village of La Celle. Occupying a beautifully restored eighteenth-century inn adjoining a royal Benedictine abbey dating from the twelfth century, Ducasse's Hostellerie de l'Abbaye de la Celle has ten air-conditioned bedrooms set in seven acres of parkland, with an orchard, a historic vineyard, a heated swimming pool, and the restaurant's kitchen garden, where it grows its own produce. Detailed hands-on cooking lessons are available each morning in spacious kitchens with chef BenoƮt Witz. At lunch, consume the fruits of your efforts on the shady terrace.
-- GILLIAN DUFFY





Details
Hostellerie de l'Abbaye de la Celle (Rooms start at $215; 33-4-98-05-14-14 or abbaye-celle.com); Delta (800-221-1212) has daily nonstop flights from JFK to Nice.

 

 
 
Photograph: Steven Richter