A review of La Mirande Avignon, a hotel inside a 14th-century palace, next to Palais des Papes, the best base for Provence.
La Mirande is a 14th-century hôtel particulier (nobleman's palace) only 30 metres from the Palais des Papes, the building was once home to Cardinal Arnaud de Via, nephew of Pope John XXII.
The Stein-Pamard family bought it in 1986 and restored it in the style of a French stylish home, not an overdone palace hotel, with 26 rooms.
Every room is different, no two are alike.
Ask for Suite Cardinal if your travel dates have availability, the view at night, when Palais des Papes is lit amber, is the reason to book this hotel.
Chef Florent Pietravalle (an Alain Ducasse disciple) runs the in-house restaurant, using vegetables from the Provence garden, seven-course tasting €145, wine pairing €85.
Or guests can choose the Table d'hôte, dinner in the palace's original kitchen, which keeps the 19th-century copper stove. An experience available nowhere else.
"It feels like being a dinner guest at the Cardinal's grandmother's house, not a hotel guest." - K. Pim, May 2024
Avignon is the right base for all of Provence:
See our lavender timing guide to choose your travel window.
La Mirande runs a French cooking class in the historic kitchen three times a week, four courses with a chef using a real wood stove. Guests leave with the hotel apron + recipes to take home.
La Mirande appears in Wanvela's France 10-night itinerary as a three-night base, between Paris and the Riviera.
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