La Mirande

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‘La Mirande’

"Centrally located former cardinal's palace of fine food and wine, beautifully furnished"

3 / 5 Description by commercial partner travelintelligence

‘La Mirande’

We all have favourite hotels and personal preferences, but for this reviewer the Mirande is the best hotel of its type in Europe - and since you can't get the type outside Europe, as the essence of it is steeped in European history - in the world. It's an old ecclesiastical nobleman's house, what used to be known as a 'hotel particulier', the former house of a cardinal in the very shadow of the grim granite walls of the papal palace. The triumph of the hotel has been to preserve the character and historic association of an 18thC townhouse mansion, with its exquisite antiques, its hanging aubusson rugs, its carefully recreated (and in some cases original) 18thC fabrics and chinoiserie, and its original and stunning architectural features - from the 15thC coffered ceiling (double-caisson a la francaise) to its historically recreated kitchens, where cookery classes are held midweek when the restaurant is closed.

Downstairs the public reception rooms are fabulous (here is the coffered ceilings) and the courtyard has been ingeniously covered to create the restaurant. Upstairs, the 20 guestrooms have all been decorated 'a la mode', with Pierre Frey fabric 18thC wall coverings, fine antiques and, in most, separate showers. Most of the flooring is tiled in honeycomb terracotta, much of it original, with some parquet flooring and rugs in the rooms - the suite has wood panelled walls. There is also a two room apartment in a separate building. A couple of the rooms have small terraces. Outside, a delightful small garden hugs the wall of the palace. In buqing and busy Avignon, La Mirande is an oasis of calm and quiet. It is privately owned, opened only in 1991.

3 / 5 Review by editor James Dunford Wood