I Found 4 Dream Retreat Locations in France – But I Can Only Pick One

I’m planning my 2026 retreat in France… but I can’t decide where to host it! I’ve narrowed it down to four incredible options: From a peaceful hilltop village to a charming Provençal villa, a rustic countryside escape, and even a luxury dream property. Each one has its own charm, day trips, and experiences, and I’d love your help choosing the perfect retreat location in France.

In this video, I take you behind the scenes of my retreat planning process, share the pros and cons of each location, and give you a taste of the kind of slow living, food, and French culture we’ll enjoy together. From hilltop villages to truffle farms, wine tastings, Provençal markets, and even the famous antiques of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue – the decision isn’t easy.

00:00 Introduction
01:20 Option 1: Charming Hilltop Village
04:31 Option 2: Uzes villa
06:35 Disaster bike ride
07:18 Option 3: Idyllic Artist’s House
09:26 Option 4: Luxury 5-star Villa

📌 Comment below: Which retreat would YOU choose? Your opinion will help me make the final decision!

What my retreats are about:
Slow living in France · French food & wine · Markets, day trips & cultural experiences · A chance to reset, recharge, and be inspired.

**Sign up here to be notified when booking opens, along with dates & details:
https://provence.parisfoodaffair.com/waitlist-fjtretreats-2026

Photo Credit with thanks to:
Harriet Davidson
Doreen Kilfeather
Bastide de Laurence

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I’m planning my 2026 retreats in France, but I’m stuck as to which one to choose. I have four incredible options. I cannot decide. From a charming hilltop village to a stunning luxury villa, each has its pros and cons, and I’d like your help to decide. Oh my goodness. Okay. [Music] I’m back in US. I just got back Monday and now it is Sunday. Even the whole week has flown by quickly. But um do you love my little tray that I got at the antique market this morning? I do too. I’m like, well, I must put my espresso on this tiny tray. These are treats are all about experiencing slow living, French food, and the French lifestyle and also just the beauty and wonder of France itself. So, the setting really matters and wherever the setting is is what the excursions will be and those matter, too. And I just I want to get it right. Okay, option one is the charming hilltop village. [Music] Do you think you [Music] [Music] Only only you only only you only only you only Only me. [Music] So this uh this village is something I think you would never come across. So that makes it unique. It has beautiful views overlooking the landscape and you can even see the Mediterranean in the background. Honestly, just really lovely. There are pretty fabulous hilltop views overlooking the countryside from almost every bedroom. So, I love that. One thing is that I would have to rent two different properties. Um, and they’re kind of just across the street from each other. So, maybe a 30 second walk. It’s not far, but people would be separate. This spot has more of a um of a wellness focus. So, there’s a yoga room and the the hosts have a philosophy. Um they’re very big on yoga and meditation. They’re vegetarian. Location is beautiful. The hosts are just lovely humans. You can just tell. And then the village is extremely charming. The day trip options here would be um to explore some of the other hilltop villages that are nearby. Um, we could do a day trip down to the coast and go see Antib or take a boat out on the water. Nice is an easy uh quick shuttle ride away, maybe like 30 minutes. Could possibly do a food tour in Nice. Oh, and then a wine tasting at a at a local vineyard. Now, option two is the Uzess Villa. Of course, I’m excited about the opportunity to be able to show Uzess to people because I think it’s such just a lovely town. And by the time I have the retreat next year, I feel like I’ll have more connections around the town with like shop vendors and cafe people and whatnot. So, that will just kind of be a fun little treat. And of course, the markets are gorgeous. I love them. So, the Uzess Villa is also pretty incredible. Um, I haven’t gotten to visit it yet, though, and I can’t go visit it for another 10 days. [Music] But that being said, it’s just a rental and I would have to organize everything. Like everything everything I need to find um private chefs for us and all the excursions. It’s also about a 10-minute drive away from us, so we would have to take taxis every time. So, I would just need to make sure I can find a taxi service that is able to come get us with the frequency that we need. But, you know, all arrangeable, which is completely fine. It has two pools, has AC in case I have it in the summer and it’s hot. Um, the rooms are beautiful, and then again, just the proximity to us. I really love that. The cons are just that I haven’t seen it yet and that I would need to arrange taxis anytime we wanted to go into town because it’s a 10-minute drive and I want to say an over an hour’s walk away. I have to look that up. [Music] [Applause] Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. This is not a mountain bike. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Option three, the idilic artist’s house. So, there’s a whole story behind um behind this home. It’s beautifully decorated on the inside. A famous interior decorator used to live there who apparently also designed for the royals. So, kind of kind of knew his stuff. But um it’s been purchased from him, but the interior was all designed by him. And it’s really honestly just this, like I said, ilic setting that really makes you feel like you are in Provence. It has that special kind of magical feel to it. Again, I haven’t visited in person yet, but I have a friend who went um in June and she said it was just she said it was really special. Um and she absolutely loved it. And that’s someone who’s lived in France for over a decade. So someone who is used to seeing the charm and the beauty in the way that France is confirmed that it’s a really incredible location and she’s the one who put me in touch um with them. So uh the con with them is essentially at this point I’m just waiting for pricing because if it’s a crazy amount then that will make it not an option. [Music] So, I think this one just has a special atmosphere, rustic charm. Um, two lovely female chefs. Uh, one’s Australian, one’s Irish. And yeah, just waiting on pricing, which could be a dealbreaker. the day trip options here. This one is further east in Provence. We could do day trips to Gourd and Rousion, the hilltop villages. We would probably go on a wine tasting or maybe go um to an olive farm. So, I still would have to explore in that area what’s nearby and find what we can do, but we would still get to explore beautiful charming villages. And then option four is the luxury villa. And even though when I put the poll out there, it’s clear that more people just want a normal priced retreat and not the luxury retreat. That being said, this property is just so stunning and I don’t know, I just have this feeling like I’m meant to have a retreat there. The pluses about the luxury villa, first of all, just gorgeous property. The rooms are absolutely lovely. Um, the grounds are gorgeous and there’s even a pizza oven outside and so and just, you know, a long table. So, I could really imagine a group of us being there. Another plus is that if I do host a retreat there, then they would likely repost it on their page, which has a lot of followers. So it would be a way to get exposure maybe to other people and maybe to that kind of higherend um audience. But yeah, the price would be more in the 8 to 9k per person range because the private chefs are a lot more expensive in a place like that and then just the accommodation itself and you know all everything that comes along with it. It’s just a lot more. the pros. It is right by uh Leo Solasoga which is such a great town. Um has famous for its Sunday market. So it has um a great Sunday market both food farmers market and antique market and I think that would be really really fun to be able to to be there and then just the town is adorable. So that’s a great location and plenty of day trip options. Obviously we would go to Levas especially on market day. Um there’s lots of canals throughout the town. It’s really beautiful. Still close enough to go visit um the other hilltop towns. Could still do a wine tasting or an olive farm. Um there’s some special spots in the area where we could have sort of a special luxury lunch outing at another location. So really that spot is kind of once in a lifetime I think is the kind of experience that that is. But because it is so much more expensive, I think it’s like three times like one of the other ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. More than three times what one of the other ones. It just means that the price would have to be higher to be able to cover the costs and I would need to have quite a few people there to even just break even. But I think it would be a special experience. The other con to this one is that um it would be sort of towards the end of October, second to week, second to last week in October, which by then is just a bit cooler. And so for the other spots, I could have it in early to midsepptember or even in June, which is just kind of more mild and temperate and still easy to swim. So those are my four options. And I’m curious now after having looked at them, what would you pick? Like if you were going to come on one of the retreats, what would be your pick? And what do you think I should do? Honestly, I wish that I could host one at each location, but I think having four different retreats would be a lot. Um, so I’m willing to have two different locations next year and I’m just not sure how many I’m going to do yet because it will obviously depend on demand. So, at the moment, I’m planning to do two separate weeks um considering June, September, and October. And so, yeah, the question is, do I just pick one spot and have the same retreat experience with two different groups at that spot, or do I pick two different ones and I could pick sort of the charming far away hilltop village along with the luxury? Or I could just do, you know, two different weeks at the I don’t know. They all seem so great. Anyway, help. No, I would love to hear what you think. So, please let me know down in the comments or um I’ll also probably put a poll there uh and pin the comment at the top because I would love your feedback. I just need help deciding. Thank you. More soon. And action. Oh, hello. Okay, just chit cchatting away. Uh, the other the the pluses about uh the um Okay, the day trap. The day trap from Charming. Uh, there’s another and critter.