Château de Fonscolombe

Château de Fonscolombe was built around 1730 for Boyer de Fonscolombe, a cloth merchant and royal supplier, between Mont Sainte-Victoire and Mont Ventoux. It was later developed botanically by the Marquis Gaston de Saporta, whose 12-hectare listed park now holds nearly 180 species of trees and plants.

A private family residence for generations, the château underwent an 18-month restoration completed in 2018 under Hélène Martel-Massignac before opening as a Relais & Châteaux hotel. Today its 50 rooms span several categories — Classic Rooms in the Castle wing overlooking gardens or courtyard, Deluxe Rooms, and Prestige Rooms and Junior/Historic/Prestige Suites in the historic wing with park or Cour d'Honneur views. Only 13 of the 50 rooms sit in the landmark castle building itself.

The Marquis Gaston de Saporta's botanical development of the park, rather than a purely ornamental garden, gives Fonscolombe a scientifically significant landscape alongside its architectural history, reflected in the near-180 species now protected under its listed status.

The château's generations-long tenure as a private family residence, before its 2018 restoration, meant the property largely avoided the institutional or commercial uses that reshaped many other French châteaux during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The distinction between the landmark 18th-century castle building and the surrounding historic wings and former stables, with only 13 of 50 rooms in the main structure, reflects the estate's gradual architectural growth around its original core over nearly three centuries.

The surrounding Provence wine region and the city of Aix-en-Provence, just 20 minutes away, give guests staying at Fonscolombe direct access to one of southern France's most celebrated landscapes.