What to say about Monte Arena....if what makes a good hotel for you is 24 hour concierge, room service, mini-bars and satellite tvs then stop reading now, Monte Arena is not for you....and you wouldnt appreiciate it anyway.

If however, you crave beautifully designed, luxuriously styled and elegant accomodation then look no further, Monte Arena is what you have been dreaming about.

Set just outside the perfect provencial town of Uzes (with lots of great restaurants, sights to see and cafes to relax in) and in a perfect spot to explore Provence, Monte Arena is a stylists delight, all the rooms are spacious and have been individually designed to perfection - this isnt like staying in a uniform, standard hotel room, this is like staying in an indivually created and loved suite where the furnishings have had time, care and attention made of them.

The atmosphere is relaxed, welcoming but not too intrusive and you can get a good run of the house with a beautful little garden with an area to eat, an area to relax and a lovely plunge pool to cool off in. The siamese cats are lovely too.

We stayed just 3 nights and wish'd we had stayed longer. To be honest they could charge 3x the price and it would still be worth it when compared to most of the overpriced hotels you get in the area. This is a perfect little hidden gem, and it would be selfish not to share it with everyone...

A perfect getaway....

First of all, this is a boutique B&B and I would definitely go back. My husband and I booked this short break (we stayed here for 3 nights) for our anniversary and the expectations raised on their website and Mr and Mrs Smith were most certainly fulfilled. What an absolute gem. I should also add I'm a very discerning traveller.

Rooms
+ interior design was like straight out of Elle Decoration. I was in awe, so much, that I actually tried to recreate some of it at home. Sadly, without much success. Lots of antiques, cluttered together in a tasteful way. Fantastic use of colour. All very romantic. Good room temperature (it was very warm outside but I suppose the stone walls keep the room cool).
- we booked the "green room" which didn't have a proper bathroom and most importantly, toilet. Shower and toilet were down one flight of stairs. And I was 3 months pregnant which meant several trips during the night down a dark staircase, which wasn't great. Still - I knew the room didn't have a bathroom when I booked it (and this is reflected in the price) - so I cannot fault them for it.

B&B / building
+ Difficult to describe how incredibly romantic this place is. Example: when we got back at night, all the lights were dimmed, there were candles everywhere (leading up the stone staircase), and there was an ipod playing soothing piano music. It's an old monastery, which I think the two guys inherited. They have created an oasis of calm, style and romance, from the lounge seats in the secluded, private garden to the cool stone vaults filled with candles, greenery and nice scents.

Breakfast
+ loved it, different kinds of bread and jam. (I don't like and never eat "British" cooked breakfast.) Yoghurts, fruits, orange juice and coffee.

Hosts
+ As other reviewers have remarked, incredibly attentive hosts. They recommended places to go, made bookings for dinner in Uzes for us and took a genuine interest in our travel plans. Above all, still managed to be discreet.

Uzes
+ romantic medieval town. Granted the selection of restaurants could be better, after three days we had pretty much run out of options. However the market place is so typically South of France that it felt like walking in a novel. Lots of history and culture to see in vicinity: lots of roman artifacts.

Definitely a short break success. With Ryanair flights into Marseille (and cheap car rental) I can see myself going back.... hopefully soon.

Amazing B&B in quiet village. Building, bedrooms, breakfast, & staff all excellent!!

Maybe not to everyones taste (no tv in bedrooms, shared table for breakfast...) but it is truly a delight and good way to switch off from busy day to day life.

Taking a taxi to Uzes in the evening is easy, thoroughly recommend this B&B!!

I partly booked this b&b based on the reviews here and, on the whole, I was disappointed with what we experienced. Monte Arena has some very good points and some quite bad ones and I think potential guests should be aware of both.

On the positive side, the building is fabulous. Like an old monastry with big high ceiling rooms and sweeping arches. The hosts are also very nice people. For example, they lent us bikes when we ran out of things to do during our stay and we went touring. Uzes is also a pretty town, though you will run out of things to do after one day and the restaurants are quite poor.

There are some big negatives and I was erring between 2 or 3 stars. Firstly, the price. Our room was 130 euros a night - the same price we paid 2 months ago for Gran Havana Hotel in Barcelona. On a value for money comparison, Monte Arena falls way short. There is no tv, no music centre, no radio - nothing but the four walls. Breakfast is a rather simple affair - don't expect anything booked or hot. They ran out of cornflakes the last day and the only thing I could eat was bread, tea and orange juice. The local village is very sleepy (hardly Barcelona) and the shower did not work properly. Also, sometimes the service is poor. No one was there when we arrived. We had to wait outside after 6 hours of travelling until, an hour later, a friend of the hosts let us in.

The worst sin though is the bathroom. It is separate to the toilet and the toilet has no wash basin. So, if you use the loo, you have to then go into the separate bathroom to wash your hands. It is impossible to go to the toilet discretely. Every sound will echo through your (very quiet) room. Also, the hotel is 4 kilometres from Uzes or 10 euros in a taxi (which are not the most reliable). You cannot walk in as there is no pavement. Finally - if it is not already apparent, this is definitely not a hotel for romantics. If you plan to get amorous, the bed is so creaky and so wobbly that you run a serious risk of (a) waking up the whole house, and (b) destroying the bed (which may be an antique!).

All this was a shame. This was not a holiday we would repeat. The hotel could be much better. Fix the odd bathroom layout, add some entertainment and buy some breakfast cereal (or better still offer the service you would expect from a b&b) and it would be fabulous. It is impossible not to like the hosts and I hope they appreciate this feedback.