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spa

guide

Whatever your budget or needs you can find the spa experience to suit you in ELLE's guide. Search by price or region to see the spas we recommend...

Spa guides

Le Couvent d'Herepian

0871 218 7066

Treatments From: €30

Visit website

If your idea of a great spa is a place that can really take you away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life then Le Couvent d'Herepian if for you.

One and a half hours from the medieval town of Carcasoone in the South of France this converted 17th century monastery is a beautiful bolt hole hidden in provincial France, just inside the Regional Park of the High Languedoc. You can’t access Le Couvent d'Herepian, which sits up a hill in a tiny town near the larger towns of Béziers and Pézenas, unless you have a car, which also makes it the ideal stop on a driving holiday.

What makes Le Couvent d'Herepian so special is the atmosphere, relaxing before you have even booked your treatment in the small spa. Decorated in classic French farm house style, the uber chic 13 room inn is immaculately equipped for relaxation. The large country kitchen is where the daily, delicious, dinner is prepared, and where guests sit together around a big wooden table, to eat in the evening. There is also a fully stocked selection of teas, coffees and snacks which guests are free to take whenever they want to.

Apart from the bedrooms which all have a DVD players, and small kitchens to prepare locally sourced snacks in, there are various nooks and crannies to get lost in, like the reading room (equipped with books, CD’s, DVD’s, newspapers and magazines which can all be borrowed for the duration of your stay.) Or the tiny but perfectly formed patio terrace, and the Honesty Bar, open 24 hours a day, where you help yourself to a drink and then sign your name and room number on the bar’s tab. Here you are left to your own devices, to explore or relax, unless that is you want some help, or advice on what to do locally from the hotel’s manager Antoine, who speaks perfect English.

Nearby is the pretty town of Pézenas, where you will find a traditional French market every Saturday morning. Everything from fresh organic haricot vert to embroidered quilts (just like those in the bedrooms at Le Couvent d'Herepian) are for sale.

But what about the spa? It’s small, only one treatment room, off an atrium that houses a very small warm water pool (not for swimming lengths in.) There is one therapist (nothing and no one is in a hurry in this part of the world) and just three types of massage to chose from by way of treatments. You pay for the time spent there, one hour costs 90 Euros.
The lack of variety is made up for with real expertise and organic, natural, locally sourced products. The reflexology is so relaxing you will fall asleep.
Best for: Truly getting away from it all. A luxe break whilst driving through France.