I just spent 4 nights here in the lovely and quiet town of La Cadrie de Azure at the Hotel Berard…read moreand Spa - I came here for the cooking classes that I found online. I haven't seen a ton of recent reviews in English on the program and hotel so thought it would be helpful for future travelers. I traveled alone as a 32 year old female and felt really safe in this super cute & quiet town. Overall I would recommend the cooking class - just read my notes on cons. PROs: Cooking classes - Chef Berard is a GEM! I can't say enough great things about him. What a wonderful, talented man with an incredible spirit! A true master of French cuisine - he was meant to be a chef and is also an excellent teacher! I really enjoyed the classes, the estate with all of the fresh herbs and garden and what seemed to be like flowing local delicious rose once 12:30 hit! 155 euros/day - well worth it and you of course get to eat all of the local cuisine that you've made in their beautiful garden with the Chef. Angela, the English translator who has lived in France I think for like 40 years is also a GEM! She and Chef Berard make an excellent pair. They have great witty banter and she has an amazing sense of humor. Part of why I loved the course is because it was like being in some sort of interesting reality show that you just couldn't help but keep watching - so good. The whole staff at the cooking school were very nice and made my trip to Provence special. Berard Hotel restaurant: Delicious! You certainly pay for it. I came to France for my love of cooking and cuisine so I knew what I was getting into. Be prepared to drop at least 100 euros/pp on dinner if you're trying to do it right. Chef Berard's son Jeof is also a Chef and is the Chef of the restaurant. He has a great sense of humor and is great at what he does. He even took me and another classmate on a tour of the the 3 leveled kitchen and their wine cave which was amazing! Town: None of the shops are open on Mondays and Tuesdays so if you're there on those days be prepared to sleep and read a lot. The restaurant Le Reign is like 1/4 of the price of the nicer Berard restaurant and has all of the French feels and tastes - definitely go there a night or two. Spa: Read my CONS - but I will say that the massage was good. Service at the restaurant for dinner: GREAT! CONS: Customer service/hospitality: My experience in my hotel in Paris was AMAZING. They treated me really well. Whenever I got to Hotel Berard, I got my key and hauled my big tote bag w my laptop and my luggage up two sets of stairs. Nais who showed me my room didn't even blink to offer to help me carry either one of my bags. I was pretty shocked. Shortly afterwards I went back downstairs to go to my massage appointment. I asked where the spa was located and she walked me outside and pointed like "go down there". I had read some reviews that the hotel was broken up into several buildings so I tried to get some clear directions from her but she made clear intent to not even try to walk me there so that I wouldn't get lost. Chef Jeouf walked by in the nick of time and was so kind and polite to take me there although I knew it was out of his way (that's how you do customer service!). Rooms: The rooms are cute, quaint, and small. No complaints except that my room was directly above the kitchen so breakfast and dinner times were not a good time to be in the room if you're trying to rest. Try to get a room near the pool my cooking classmate said that it was really quiet. Spa: I had the worst facial of my life today. I had the hour facial - the biggest waste of 90 euros. The first 10 minutes was the girl going to find her lotions (why wouldn't she have this ready I made the appointment in advance) after that she put on some terrible smelling scrub on my face and massaged it into my skin - the massage did not feel good. She put another wash on my skin, combed the top part of my hair (that was different and felt good), and then the last 20 minutes were basically me sitting in a mask ---- I could have done that at home. I told the front desk that it was not a good experience and they said "ok. Sorry." I spent well over a 1,000 euros for my time there as one person - they could have treated me better than a "sorry". Train: I would highly recommend getting a hired taxi with the hotel to Marseille train station because I got to the local train station and the scheduled train didn't even show up. A really nice French lady who also missed the train drove me to Marseille and I made it to the train with 5 minutes to spare (thank you, wonderful woman!! She was so sweet and wouldn't even take my money that I offered her).

This review is for Berard's 1 michelin star restaurant, which popped into my head in the middle of…read morea disappointing meal at a fancy place here in New York. Perhaps my memories are peppered with the fact that my wife and I had just gotten engaged, four years ago now, but our dinner at Berard was perhaps the best we've ever had. Perfect balance, preposterously excellent ingredients in the height of the glorious French summer (well, glorious in the south, at least), a stunning dining room set high amid the hills of the countryside outside the local metropolis of Cassis, villages blinking on their lights in the distance as the sun slowly shimmered down. Romance and truly masterful cooking in an affordable package.

Food took nearly 1 hours to arrive with bread afterwards. Very small portions. Chips are rock hard…read moreand apparently everything was gluten free but they came back and said none of the food was gluten free. No fans for summer wasps and bugs everywhere. La nourriture a pris près d'une heure pour arriver avec du pain après. De très petites portions. Les chips sont dures comme le roc et apparemment tout était sans gluten, mais ils sont revenus et ont dit qu'aucun des aliments n'était sans gluten. Pas de fans pour les guêpes d'été et les insectes partout.

Only had a quick refreshment after a small Hike, the…read moregrapefruit concoction I ordered was definitely Refreshing. Curious how the food may be...until next time.

This was the worst hotel experience I have ever had - including the time that our hotel was…read moreactually a single room occupancy building that was under construction. I had booked two rooms for three nights for our family of four. We arrived to find that the air conditioning in this hotel was not "turned on" and that it would not be until the last night of our 3-night stay. Both of our rooms were on the ground floor steps from a main street with no window, only a door to a balcony that was easily accessible to anyone walking by and would pose a security risk to leave open. As a result, the rooms, which are very small, were stifling. There was no way we could stay without air conditioning and had to make a quick decision whether to find another place to stay since availability was so limited. We let the hotel know that we wouldn't be staying and since the hotel had advertised that it was air conditioned, I asked for a refund for the remaining 2 nights, which was refused. In addition, every single staff person was either rude or indifferent - not a single person apologized for our discomfort. When I asked the woman at the front desk if I could speak directly to the manager about the refund, she literally laughed at me. I truly have never encountered worse service at a hotel. I was finally able to email the manager whose response was incredibly hostile. This is the only time in decades of travel that I've had to leave a hotel early and by far the most unpleasant staff. I rarely give negative reviews as most hotels and restaurants are run by people who often struggle and customer service can be hard. However, the staff at this hotel went out of their way to make our limited time there even more unpleasant. The hotel gets its two stars because of its central Cassis location.

Quality/Quantity - As cautious travelers, we always stop by the train station on our first day in…read morethe city to buy our tickets for the next leg of our trip. This is an especially good suggestion for people that do not speak the language. After asking and stopping by 3 full service ticket booths, we finally found ours, Inoui! We were also willing to pay more for reserved seats. So while all the other ticket counters had lines out the door, we were the only customers here and received FULL service. Easy to buy our tickets, ask and get educated about their train system, etc. See you all in Nice, France. :) Ambiance - It is a major public train station, so come early if you are not experienced. Crazy busy as expected. Pay to use toilets - 1 Euro. Several floors. There are actually good views of the city from some parts of the station. Service - Overall good. The best service was our train station, Inoui. Price - 45 Euros per person to Nice. $53 USD. Owner Comment - Thanks for having affordable and smooth transportation with Inoui to Nice.

Reliable transport around France from region to region. The First Class coach is comfortable on all…read moretrains but the quality of coach varies from one line to another. The train from Marseille to Bordeaux was a little on the old side of the spectrum, offers food and beverage service.