Le Hameau des Pesquiers, Giens

An ecolodge between the pines and the salt ponds

Le Hameau des Pesquiers is an ecolodge on the Giens peninsula, in Hyères. The address on the hotel site is 1729 route de Giens, 83400 Hyères. The hamlet sits in a protected pine wood, with the salt ponds beside it.

It was a salt works until 1981, then empty for about thirty years. A marina and a golf would have cut the pines and dried the ponds. The family put the old buildings back. The customs house had lost its roof. It is now the welcome, and the spa. The hotel's own site puts the restaurant Les Saliniers in the clock building, with rooms above it.

There is parking on the property. Ask whether that parking is included. There is no nightly rate on this page, because the hotel site does not publish one either.

Who keeps the place

Adrian Lelièvre runs the hotel, the restaurant and the spa. Oliver is on the floor. Adrian's father, Stéphane, is a chef. He drew the rooms, the tables and the dolphins, and he still makes the sauces, including honey and thyme. His parents started at nineteen, with fourteen seats. Stéphane was in the kitchen. His mother was in the dining room.

My father did all the decoration, every choice of table.

The European Ecolabel has been part of the place since it opened. That is the hotel site's line, and Adrian's. He said: "It is not greenwashing. We had to." We do not reprint a certificate or a page count. The hotel site also calls the house five stars. We repeat that as their line, not as a ranking of our own.

What you ask for

Nothing below is included until it is a line on the quote. A terrace room. Dinner at Les Saliniers. Breakfast, and the honey from their hives. The evening fire. A Nuxe treatment. The chapel stays closed during the day. There is mass on Sundays, for the village as well as for guests, and we are not publishing an hour.

The rooms

Two terrace rooms sit in the pines. One has a hanging chair. The other opens onto a deck with a hot tub. The rooms sit far apart, so a full house stays quiet on the path. Breakfast is the hour when you see that the hamlet was full. Ask which side faces the path and which faces the ponds. Other room types exist. Ask which one you want.

Dinner is at Les Saliniers, in the hamlet. Ask for it. It is not folded into the room. One sauce from the kitchen is honey and thyme. Breakfast honey comes from their hives. Adrian called it their bees, and local. That is the table, not a farm.

In the evening the hamlet meets at the fire. The circle has the fire lit and the stools empty. He said: "The brasero is where it converges. It lets us see people and tell them where they are." The rooms pull people apart. The fire puts them back in one circle. He talks about autumn as the season people forget.

The chapel is a low yellow building. They restored it, remade the glass, and made the bell ring again. It stays closed during the day, because what is inside belongs to the parish. If you want the door open, ask. There is mass on Sundays. We do not publish an hour.

A silent film of the stay

The film on this page is silent. Nothing plays by itself. The spa film is not here.

The credit on these frames is Terrae / Travel Differently. Travel Differently and Terrae use these images on their own organic pages. That is not a licence for anyone else to lift the files.

What a quote covers

There is no public nightly price on the hotel site. We will not invent one, and we will not copy a rate from another website. The quote is the price. It names the room, the dates, and what is in or out. Nothing is due until that quote is signed.

If you already hold a room with the hotel, say so. We will not open a second quote on top of a booking you have made with them.

A useful first note is short. Dates, how many people, a terrace room or not, dinner or not, breakfast or not, one treatment or not. Couples are the stay the terrace rooms were built for. Families should ask which room faces the path and which faces the ponds.

How to arrive

Fly into Nice and drive toward Hyères, then out along the Giens peninsula. Allow an hour and three quarters without a long stop. Toulon is closer if that flight suits you. The hamlet is not in the centre of Hyères. You come for the pines and the ponds.

Where this stay sits

The Giens peninsula is one corner of sustainable travel in France. The wider set of houses is on the ecolodge map. The long account of the hamlet is the article.

Questions we can answer

Is there a published nightly rate?

Not on the hotel site. The stay is on request. We send a quote after the hotel confirms the room.

Who runs the place?

Adrian Lelièvre runs the hotel, the restaurant and the spa. Oliver is on the floor. Stéphane, his father, drew the rooms and still makes the sauces.

What do we ask for, besides the room?

Dinner at Les Saliniers, breakfast and the hive honey, the evening fire, and a Nuxe treatment. Each one is a line. None of them is assumed.

Is the chapel open for a visit?

It stays closed during the day. There is mass on Sundays, for the village as well as for guests. We are not publishing an hour.