Three roads go up Mont Ventoux and each starts in a different village. On the certified cyclist-friendly register, Malaucène has 13 entries, Sault 12 and Bédoin 11 — but those 36 entries are only 22 separate businesses, and the order reverses when you count that way.
Where these numbers come from. France publishes its tourism data through DATAtourisme, aggregated from local producers under the Licence Ouverte 2.0. The records carry official marks, among them Accueil Vélo, the national cyclist-welcome certification administered through France Vélo Tourisme. We hold 2,247 Accueil Vélo properties across France, of which 208 are in the Vaucluse — more than any other département, ahead of Loire-Atlantique (168) and Charente-Maritime (139). The Ventoux records come from Ventoux Provence Tourisme and Ventoux Sud, each carrying its own update date between November 2025 and June 2026. Queried 15 August 2026.
The three ascents, by base
The second column is the finding. Bédoin has the fewest entries and by far the most separate places to stay — ten operators, against Malaucène’s seven and Sault’s five. Sault looks like the widest choice on a raw count and is the narrowest in practice. If you have been assuming Bédoin is crowded out by its own reputation, the register disagrees.
Bédoin — the classic climb
Eleven certified entries, and unusually for a French cycling village they run from municipal campsite to naturist estate.
- Hôtel de Charme la Garance (2★) — in the hamlet of Sainte-Colombe, about 4 km out of the village on the mountain side, and the only hotel Bédoin has on the certified list
- Chez Monique et sa fille Caroline — guesthouse out on the Malaucène road
- Chambres d’hôtes Ventoux Cocoon and Villa Jeanne — one operator, two entries, above the village
- L’Instant Cabanon — explicitly positioned for road and MTB circuits
- Vacances de Charme — Chez Marius, in the old village centre
- La Belle Histoire — Gîte Montmirail — gîtes in a wooded park, 1.5 km out
- Les Cols du Ventoux — Appartement La Madeleine (2★) — in the village, and the only certified entry on the mountain whose registered web address is an Airbnb listing
- Camping Municipal la Pinède (3★) and Camping Le Pastory (2★) — the budget options
- Domaine naturiste de Bélézy (5★ campsite) — a naturist estate around an 18th-century mas, which is not what most people expect to find on the Ventoux start line
Bédoin’s certified stock is overwhelmingly self-catering: gîtes, chambres d’hôtes and campsites, with exactly one hotel among the eleven. That suits a group riding together for several days. It does not suit someone who wants dinner cooked for them after 21 km of climbing. Note also what is no longer there: the Hôtel des Pins does not currently appear in the register carrying the mark.
Malaucène — the north side
Thirteen entries, seven businesses — and seven of the thirteen are the Clos Saint Michel Resort & Spa, which files its suite, its double rooms and its five lodges as separate records. Strip that out and Malaucène is: Hôtel Ventoux Provence "Domaine des Tilleuls" (3★, an 18th-century former silkworm farm, open year-round), Le Prieuré La Madelène, Mythic Ventoux, Le Gîte de Claire, the Garden & City apart-hotel and the Arts et Vie residence.
Malaucène is the answer if you want a pool and a spa at the bottom of the climb, and it is the only one of the three bases where that is comfortably true. It is also the easiest base from which to combine Ventoux with the Dentelles de Montmirail.
Sault — the long way up
Twelve entries and five businesses: the most concentrated ownership on the mountain. La Bastide des Bourguets is the guesthouse plus six separately listed gîtes — Le Mas, Le Cottage, L’Amandier, La Maison Blanche, Un Air de Bohème and La Bastide de la Loge. Pilpoil is a guesthouse and a gîte d’étape, the cheap shared option. That leaves Le Belvue on the Place du Château, Chambres d’hôtes La Maguette, and Camping Ushuaia Village (2★).
Sault has lost both of its classified hotel-restaurants from the certified list. Neither Le Nesk nor the Domaine du Val de Sault currently appears with the Accueil Vélo mark, which changes the answer for anyone who wanted a proper dinner at the top of the Nesque gorge. Sault also starts several hundred metres higher than Bédoin — that is from the map, not from our data, which holds no altitude for French records — and it is the reason its climb is the easiest of the three despite being the longest. It is also the lavender side, which changes the calculation entirely if there is a non-cycling passenger in the car.
One hotel per road
The only three certified entries on the mountain that are hotels rather than gîtes, chambres d’hôtes or campsites — one for each ascent. They have no photograph here because DATAtourisme supplies none for any French property; the cards show what we actually hold.
Wider Vaucluse, if you want a car-based week
The Vaucluse’s 208 certified entries are the most of any département in our data. Beyond the three bases, and again counted both ways:
Vaison-la-Romaine is the sensible compromise base: Malaucène’s ascent is a short ride away, the Dentelles are next door, and it has actual restaurants. Its certified entries include La Bastide de Vaison (2★) and Camping du Théâtre Romain (4★) — but four of the twelve are the Gîtes de Baye and two more are one holiday village, so the choice is narrower than twelve suggests. Cabrières-d’Avignon and Gigondas are the extreme cases: all nine entries in one, and all six in the other, are a single address. Further east, Camping les Verguettes (4★) at Villes-sur-Auzon and the three RouleraVentoux units at Mormoiron sit on the approach from the Nesque.
What we don’t know
- Accueil Vélo is a facilities standard, not a quality rating. It covers secure storage, a repair kit, washing facilities and proximity to a route. Read the criteria at France Vélo Tourisme rather than trusting our summary of them — and note that none of it says the beds are good.
- We have no photographs and no telephone numbers for any French property. DATAtourisme supplies neither. We hold a website for most of these and nothing else, which is why the hotel cards on this page show no picture: that is our data, not the properties.
- A count of entries is not a count of places, which is why both columns are here. Even the business count is approximate — it groups entries by web address, so an operator using two domains would still be counted twice.
- Star ratings are the French official classification, which measures facilities rather than luxury. A 2★ hotel is not a bad hotel, and many excellent chambres d’hôtes carry no rating at all because the scheme does not apply to them.
- Certification lapses, and every record here is dated. These entries were last updated between November 2025 and June 2026. Confirm the mark on the property’s own site before relying on it for bike storage.
- We have not ridden these climbs or stayed in these properties. The accommodation data is official; the riding is general knowledge and should be checked against a current source, because the Bédoin road above Chalet Reynard and the Malaucène road are closed by snow into spring most years.
- The photograph at the top of this page is the mountain, not a hotel. We hold no photograph of a single certified property on Ventoux, and we would rather tell you that than show you an unrelated hotel.
Sources
DATAtourisme, the French national tourism data platform, under Licence Ouverte 2.0 (Etalab). Ventoux-area records supplied by Office de Tourisme Ventoux Provence Tourisme and Office de Tourisme Intercommunal Ventoux Sud. Accueil Vélo is administered through France Vélo Tourisme. Retrieved 15 August 2026: 47,690 French records held, 2,247 carrying the Accueil Vélo mark, 208 of them in the Vaucluse. Hero photograph: the Bédoin road below the summit, by Vi..Cult..., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
More from the same catalogue
- Where to sleep above 2,000 metres in South Tyrol — the same method on a register that records altitude.
- Dog-friendly stays in the Sauerland — fourteen German towns ranked by the share that takes dogs.
- Every property we hold in Bédoin — the destination page behind these counts.
