Villas to Rent South of France
Only Provence Named Best Holiday Villa Rental Company in France 2026
Written by the Only Provence Team • Last Updated May 02, 2026
Only Provence is an award-winning villa rental company with a collection of more than 200 luxury villas and châteaux throughout the Luberon and Alpilles. Combining deep local expertise with personalized service, we craft exceptional journeys tailored for discerning travelers.
Only Provence has been named Best Holiday Villa Rental Company in France by the 2026 International Travel Awards. The recognition celebrates a personally vetted collection of villas and châteaux across the Alpilles and Luberon, and the concierge-led approach that shapes every Provence stay.
It is a quiet kind of validation. The award does not measure listing volume or click-through rates. It measures the experience guests carry home: the farmhouse that felt loved rather than rented, the morning the concierge anticipated a need before it was spoken, the sense of having been let in on something local and genuine.
What award did Only Provence win?
Only Provence received the Best Holiday Villa Rental Company in France title at the International Travel Awards 2026. The honour recognizes excellence in luxury villa rental within the French market, judged on the quality of the property collection, the depth of local expertise, and the standard of guest care.
What are the International Travel Awards?
The International Travel Awards are a global hospitality and tourism programme that recognizes leading companies across the travel industry, from hotels and resorts to villa rental and concierge specialists. Awards are issued by market and category, identifying standout performers within a specific country or region — in this case, holiday villa rental within France.
Why this recognition reflects how we work
There is a difference between a platform that just lists properties and a company that knows them inside and out. Only Provence sits firmly in the second camp.
Every villa and château in the collection — more than two hundred across the Alpilles and Luberon — is personally inspected, and a standard of comfort, character, and setting that holds up to a return visit. Booking platforms scale by listing everything. Only Provence works the opposite way: fewer properties, each one understood by the people who arrange your stay.
That curation extends through the trip itself. An in-house concierge team handles the details that turn a rental into a holiday — private chefs, market mornings, guided excursions, the logistics of moving a multigenerational family through a week in Provence without friction. It is the part of the experience an algorithm cannot replicate, and it is the part guests remember.
A collection built for the way people travel
The collection is shaped around real travel patterns: extended families gathering under one roof, friends marking a milestone, wellness and retreat groups seeking somewhere restorative. Flagship châteaux anchor the larger end — among them an estate in the Luberon spanning three buildings and welcoming groups of around thirty, alongside properties near Avignon and along the Rhône suited to gatherings of fourteen to twenty-two.
Around those landmarks sits a range of villas and farmhouses for smaller parties, each chosen for its sense of place. The thread running through all of them is the same: a stay that feels like the good life in Provence, arranged by people who live and work in the region.
A growing record of recognition
The International Travel Awards honour joins a strong year for Only Provence. The company was also named Best Luxury Villa Rental & Concierge Services in Provence at the Luxury Lifestyle Awards 2026, with further recognition from the wider luxury travel press.
Together, these accolades point to a consistent standard rather than a single moment — the result of long-term relationships with property owners, local partners, and the guests who return season after season.
Plan Your Provence
If you have been considering a luxury villa rental in Provence — whether in the Luberon, the Alpilles, or along the Rhône — there has never been a better moment to speak with us. Our specialists are ready to match you with the right property and craft an experience that goes far beyond four walls and a pool.
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© 2026 Only Provence
Only Provence co-founder Lydia Dean writes about their experiences raising a family, building a business in Provence, and later combining the love of travel with giving back in "Jumping the Picket Fence". In 2021, she published "Light Through the Cracks," a continuation of her journey, much of which has been based in Provence. Both books are available Amazon, Amazon.uk, and Amazon.Fr.