The Auberge des Gorges du Loup, a family-run inn since 1991
A family house.
A 1919 villa turned inn, run by Jean-Pierre and his team since 1991.
About us
One family, a hundred-year-old house.
Behind an inn that has been hosting big tables for more than thirty years, there is a family, a hundred-year-old house and a simple idea: to feed people well when they stop at Le Pont-du-Loup, whether they come from the next village or the other side of the world. Here is who we are, in plain words.
A 1919 house at the entrance to the gorges
The main building was built as a villa between 1912 and 1919. On 9 November 1919 it became a hotel-restaurant, the Pavillon des Touristes, just as the first visitors were discovering the Gorges du Loup. In 1944 it took the name Auberge des Gorges du Loup.
In the 1950s the restaurant was added, along with a south wing housing the kitchen and a floor of rooms. The dovecote is still there, half hidden by the tall cypresses that shade the terrace.
A family story since 1991
Jean-Pierre and his wife bought the inn in June 1991, after several years in French Polynesia. It wasn't their first restaurant, and they made a choice from day one: not to live off three summer months, but to keep the house going all year round, with groups, regulars and the seasons.
Thirty-five years on, the gamble has paid off. The inn serves large numbers, welcomes groups from all over France and abroad, and keeps a clientele who come “because it's us”, as Jean-Pierre puts it.
« Because it's us. »
What kind of food does the inn serve?
Traditional, family-style, homemade cooking, with meat and produce from the region. No theme and no exotic cuisine, despite the family's Polynesian roots: just one nod to them, the Tahitian-style marinated fish, on the menu all year round.
The signature dishes never change: snails with oyster mushrooms, flank steak, pork cheeks, beef fillet, duck leg, salmon. The menu itself changes with the seasons, in a summer and a winter version. The inn is listed in the Petit Futé guide and belongs to the Tables et Auberges de France network. Find out more about our traditional restaurant in Tourrettes-sur-Loup.
A team of five
Five people keep the inn running: Jean-Pierre, the head chef and the front-of-house team. The family also looks after the hotel's five rooms, above the restaurant.
Guests notice what this means: regulars are recognised by their voice on the phone, and groups are served by people who have been doing it for thirty years.
Loyalty
Why do the regulars keep coming back?
Because they find what they came for: the same signature dishes, the same dining room with its fireplace, the same terrace facing the gorges, and the same faces. Some guests come for the house, others for the setting; both come back.
Jean-Pierre doesn't make a show of his background; he would rather people judge the house at the table and on the phone: closeness, the human touch, loyalty.
Le Pont-du-Loup, between Vence and Grasse
The inn is at Le Pont-du-Loup, a hamlet of Tourrettes-sur-Loup where the Gorges du Loup open out onto the valley, 8 km from the hilltop village of Tourrettes, 12 km from Grasse, 17 km from Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 27 km from Nice and 29 km from Cannes.
People come for lunch on the terrace, a night before canyoning, a family meal or a wedding. Our hotel in Tourrettes-sur-Loup and functions and groups pages cover each in detail.
The house
In pictures
The house, the dining room, the terrace.
Your questions
Frequently asked questions
The building became a hotel-restaurant on 9 November 1919, under the name Pavillon des Touristes. It has been called the Auberge des Gorges du Loup since 1944.
Jean-Pierre and his wife, owners since June 1991, with a head chef and a front-of-house team.
Yes, the dishes are prepared on site from regional produce, with signature dishes on the menu all year round.
Yes, it is listed in the Petit Futé guide and belongs to the Tables et Auberges de France network.
See you soon
A table awaits you at Le Pont-du-Loup.
Lunch Tuesday to Sunday, dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Book online or by phone.