Cotignac is a village in the hills of Provence, in the South of France, named one of the country’s most beautiful. From June 2027, United Airlines will fly the only U.S. nonstop to Marseille, a direct flight from the New York area. George Clooney, who lives nearby, is reportedly preparing to open a restaurant on its main street.
George Clooney and his wife, Amal, became French citizens by a decree published in the Journal officiel in December 2025, and they have lived near the Var town of Brignoles since buying the Domaine du Canadel, a wine estate, in 2021. Cotignac sits about 12 miles from their estate. During an April visit, several people who work in the village said they see him regularly, and a woman at a local wine shop said she had served him.
A new nonstop flight into Provence
U.S. travelers were the second-largest source of overnight stays across the Région Sud, the area covering Provence and the Côte d’Azur, in the first half of 2026. Their stays rose about 19% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to provisional figures. For hotel nights from January to May, they ranked first. Air arrivals from the United States fell slightly over those months, even as overnight stays rose. Nationally, France drew 102 million international visitors in 2025, up from 100 million a year earlier.
United Airlines, the only U.S. carrier with a nonstop flight to Marseille, will fly daily between Newark and Marseille Provence Airport from June 4, 2027, on an Airbus A321XLR. The A321XLR, a long-range single-aisle jet, lets United add several new European routes in 2027. The route runs in the summer season, and Cotignac is about a 75-minute drive from the airport. Until now, reaching the area from the United States has meant connecting through Paris or another hub.
On France’s list of most beautiful villages
Cotignac is one of 186 villages named Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, a mark an independent association gives after reviewing a place’s heritage and village life against 32 criteria. The village joined the list in 2022.
A waterfall spills down the cliff behind Cotignac, and troglodyte dwellings, once home to residents until relatively recently, are carved into its rock face. The old town is built against the rock, and the Cours Gambetta, the main street, runs beneath plane trees, lined with cafes and busy with people who live there year-round.
A market fills the street every Tuesday morning. The Gorges du Verdon, a dramatic limestone canyon, is about an hour’s drive away, and the lavender fields of the Valensole plateau lie a little farther, at their best in high summer. The rosé vineyards of the Var start at the village edge.
Lou Calen and its Green Star kitchen
Lou Calen is a terraced hotel with gardens in Cotignac, bought and restored by Canadian businessman Graham Porter. Huguette Caren made it a hotel in 1972; it closed in 1999 and sat dormant for more than 20 years until Porter bought and reopened it in stages from 2021. Lou Calen‘s managing director, Jean-Dominique Gontrand, has put the total investment in the estate at 30 million euros.
The hotel’s restaurant, Le Jardin Secret, holds a Michelin Green Star, the guide’s award for environmental commitment. The chef, Benoit Witz, trained under Paul Bocuse in Lyon and spent years with Alain Ducasse, including at the three-star Louis XV in Monaco. He runs a kitchen with no printed menu, building each day’s dishes around what the gardens and growers within about 30 miles bring in. Witz said his biggest challenge is making “people happy with simple products coming from this area.”
Lou Calen runs a bistro and O’Fadoli, a pastis bar on the Cours Gambetta, along with an art center and a massage spa. Guests can weave baskets, work with clay, walk the surrounding hills with a botanist or lie down for a sound bath. The gardens grow loose rather than clipped, and the rooms have no televisions.
What Clooney is reportedly planning
According to the regional paper Var-Matin, Clooney and Graham Porter, who owns Lou Calen, are working together on an upscale Italian restaurant in Les 3 Marches, a former pizzeria at 11 Cours Gambetta. The reporting says construction has begun, with an opening floated for spring 2027. Those involved have said they will not discuss the project for six months.
A village within reach
Cotignac has never lacked reasons to visit; it just needed an easy way to get there. A direct flight from Newark changes that, and Americans aren’t waiting for it to start: bookings to the region for summer 2026 were up about 15% from the year before, with the route still months away.
Mandy is a luxury travel, fine dining and bucket-list-adventure journalist with expert insight from 48 countries. She uncovers unforgettable experiences around the world and brings them to life through immersive storytelling that blends indulgence, culture and discovery, and shares them with a global audience as co-founder of Food Drink Life. Her articles appear on MSN and through the Associated Press wire in major U.S. outlets, including NBC, the Daily News, Boston Herald, the Chicago Sun-Times and many more.
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