Gîtes in France are more than just holiday rentals – they’re a way of slipping into everyday French life. Our gîtes are part of our wider collection of handpicked places to stay in France, chosen for their character, location and the hosts who genuinely love where they live. Not sure what makes a gîte special? Read our guide to gîte holidays in France.

You might wake to church bells from a 19th century barn in a sleepy Dordogne hamlet, where welcome hampers brim with local cheeses and still-warm bread, or throw open shutters onto lavender fields in Provence. Whether you’re after long, lazy French gîte holidays with a pool or something unique, like a Burgundian winemaker’s cottage surrounded by legendary vines, you’ll find self-catering places that are perfectly suited to slow, local-feeling stays. 

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Shortcut to special places

Carefully selected self-catering homes, hotels, pubs and B&Bs

Personally inspected

We've visited every place and chosen them for their warmth and character

UK & Europe

Our collection spans the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal

No fuss from us

You book direct with the owners, with no fees or fuss from us

 

Our most loved gîtes in France

Handpicked for their character and exceptional settings, these are the gîtes our guests love most.

Mas de Grivet - Gallery

Mas de Grivet

Céreste-en-Luberon, Vaucluse

Why book your French gîte with Sawday’s?

✓ Book direct with owners. You deal person-to-person with the people who run the place, getting fair prices and honest, detailed answers to all your questions. 

✓ We champion independent hosts and family businesses that care about their landscapes and communities, so your stay supports the France you’ve come to love. 

✓ We have 30+ years’ experience finding special places to stay in France. Every place in our French collection is inspected for atmosphere, character and a genuine welcome – the things that turn a good holiday into a great one. 

 

Explore France by region

Find the perfect gîte in France’s most beautiful regions, from sun-soaked Provence to the vineyards of Bordeaux and the rolling countryside of the Dordogne.

Languedoc - Roussillon

Languedoc - Roussillon

Western Loire

Western Loire

Provence - Alps - Riviera

Provence - Alps - Riviera

Midi - Pyrénées

Midi - Pyrénées

 

How we find France’s most special places

Our team travels across France each year, meeting owners, sharing meals and checking every detail in person. 

We’re not box-tickers. We’re travellers looking for that unmistakable moment when a place feels both beautifully French and genuinely welcoming. This human, personal approach is how we curate France’s most characterful places, and why you can trust our collection to deliver. 

Looking for more gîte inspiration?

Everything you need to know about gîtes

Our complete guide walks you through what you can expect from a gîte holiday, the best time to stay in a gîte and gîtes with owners who host the kind of stay you won’t find on Google.

 

Gîtes you can reach by train from the UK

There’s something special about travelling overland. Watching landscapes unfold from the window, arriving in the heart of towns rather than on runways – stepping off the platform already in holiday mode. These gîtes in France you can get to by train prove that the journey doesn’t have to be a hurdle, but part of the fun.

What is a gîte?

For some, the word gîte conjours a slightly hazy image. It’s definitely a self-catering, holiday home thing in France, it has an air of simplicity to it, perhaps, but what does gîte really mean?