{"id":8957,"date":"2025-08-23T19:48:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T19:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/?p=8957"},"modified":"2025-08-23T19:48:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T19:48:05","slug":"greatest-chateaux-accommodations-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/?p=8957","title":{"rendered":"Greatest ch\u00e2teaux accommodations in France"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Everybody loves a very good ch\u00e2teau\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and no nation does them higher than France, which is sprinkled from head to foot with castles, turreted palaces and ivy-draped mansions so befitting of a fairy story that you just half anticipate a Disney princess to waltz out of the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You’ll be able to admire them from afar or go on a tour. However for full immersion nothing beats staying the evening, sauntering the grounds, eating like royalty in an exquisitely chandelier-lit salon or utilizing your palatial pad as a springboard to discover the lyrical landscapes that unfurl on the doorstep. From vine-ribbed Champagne to the river-woven Loire Valley, the castle-studded Dordogne to the skyscraping French Alps, we deliver you seven of our absolute fave ch\u00e2teaux.<\/p>\n

Le Ch\u00e2teau de Fontenay\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Loire Valley ch\u00e2teaux don\u2019t come dreamier than\u00a0Le Ch\u00e2teau de Fontenay<\/a>, a whimsically turreted, Seventeenth-century knockout, reclining in wooded splendor on the banks of the Cher River. Like one thing freshly minted for a romcom, this bijou fort is surrounded by immaculately landscaped lawns. The elegant rooms include a splash of interval aptitude: chandeliers, wood flooring polished to a mirrorlike sheen, ornate marble fireplaces and a good fancier visitor salon with a grand piano.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> When the climate warms, take a dip within the tranquil outside pool or get pleasure from breakfast \u2013 a feast of farm-fresh eggs, selfmade pastries and garden-grown fruit \u2013 on the wisteria-draped terrace. For a deeper dive, join a spin of the ch\u00e2teau\u2019s vineyards and cellars, adopted by a wine tasting, or hop on a motorcycle to pedal alongside the banks of the river<\/p>\n

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Make it occur:<\/b> B&B doubles begin at \u20ac130 (US$152). Guide nicely forward for summer season when it\u2019s peak ch\u00e2teau-hopping season within the Loire.<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/b>\u00a0Fly on\u00a0Ryanair<\/a>\u00a0to Excursions airport, a 30-minute drive northwest of Le Ch\u00e2teau de Fontenay. Public transport is sparse, so that you\u2019ll must hire a automotive or take a taxi. Alternatively, you possibly can attain Excursions in 2\u00bd hours by prepare from Paris.<\/p>\n

\"Seaside
La Rochelle, a seaside metropolis that may be a day journey from Ch\u00e2teau de l’Abbaye de Moreilles. trabantos\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ch\u00e2teau de l’Abbaye de Moreilles \u00a0<\/h2>\n

With sensible daylight bouncing off its vine-enveloped partitions and breezes brining a whisper of the not-so-distant sea, the Ch\u00e2teau de l’Abbaye de Moreilles<\/a>\u00a0within the Vend\u00e9e area of the Western Loire is wrapped within the romance of its origins as a Twelfth-century Cistercian abbey. There\u2019s quite a bit to like right here: rooms stuffed with antiques and a pinch of flamboyance, with vibrant colours, patterns and luxuriant materials, a heated outside pool for floating beneath flawless blue skies, a petite spa with a scorching tub and sauna, and romps round acres of 200-year-old parkland. Dinners \u2013 courtesy of the very good cook dinner Korakot \u2013 play up freshest seasonal elements with finesse and are served by a roaring open hearth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> For all its medieval vibes, the ch\u00e2teau has no airs and graces. Children are welcome and there\u2019s tons to enchantment to households, from board video games and free bike rental to ping-pong. And once you tire (as if) of ch\u00e2teau life, it\u2019s a straightforward day journey to\u00a0La Rochelle or\u00a0L’\u00eele de R\u00e9, a reasonably island of dune-flanked seashores and massive skies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Make it occur:<\/b> Double rooms begin at \u20ac145 (US$170), and breakfast is nicely price the additional \u20ac18 (US$21) per individual. Attempt to keep away from peak summer season vacation season when airfares undergo the roof.<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/b> The closest airport is La Rochelle, a 30-minute drive south of the ch\u00e2teau. It\u2019s served by a number of airways, together with easyJet<\/a> and Ryanair. Alternatively, it takes round 6\u00bd hours to journey right here from the UK by prepare (Eurostar<\/a> and TGV).<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau de P\u00e2quier<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0French Alps tear throughout the horizon at Ch\u00e2teau de P\u00e2quier<\/a> within the Is\u00e8re, a 30-minute drive south of Grenoble. For love with out the hefty price ticket, this dinky Sixteenth-century fort enchants. This place fulfills all of the sleep-in-a-castle fantasies with its flowery gardens, vine-swaddled stone partitions, tower and a spiral staircase twisting as much as rooms with heavy beamed ceilings, antiques and views reaching deep into the valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Households are warmly welcome, with two rooms sleeping as much as 5. Your variety and passionate hosts, Jacques and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Rossi, are very happy to whip up dinner, which they serve with their very own wines and walnut liqueur within the historic tower kitchen. And breakfast is a deal with, with selfmade bread, preserves and honey.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> The setting is beautiful. You\u2019re only a hop from cliff-rimmed Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet, the place you possibly can swim or windsurf in surreally turquoise waters, and from the lushly forested, trail-woven peaks of\u00a0Parc Naturel R\u00e9gional du Vercors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Make it occur:<\/b> B&B doubles begin at \u20ac100 (US$117). Should you want to organize your individual meals, you\u2019re welcome to eat within the historic, stone-walled kitchen with its huge inglenook fire. A barbecue is out there in summer season. Keep in mind that the panorama is Alpine, so winters may be chilly and snowy.<\/p>\n

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Getting there:<\/b> Ch\u00e2teau de P\u00e2quier is a 40-minute drive south of Grenoble. From the UK, take the Eurostar\/TGV to Grenoble (8 hours) or fly with an airline like easyJet (1h 45min), then rent a automotive.<\/p>\n

\"Ornately
Napoleon’s throne within the Ch\u00e2teau de Fontainebleau, which is 10 minutes from Ch\u00e2teau de Bourron. Takashi Pictures\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ch\u00e2teau de Bourron<\/h2>\n

Chances are you’ll be on a ch\u00e2teau excessive after a go to to the exuberantly frescoed, gilded and tapestry-slung state flats at\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Fontainebleau,\u00a0a 1900-room great thing about a palace constructed on a Versailles-like scale that was one in all Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s private favorites. You may get your individual shot of the royal remedy by heading 10 minutes south to remain at\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Bourron<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Constructed on the foundations of a medieval fortress, this lavish Seventeenth-century ch\u00e2teau makes fairly an entrance with its moat, clipped hedges, prettily wooded parkland and horseshoe-shaped staircase mirroring the one at Fontainebleau. The rooms neatly match the dream invoice, too, furnished with heavy drapes, richly patterned wall coverings, interval furnishings, hand-knotted oriental rugs and Versailles parquet. Dinner is given a connoisseur twist at\u00a0Les Pr\u00e9mices<\/a> restaurant, lodged within the ch\u00e2teau\u2019s former stables.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> With 100 acres of fantastically tended walled gardens to discover, it is a nice base for forest walks and bike rides. There\u2019s additionally a tennis courtroom and children\u2019 sandpit for the hotter months. And in the event you simply need to calm down, e book a Shiatsu therapeutic massage.<\/p>\n

Make it occur:<\/b> B&B doubles begin at \u20ac250 (US$293). The cottage rooms on the grounds are barely cheaper, with charges per evening from \u20ac185 (US$216).<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/b> Take the Eurostar or fly to Paris. From Gare de Lyon, it\u2019s a 1\u00bc-hour prepare journey to Bourron-Marlotte-Grez prepare station, the place the house owners will choose you up on request.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau d’Alteville<\/h2>\n

If the concept of slipping correctly off the radar rocks your boat,\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau d’Alteville<\/a> within the deeply forested, lake-spattered Moselle area in northeastern France is a fabulously rural choose. Owned by the Barth\u00e9lemy household for greater than a century and now run by welcoming hosts David and Agnieszka, the vine-wisped, warm-stone, white-shuttered ch\u00e2teau is surrounded by landscaped lawns. Vintage-furnished rooms seize the romance of a extra gracious period, with high billing going to the bridal suite with its four-poster mattress.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> Days right here unfold in leisurely style, with fishing within the pond, birdwatching nature rambles, e-biking into the lushly inexperienced environment and scrumptious dinners that function produce grown on the natural farm. If the climate turns iffy, crack open a e book within the library or play billiards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Make it occur:<\/b> B&B doubles begin at \u20ac105 (US$123). The ch\u00e2teau is open for bookings from April to October.<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/b> Because the ch\u00e2teau is distant, your finest wager is to take a Eurostar\/TGV combo to Metz, Nancy or Strasbourg (throughout an hour away by prepare), then hire your individual wheels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A
Ch\u00e2teau Les Crayeres in Reims. Leonard Zhukovsky\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Les Cray\u00e8res<\/h2>\n

However a cork pop away from a number of the finest champagne cellars in\u00a0Reims and producing fabulous bubbly of its personal, madly romantic\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau Les Cray\u00e8res<\/a> is fantasy stuff. You\u2019ll pinch your self once you stroll as much as the doorway of this belle-\u00e9poque stunner, with its colonnade, mansard roof and fantastically manicured grounds framed by topiaries. Up to now, so regal \u2013 and it will get higher.<\/p>\n

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Inbuilt 1904 for Louise Pommery, Duchess of Polignac, this ch\u00e2teau will make you’re feeling like royalty with its glittering chandeliers, gilt-framed oil work hanging in stuccoed salons and corridors with ruby-red padded partitions. The service is impeccably discreet, with a butler bringing you up a complimentary glass of champagne on arrival. Merci! The rooms are consistent with the palatial theme, with rococo touches, antiques, wealthy materials, marble bogs and, in some situations, Juliet balconies for gazing throughout the grounds because the solar rises.<\/p>\n

And the icing on the five-star cake? The meals. Served with finesse on silver trays, breakfast is a feast of recent patisserie, selfmade preserves and yogurts, just-squeezed juices and eggs cooked completely to order. And the two-Michelin-star restaurant Le Parc Les Cray\u00e8res walks the culinary high-wire, with chef Christophe Moret working magic on gorgeous elements in season-spun dishes like roasted scallops with salsify and chestnut praline, and head-to-toe veal with tangy chards.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> Get your kicks from a few of France\u2019s most interesting champagne in Reims, the place you possibly can hook onto cellar excursions and tastings with the likes of\u00a0Pommery<\/a>,\u00a0Veuve Clicquot<\/a> and Taittinger<\/a>. Reims enthralls, too, with its showstopping Gothic\u00a0cathedral and UNESCO World Heritage-listed<\/a> Palais du Tau (a former archbishop\u2019s residence the place princes stayed earlier than their coronations) and Benedictine abbey-church\u00a0Basilique St-R\u00e9mi.<\/p>\n

Make it occur:<\/b> Double rooms begin at \u20ac338 (US$395) in winter, however may be quadruple that in summer season. If you wish to eat at Le Parc, you should definitely reserve nicely forward. A four-course lunch\/five-course dinner prices \u20ac120\/270 (US$140\/315) respectively.<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/b> This is among the easiest-to-access ch\u00e2teaux from the UK by Eurostar. From Paris Gare de l\u2019Est, it\u2019s a 45-minute prepare journey to Reims. Les Cray\u00e8res is a half-hour stroll or five-minute taxi journey from the station.<\/p>\n

\"Cyclists
Abbaye du Mont St-Michel in Normandy. saranya33\/ Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ch\u00e2teau de la Ballue\u00a0<\/h2>\n

A parterre sweeps as much as this baroque magnificence that is fairly presumably the fort of your wildest childhood goals. Ch\u00e2teau de la Ballue is within the petit village of Bazouges-la-P\u00e9rouse, which is a imaginative and prescient in honey stone, cobbled lanes and half-timbered homes within the Ille-et-Vilaine division of Brittany.\u00a0Should you can deliver your self to depart the ch\u00e2teau, one in all France’s most iconic sights is close by: the rock-top abbey of Mont St-Michel, hovering above the ocean.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots to maintain you right here: enchanting, sculpture-strewn grounds the place you possibly can roam in quiet reverie for hours alongside the leafy avenues, cypress groves, wisteria alleys, gardens framed by clipped field, holly and yew, and a labyrinth impressed by a Le Corbusier sketch.<\/p>\n

4 high-ceilinged, wood-paneled rooms and one suite brim with interval aptitude, such because the one dedicated to author Victor Hugo, with its cover mattress, Louis XV fire and wealthy pink damask. Simply as romantic is the Persian room, with Pierre Frey tree of life material dancing throughout the partitions and views of the topiary gardens. Breakfast, too, is a category act, served in a Seventeenth-century, chandelier-lit salon. Seasonal fruits, cheese, charcuterie, selfmade pastries, eggs and cr\u00eapes arrive on the best crockery and silver.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll do:<\/b> Sneak off to the heated outside pool to swim laps, unwind on the deck with uplifting views of the Couesnon Valley, or calm down within the scorching tub and Finnish sauna. Or get a real style of la belle vie<\/i> with afternoon tea served beneath the arbor within the aromatic rose backyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Make it occur: <\/b>Doubles begin at \u20ac315 (US$368); breakfast is a further \u20ac25 (US$29). The gardens are at their blooming finest in spring and early summer season.<\/p>\n

Getting there:<\/b> The ch\u00e2teau is a 50-minute drive from Rennes airport. (EasyJet operates flights right here from London.) There’s a prepare station in Pontorson, a 20-minute drive away.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everybody loves a very good ch\u00e2teau\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and no nation does them higher than France, which is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2284],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"large":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329.jpg",600,338,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329-540x338.jpg",540,338,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock2593417329-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Photography<\/a>","tag_info":"Photography","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8958,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957\/revisions\/8958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturetraveling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}