Despite its plethora of story towns, international tourists have long relied on France’s tried-and-true favorites: Paris, Bordeaux and the Cote d’Azur.
The following four regions are no secret; the French and some clever Englishmen understood their appeal early on. But otherwise they have largely escaped the attention of the international community, blissfully isolated from the crowds. With new five-star hotels and train routes improving accessibility, this may not last long. Book now before your friends find out.
Alternatives to the Côte d’Azur
Arcachon, an hour’s drive from Bordeaux, has been called the Hamptons of France – affluent, preppy, beachy. If this is true, then cape ferre It’s Montauk.
The most stylish place to stay here is the Hôtel des Dunes, reopening in 2023. The relaxed and laid-back style of communities has been renovated around the world: Montauk, yes, but also Southern California and Hawaii’s Waimea Bay. Tiffany calls the atmosphere “not flashy.”
“I remember when an American client arrived last year, she excitedly told me that we reminded her of the Montauk Surf Lodge from 10 years ago, when it was a calm, cool, authentic and laid-back place,” Tiffanie said. . That said, the hotel’s 11 rooms and two suites, all with cheerful yellow-and-white tile wainscoting, are just steps away from breezy hammocks and a walkway to the beach.
This is the ideal habitat from which to explore local beaches. Cap Ferret is set on a peninsula with a windswept beachfront perfect for kitesurfing and a quiet lagoon side protected by dunes and forest perfect for sailing. The hotel’s chef can pack a picnic basket before you set off, or you can take a punt trip to a local oyster village – the captain will serve you bivalves and wine on board.
For breakfast, skip the hotel’s hearty breakfast and head to the Maison Frédélian restaurant. This iconic bakery and patisserie just completed a renovation, but the incredible waffles and cannelés are the same ones they’ve been serving since 1939.
Area B of Provence
About 135 miles from the purple lavender fields of the Haute-Provence Alpes lies a landscape filled with rose hues: a UNESCO-designated saline wetland Camargue, It is home to large numbers of pink flamingos and wild white horses.
Until now, you could only take day trips from nearby locations. Montpellier and Marseille are both just an hour away, while Arles is even closer, home to the spectacular Luma Foundation, which features a gleaming Frank Gehry-designed building. The glowing tower will be completed in 2021. But this June, the area welcomed its first luxury hotel: LebangardianA sister hotel to the sexy five-star Les Bains Hotel in Paris, it is presented by owner and former film producer Jean-Pierre Marois.
The 48 guest rooms are located in individual thatched huts, traditionally called ” ranger cabin, or the Cowboy Cabin. Rooms are outfitted with antique furniture, gossamer mosquito nets and the same black-and-white checkerboard rugs used by the true keeper of the hotel’s name.
Horses feature heavily in the show: ten (tame!) horses live in the on-site stables. You can cycle on the area’s remote beaches or take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the small fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Hippotherapy sessions are also part of an extensive wellness programme, which also includes a hammam, sauna and whirlpool. (There will be a more appropriate spa next summer.) In a nod to another local animal, the hotel’s 1970s-style swimming pool overlooks a pond filled with flamingos.
Extend the animal theme by seeing one of the Camargue’s famous bullrings, where there are no matadors and the bulls are not killed. Instead, it’s a contest of agility; at one of the many local amphitheatres, men dressed in white try to grab a ribbon or tassel from between the horns of a bull, while hundreds, if not thousands, of onlookers watch.
Alpine sleeper hot sale
Vincent Gombault, co-owner of the Almae Collection, a small luxury hotel group, grew up skiing. saint nicholas of verocheIt is a peaceful pastoral village in the Mont Blanc ski area, 40 minutes from Chamonix. It was therefore a natural choice for the collection’s signature hotel, the Armancette, which opens year-round for the first time in 2022. Unchanged, locals still gather there for morning coffee, croissants and blueberry tarts – but its 17 rooms are now filled with plush velvet chairs, high wood-beamed ceilings and fine linens.
The cable car 5 minutes away takes you to the trails leading to the Megève and Chamonix ski areas. In summer, the same mountains offer an abundance of biking, paragliding and hiking adventures. (Explore some of the area’s Baroque churches on your own two feet; the bakery will happily provide you with a picnic lunch.) When you return, the spa features indoor and outdoor pools to soothe tired legs; You can also relax in the spa’s indoor and outdoor swimming pools. They are open year round.
Eating here is half the fun. Alpine cheeses star on the menu at Le Bistrot du Mont Joly, burgers are topped with Reblochon and fondue graces the many tables on the terrace. At La Table d’Armante, chef Fabien Laprée (formerly of Michelin-starred restaurant Saisons in Marseille and a finalist for Best Chef France 2018) offers an eight-course tasting menu featuring alpine lake trout and locally grown agricultural products.
If you fancy fine dining, though, you’re only 90 minutes away from Courchevel, where seemingly every luxury brand (Aman, LVMH, Oetker Collection) has a six-star resort with equally ambitious dining offerings. Bonus: You can now travel to the region from Paris in style, thanks to the Paris-Moutier-Belmond overnight train route, which debuted for the first time last December.
castle country
Picture a lovely, perfect French village chocolate or beauty and the Beast, castles, etc. That is Dordogne In short, the region – 125 miles east of Bordeaux and 100 miles north of Toulouse – remains under the radar, perhaps because of the lack of luxury accommodation available to the uninitiated.
With two exciting new hotels opening in 2022, the area has never been more attractive. About an hour’s drive from Bergerac Derdogne Périgord Airport, Domaine de Rochebois is a 40-bedroom luxury chateau set in a grand estate with a nine-hole golf course, large manicured gardens, a brewery and a Parisian beauty brand Spa run by Nuxe. Located near the medieval town of Sarlat-le-Canéda, Le Petit Manoir is a newly built hotel housed in a 15th-century manor house owned by Alain Ducasse Teritoria Group. It has just nine rooms and suites, all decked out in sumptuous damasks and thick carpets, and a stunning courtyard with a swimming pool – but oddly, given Ducasse’s involvement, there’s no restaurant for dinner.
This is a good reason to get out and explore the neighboring villages – many of which have similar historic buildings and old castles. Some palatial destinations include the majestic 13th-century Castelnau Castle and the Chateau di Milano in Castelnau-la-Chapelle. The latter might surprise you: this is the former home of Joséphine Baker, the iconic American-born entertainer who was immortalized in silent films of the 1920s, and the castle rooms are still plastered with Parisian Art Nouveau style poster.
