Travel Tuesday: 10 Fabulous Hotels in France Worth Planning a Trip Around
I’m back with Travel Tuesday for your wanderlust…
France really does have an unfair advantage when it comes to hotels.
Give the French an old château, a vineyard, a crumbling stone farmhouse, or a spectacular stretch of coastline and somehow it becomes the chicest place you have ever seen. Add fabulous food, beautiful gardens, a little art, plenty of wine, and preferably a pool overlooking something ancient, and I am packing my bags.
For this Travel Tuesday, I rounded up 10 of the most fabulous hotels in France, from Paris to Provence, the Loire Valley to the French Alps, and, of course, Saint-Tropez.
These aren’t simply places to sleep. They are the kind of hotels that become the reason for the trip.
Paris
A maximalist garden fantasy hiding in the middle of Paris.
Let’s begin with the obvious English Room choice.
Designed by the brilliant Martin Brudnizki, La Fantaisie is colorful, layered, whimsical, and wonderfully unlike the beige luxury hotels that seem to be multiplying around the world.
Located on Rue Cadet in Paris’s 9th arrondissement, the five-star hotel has 73 rooms and suites, a lush garden, rooftop, spa, and enough pattern and color to keep any design lover happily entertained.
The interiors feel distinctly Parisian but never stuffy. Think floral motifs, scalloped details, rich color, fabulous fabrics, and just the right amount of decorative excess.
In other words, more is more, even in Paris.
Why I love it: Martin Brudnizki. Color. Pattern. A garden. A rooftop. Need I say more?
Loire Valley
Château life without having to marry into the aristocracy.
Set between Chambord and Chenonceau in the Loire Valley, Les Sources de Cheverny is surrounded by forest, vineyards, stone buildings, and the sort of French countryside that makes you immediately reconsider your entire life.
The estate combines a historic château with charming cottages and country houses. Inside, antiques mingle with beautiful fabrics and natural materials for a look that feels collected rather than decorated. There is also a Caudalie spa and Michelin-starred Le Favori restaurant.
Days can be spent visiting Loire Valley châteaux, cycling through vineyards, wine tasting, horseback riding, wandering through the forest, or even floating above it all in a hot-air balloon.
I could settle in quite nicely.
Why I love it: Châteaux, antiques, wine, horses, great food, and gorgeous interiors. Basically my vacation checklist.
Domaine des Etangs, Auberge Collection
Massignac, Charente
A 700-year-old château meets contemporary art retreat.
Domaine des Etangs might be one of France’s most magical country escapes.
The 13th-century château sits on an extraordinary 2,500-acre estate filled with forests, meadows, gardens, and ponds. Contemporary art is layered throughout the historic property, creating that fabulous tension between very old and very new that the French seem to do particularly well.
There are château suites and private farmhouse cottages, plus the Michelin-starred Restaurant Dyades and Le Moulin spa.
This is where you go when you want to disappear into the French countryside and emerge several days later extremely well fed and significantly more relaxed.
Why I love it: Art + château + countryside. The combination is hard to beat.
Airelles Château de La Messardière
Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez glamour with room to breathe.
You can’t make a list of dreamy French hotels and skip Saint-Tropez.
Perched above Saint-Tropez and surrounded by vineyards, this magnificent 19th-century château sits within 12 hectares of gardens overlooking the Mediterranean and Pampelonne Bay.
There are pools, a Valmont spa, gorgeous gardens, multiple restaurants and access to the hotel’s private Jardin Tropézina beach club. And because this is Saint-Tropez, you can be whisked between the château, beach, and town by Rolls-Royce or Mini Moke.
Subtle? No.
Fabulous? Absolutely.
Why I love it: Old-world château romance mixed with unapologetic Saint-Tropez glamour.
Cap d’Antibes
The grande dame of the French Riviera.
Some hotels are trendy. Others become legends.
Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc has been welcoming guests to its spectacular corner of Cap d’Antibes since 1870. Picasso, Chagall, Fitzgerald, Hollywood stars, aristocrats, and generations of glamorous travelers have all passed through its doors.
The setting is pure Riviera fantasy: pine trees, manicured gardens, private coastline, seaside cabanas, and that iconic swimming pool carved into the rocks above the Mediterranean.
It is glamorous without trying to be fashionable because it helped define the very idea of Riviera glamour.
Why I love it: History, glamour, striped umbrellas, the Mediterranean, and approximately 150 years of fabulous people behaving badly.
Provence
Come for Provence. Stay for the art collection.
For the design and art obsessed, Villa La Coste is heaven.
Located on the Château La Coste wine estate between Aix-en-Provence and the Luberon, the hotel combines wine, contemporary art, architecture, food, and beautiful Provençal countryside.
The intimate hotel has just 31 suites overlooking vineyards and hills. Throughout the larger estate, art and architecture become part of the landscape, with more than 40 works and installations creating what feels like an enormous open-air museum.
Spend the morning wandering among art, have a very long lunch, taste wine in the afternoon, and finish the day beside the pool.
That sounds extremely civilized to me.
Why I love it: World-class art without ever having to leave the vineyard.
Provence
The Provençal village fantasy perfected.
High in the Vaucluse beneath Mont Ventoux, Hôtel Crillon Le Brave isn’t contained within one grand building. Instead, the hotel spills through a collection of centuries-old village houses connected by winding passages, terraces, and hidden corners.
The 26 rooms and 17 suites mix traditional Provençal architecture with beautifully restrained interiors by Charles Zana.
Following its 2026 reopening, the hotel added new rooms, another swimming pool, expanded wellness spaces, and an enlarged spa while preserving the wonderful sense that you’ve stumbled into your own private Provençal village.
Vineyards and olive groves stretch below you, rosé is never far away, and Mont Ventoux looms in the distance.
Why I love it: This is Provence exactly as I want Provence to look.
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, French Alps
For when après-ski is every bit as important as skiing.
France isn’t only about Paris and the Riviera. The Alps deserve their own trip.
Tucked into Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, La Bouitte is a wonderfully intimate five-star Relais & Châteaux hotel that has remained a family affair for generations.
It combines cozy Alpine interiors, serious gastronomy, and a mountain spa with access to one of the world’s great ski regions. Its gastronomic restaurant, La Table des Meilleurs, currently holds two Michelin stars.
The interiors have that wonderfully collected Alpine look: carved wood, antiques, layers of textiles, warm lighting, and plenty of places that practically demand a glass of red wine beside the fire.
Why I love it: It feels like an actual mountain home rather than a shiny new ski resort.
Cassis
The Côte d’Azur with a slightly quieter attitude.
Cassis may not have quite the name recognition of Saint-Tropez, which is precisely part of its charm.
Les Roches Blanches sits dramatically above the Mediterranean with views toward Cap Canaille and easy access to the spectacular Calanques.
The look is crisp Mediterranean glamour: white architecture, blue water, terraces, pools, and endless sunshine.
It is the sort of place where lunch turns into drinks, drinks turn into dinner, and suddenly you’ve accomplished absolutely nothing all day.
Success.
Why I love it: Those views. That water. And a little less scene than Saint-Tropez.
Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle
Versailles
Because sometimes a regular five-star hotel simply isn’t enough.
If we’re going to France, why not go all in?
Le Grand Contrôle sits within the grounds of the Palace of Versailles and offers one of the most extraordinary hotel experiences in the country.
The interiors channel the grandeur of the 18th century with antiques, period-inspired fabrics, chandeliers, elaborate trims, and rooms that make minimalist design feel like a terrible misunderstanding.
This isn’t simply staying near Versailles. It is about stepping into the fantasy of Versailles itself.
Bring something fabulous to wear.
Why I love it: Completely over the top, historically inspired, and gloriously unnecessary. My favorite combination.
France, I Surrender…
The problem with putting this list together is that I now want to plan approximately six separate trips.
I’d start with a few days at La Fantaisie in Paris, head into the Loire Valley for Les Sources de Cheverny, disappear into the countryside at Domaine des Etangs, and eventually make my way south for Provence and the Riviera.
Then there is Saint-Tropez.
And skiing in the Alps.
And Versailles.
Clearly one trip isn’t going to cut it.
France remains one of those rare destinations where the hotel can be every bit as memorable as the place itself. Whether your idea of heaven is a centuries-old château, a colorful Parisian jewel box, an art-filled vineyard, a glamorous Mediterranean grande dame, or a chalet tucked into the Alps, there is a fabulous French hotel waiting.
The only difficult part?
Choosing which one to book first.
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