French Castle Hotels: Live the Legend

Do you enjoy visiting historic castles? Then why not go one step further on your next trip to France and stay in one of the many French castle hotels? These centuries-old castles offer a truly legendary experience as well as the chance to indulge your inner knight or princess! Many French castle hotels are family-run, and each one is unique. Rooms tend to be traditionally decorated with antique furniture and period details. The gardens are often gorgeous and you know the restaurant food will be fit for a king! You can find a château to call home (at least for the night) in every French region. Castle Hotels of France is a helpful site to search, and the Bienvenue au Château organization is another great resource to find French castle hotels and other stately mansions. You don't usually have to pay a king's ransom. Room rates vary but are often very competitive with an ordinary hotel. Here are some examples of French castle hotels that look pretty tempting to us…

Building started at the Château des Réaux in 1435 on the site of an even older fortress in the Loire valley. It's about 3 hours drive from Paris. The Renaissance castle is surrounded by a moat and gardens, and the five guest rooms include one with stained-glass windows. Another guest room is decked out with a hunting theme.

Château d'Esclimont is a fairytale château complete with turrets, a moat, and stone bridges. Built in 1543 by Etienne de Poncher, archbishop of Tours, the castle is set in 150 lush acres, less than an hour from Paris. The Renaissance château is handily situated as it's midway between the Palace of Versailles and Chartres cathedral. That's assuming you can ever bear to leave the grounds!

This suite at the Château d'Esclimont is beautifully decorated with a dazzling chandelier and floral drapes and bed linens.

If you can tear yourself away from your room to visit the hotel restaurant, you can see that the attention to period detail is just as lovely. As mentioned in our previous client spotlights on red dining rooms, red always looks inviting, It stimulates appetite and conversation too. At the hotel, the red paneled walls are richly accented by the gilt chandelier.

Château de Montvillargenne claims to be the largest French castle hotel, with 120 guest rooms. Although not as old as some châteaux, it's pretty spectacular! Built in 1900 by Baroness Jeanne Léonino de Rothschild, the Norman-style château is set in 15 acres of parkland in Chantilly, about 20 miles north of Paris. The four star hotel rooms include the pyramid-shaped Egyptian Prestige Room, decorated with reproductions of Egyptian treasures you can see in the Louvre.

We always enjoy our buying trips to France and we know many of our customers love visiting France too. Tell us in the comments box below if you've ever stayed in a French castle hotel, or if it's on your bucket list!