Château de Bourron in Fontainebleau, France. clemMtravel/Shutterstock
Everyone loves a good château – and no country does them better than France, which is sprinkled from head to foot with castles, turreted palaces and ivy-draped mansions so befitting of a fairy tale that you half expect a Disney princess to waltz out of the door.
You can admire them from afar or go on a tour. But for full immersion nothing beats staying the night, sauntering the grounds, dining like royalty in an exquisitely chandelier-lit salon or using your palatial pad as a springboard to explore 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 bring you seven of our absolute fave châteaux.
Le Château de Fontenay
Loire Valley châteaux don’t come dreamier than Le Château de Fontenay, a whimsically turreted, 17th-century knockout, reclining in wooded splendor on the banks of the Cher River. Like something freshly minted for a romcom, this bijou castle is surrounded by immaculately landscaped lawns. The elegant rooms come with a dash of period flair: chandeliers, wood floors polished to a mirrorlike sheen, ornate marble fireplaces and an even fancier guest salon with a grand piano.
What you’ll do: When the weather warms, take a dip in the tranquil outdoor pool or enjoy breakfast – a feast of farm-fresh eggs, homemade pastries and garden-grown fruit – on the wisteria-draped terrace. For a deeper dive, sign up for a spin of the château’s vineyards and cellars, followed by a wine tasting, or hop on a bike to pedal along the banks of the river
Make it happen: B&B doubles start at €130 (US$152). Book well ahead for summer when it’s peak château-hopping season in the Loire.
Getting there: Fly on Ryanair to Tours airport, a 30-minute drive northwest of Le Château de Fontenay. Public transport is sparse, so you’ll need to rent a car or take a taxi. Alternatively, you can reach Tours in 2½ hours by train from Paris.
Château de l'Abbaye de Moreilles
With brilliant sunlight bouncing off its vine-enveloped walls and breezes brining a whisper of the not-so-distant sea, the Château de l'Abbaye de Moreilles in the Vendée region of the Western Loire is wrapped in the romance of its origins as a 12th-century Cistercian abbey. There’s a lot to love here: rooms filled with antiques and a pinch of flamboyance, with vibrant colors, patterns and luxuriant fabrics, a heated outdoor pool for floating under flawless blue skies, a petite spa with a hot tub and sauna, and romps around acres of 200-year-old parkland. Dinners – courtesy of the superb cook Korakot – play up freshest seasonal ingredients with finesse and are served by a roaring open fire.
What you’ll do: For all its medieval vibes, the château has no airs and graces. Kids are welcome and there’s tons to appeal to families, from board games and free bike rental to ping-pong. And when you tire (as if) of château life, it’s an easy day trip to La Rochelle or L'île de Ré, a pretty island of dune-flanked beaches and big skies.
Make it happen: Double rooms start at €145 (US$170), and breakfast is well worth the extra €18 (US$21) per person. Try to avoid peak summer holiday season when airfares go through the roof.
Getting there: The closest airport is La Rochelle, a 30-minute drive south of the château. It’s served by several airlines, including easyJet and Ryanair. Alternatively, it takes around 6½ hours to travel here from the UK by train (Eurostar and TGV).
Château de Pâquier
The French Alps tear across the horizon at Château de Pâquier in the Isère, a 30-minute drive south of Grenoble. For romance without the hefty price tag, this dinky 16th-century castle enchants. This place fulfills all the sleep-in-a-castle fantasies with its flowery gardens, vine-swaddled stone walls, tower and a spiral staircase twisting up to rooms with heavy beamed ceilings, antiques and views reaching deep into the valley.
Families are warmly welcome, with two rooms sleeping up to five. Your kind and passionate hosts, Jacques and Hélène Rossi, are more than happy to whip up dinner, which they serve with their own wines and walnut liqueur in the historic tower kitchen. And breakfast is a treat, with homemade bread, preserves and honey.
What you’ll do: The setting is gorgeous. You’re just a hop from cliff-rimmed Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet, where you can swim or windsurf in surreally turquoise waters, and from the lushly forested, trail-woven peaks of Parc Naturel Régional du Vercors.
Make it happen: B&B doubles start at €100 (US$117). If you prefer to prepare your own meals, you’re welcome to eat in the historic, stone-walled kitchen with its massive inglenook fireplace. A barbecue is available in summer. Bear in mind that the landscape is Alpine, so winters can be cold and snowy.
Getting there: Château de Pâquier 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 hire a car.
Château de Bourron
You may be on a château high after a visit to the exuberantly frescoed, gilded and tapestry-slung state apartments at Château de Fontainebleau, a 1900-room beauty of a palace built on a Versailles-like scale that was one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s personal favorites. You can get your own shot of the royal treatment by heading 10 minutes south to stay at Château de Bourron.
Built on the foundations of a medieval fortress, this lavish 17th-century château makes quite an entrance with its moat, clipped hedges, prettily wooded parkland and horseshoe-shaped staircase mirroring the one at Fontainebleau. The rooms neatly fit the dream bill, too, furnished with heavy drapes, richly patterned wall coverings, period furniture, hand-knotted oriental rugs and Versailles parquet. Dinner is given a gourmet twist at Les Prémices restaurant, lodged in the château’s former stables.
What you’ll do: With 100 acres of beautifully tended walled gardens to explore, this is a great base for forest walks and bike rides. There’s also a tennis court and kids’ sandpit for the warmer months. And if you just want to relax, book a Shiatsu massage.
Make it happen: B&B doubles start at €250 (US$293). The cottage rooms on the grounds are slightly cheaper, with rates per night from €185 (US$216).
Getting there: Take the Eurostar or fly to Paris. From Gare de Lyon, it’s a 1¼-hour train ride to Bourron-Marlotte-Grez train station, where the owners will pick you up on request.
Château d'Alteville
If the idea of slipping properly off the radar rocks your boat, Château d'Alteville in the deeply forested, lake-spattered Moselle region in northeastern France is a fabulously rural pick. Owned by the Barthélemy family for more than a century and now run by welcoming hosts David and Agnieszka, the vine-wisped, warm-stone, white-shuttered château is surrounded by landscaped lawns. Antique-furnished rooms capture the romance of a more gracious era, with top billing going to the bridal suite with its four-poster bed.
What you’ll do: Days here unfold in leisurely fashion, with fishing in the pond, birdwatching nature rambles, e-biking into the lushly green surroundings and delicious dinners that feature produce grown on the organic farm. If the weather turns iffy, crack open a book in the library or play billiards.
Make it happen: B&B doubles start at €105 (US$123). The château is open for bookings from April to October.
Getting there: As the château is remote, your best bet is to take a Eurostar/TGV combo to Metz, Nancy or Strasbourg (all around an hour away by train), then rent your own wheels.
Château Les Crayères
But a cork pop away from some of the best champagne cellars in Reims and producing fabulous bubbly of its own, madly romantic Château Les Crayères is fantasy stuff. You’ll pinch yourself when you walk up to the entrance of this belle-époque stunner, with its colonnade, mansard roof and beautifully manicured grounds framed by topiaries. So far, so regal – and it gets better.
Built in 1904 for Louise Pommery, Duchess of Polignac, this château will make you feel like royalty with its glittering chandeliers, gilt-framed oil paintings hanging in stuccoed salons and corridors with ruby-red padded walls. The service is impeccably discreet, with a butler bringing you up a complimentary glass of champagne on arrival. Merci! The rooms are in keeping with the palatial theme, with rococo touches, antiques, rich fabrics, marble bathrooms and, in some instances, Juliet balconies for gazing across the grounds as the sun rises.
And the icing on the five-star cake? The food. Served with finesse on silver trays, breakfast is a feast of fresh patisserie, homemade preserves and yogurts, just-squeezed juices and eggs cooked perfectly to order. And the two-Michelin-star restaurant Le Parc Les Crayères walks the culinary high-wire, with chef Christophe Moret working magic on stunning ingredients in season-spun dishes like roasted scallops with salsify and chestnut praline, and head-to-toe veal with tangy chards.
What you’ll do: Get your kicks from some of France’s finest champagne in Reims, where you can hook onto cellar tours and tastings with the likes of Pommery, Veuve Clicquot and Taittinger. Reims enthralls, too, with its showstopping Gothic cathedral and UNESCO World Heritage-listed Palais du Tau (a former archbishop’s residence where princes stayed before their coronations) and Benedictine abbey-church Basilique St-Rémi.
Make it happen: Double rooms start at €338 (US$395) in winter, but can be quadruple that in summer. If you want to eat at Le Parc, be sure to reserve well ahead. A four-course lunch/five-course dinner costs €120/270 (US$140/315) respectively.
Getting there: This is one of the easiest-to-access châteaux from the UK by Eurostar. From Paris Gare de l’Est, it’s a 45-minute train ride to Reims. Les Crayères is a half-hour walk or five-minute taxi ride from the station.
Château de la Ballue
A parterre sweeps up to this baroque beauty that's quite possibly the castle of your wildest childhood dreams. Château de la Ballue is in the petit village of Bazouges-la-Pérouse, which is a vision in honey stone, cobbled lanes and half-timbered houses in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany. If you can bring yourself to leave the château, one of France's most iconic sights is nearby: the rock-top abbey of Mont St-Michel, soaring above the sea.
There’s plenty to keep you here: enchanting, sculpture-strewn grounds where you can roam in quiet reverie for hours along the leafy avenues, cypress groves, wisteria alleys, gardens framed by clipped box, holly and yew, and a labyrinth inspired by a Le Corbusier sketch.
Four high-ceilinged, wood-paneled rooms and one suite brim with period flair, such as the one devoted to writer Victor Hugo, with its canopy bed, Louis XV fireplace and rich red damask. Just as romantic is the Persian room, with Pierre Frey tree of life fabric dancing across the walls and views of the topiary gardens. Breakfast, too, is a class act, served in a 17th-century, chandelier-lit salon. Seasonal fruits, cheese, charcuterie, homemade pastries, eggs and crêpes arrive on the finest crockery and silver.
What you’ll do: Sneak off to the heated outdoor pool to swim laps, unwind on the deck with uplifting views of the Couesnon Valley, or relax in the hot tub and Finnish sauna. Or get a true taste of la belle vie with afternoon tea served under the arbor in the fragrant rose garden.
Make it happen: Doubles start at €315 (US$368); breakfast is an additional €25 (US$29). The gardens are at their blooming best in spring and early summer.
Getting there: The château is a 50-minute drive from Rennes airport. (EasyJet operates flights here from London.) There is a train station in Pontorson, a 20-minute drive away.
