With the energy of last year’s Olympic Games still lingering, it’s an inspiring moment to revisit Paris — or rather, its surrounding regions. These six sumptuous hotels, each within easy reach of the city, offer a quieter way to connect with the reawakened cultural spirit of the capital and beyond this year.
There’s something uniquely compelling about a city in the few years after it has hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Once the final medals have been awarded and the grandstands are cleared, it finally has the chance to exhale and comfortably settle into its newfound glory – energised, resculpted by years of investments, and still warm to the touch with a deep sense of national pride and introspection that only comes with having spent nearly a decade preparing to show your best face to the world. Some refer to this as the ‘post-Olympic glow’. Whatever you choose to call it, Paris is wearing it gorgeously right now, and we couldn’t be more excited to return.
The city has embraced its Olympic moment not as a finish line but as a starting point, and 2025 is already off and running with a wave of exciting developments. The Seine is being reborn as a lived-in waterway, with new urban swimming spots opening this year as a direct result of one of the city’s most ambitious ecological cleanup efforts that began before the games. Across the capital, the Grand Paris Express – Europe’s largest transport project – is transforming how locals and visitors move through the metropolis, linking the city centre with creative, emerging districts.
There’s plenty stirring on the art and epicurean front also. The legendary queer painter David Hockney is preparing for the largest exhibition of his career at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in April, meanwhile, over at the Pompidou Centre, Paris Noir is turning heads and reframing narratives in a landmark exhibition that explores the creative legacy of Black artists in Paris. Not only that, but the city has gained nine new Michelin-starred restaurants in the past year alone, reaffirming its place at the centre of global gastronomy (as if it needed to do so).
It’s been less than a year since we last touched down in the City of Light – drawn not only to the effervescent energy of the world’s greatest sporting event but also by our mission to shape our Paris is Turning issue. In its making, we scoured each arrondissement for hotels that we thought were worthy of our readers’ attention, from storied grande dames to under-the-radar boutiques. Now, on our return, we’re extending our curious eyes beyond the Périphérique and to the city’s outskirts, where a few particular properties are serving up a taste of slow-simmered French decadence. Each within easy reach of the capital, these stays are well-suited to any traveller who wants to dip in and out of the buzz while having a more peaceful base to return to, or experience an altogether quieter expression of the French art de vivre.
Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle, Versailles
At Le Grand Contrôle, days begin, should guests wish, with a ‘Royal Awakening’ – soundtracked by 18th century music, a lantern-bearing butler opens the curtains and runs sir or madam a bubble bath to start the day. It’s a ritual inspired by royal tradition, and one of many nods to the hotel’s unique location – in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.
With just 13 rooms and suites, this extraordinary property, which opened in 2021, occupies a building commissioned by King Louis XIV himself in 1681. A lavish restoration, based on an original 18th-century inventory, had fabrics recreated by textile house Maison Pierre Frey and original furniture sourced from auction houses across Europe. Hotel staff wear period costumes, and dining options include highly theatrical royal feasts and banquets.
Treatments by Valmont in the opulent spa, too, have regal themes – Sun King massage, anyone? Best of all, guests have exclusive access to explore the palace and grounds when they’re closed to the public.
Photography by Renee Knepps and courtesy of Airelles, words by Rupert Mellor
Domaine de Primard, Guainville
An hour west of Paris, the 18th-century country mansion Domaine de Primard, a member of Relais & Châteaux, sits in 40 lush acres of meadows and forest. Its ravishing gardens are home also to outbuildings containing a restaurant and 450 sqm/4,800 sqft spa, and incorporate a picturesque moat with rowing boats and a smart outdoor pool. Highland cows, chickens and donkeys roam peacefully, on petting terms with staff and guests.
Deliciously free of any trace of pomp or chintz, interiors take their cue from the main house’s Directoire architectural style, which, while sumptuous, elegantly avoids ostentation. Airy rooms and suites soothe with fresh pastel colours, exposed, ancient beams and simple furniture, and gently quirky design touches in the shared spaces play with the classical aesthetics to keep the ambience relaxed.
The hotel’s gastronomic jewel is the Michelin-starred Les Chemins, whose veg-dominated, sustainability-minded menus champion local, seasonal produce, much of which is grown on-site.
www.lesdomainesdefontenille.com | www.relaischateaux.com
Photography by Gaelle Le Boulicaut and courtesy of Domaine de Primard, words by Rupert Mellor
Mob House, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine
Time was, visitors to Paris would only venture north to the adjacent commune of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine for its famous flea markets. Today, while it still has rough edges aplenty, this suburb is one of many benefitting from broad regeneration – and it’s home to a very different kind of hotel stay.
Mob House is designed in every detail around new models of nomadic working and socially conscious hospitality. Larger, modular rooms combine office and meeting spaces with a luxurious bedroom, while communal areas have areas for co-working. Design is urban but warm with an emphasis on natural materials such as wood and terracotta, while the striking bar stirs in industrial glamour.
Modern, health-forward dining happens at the organic, locavore brasserie Feuille de Chou, whose tables spill out onto a large terrace in some 2,000 sqm/21,500 sqft of leafy gardens. These also comprise a 20m/65ft swimming pool, complemented indoors by a spacious and well-kitted daylit gym.
Photography courtesy of Mob House, words by Rupert Mellor
Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, Champillon
Relaxation of a deeply indulgent stripe is the order of the day at Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, a lavish, contemporary wine-country cocoon 40 minutes east of Paris by train. Designed to suggest a modern-day amphitheatre, this 47-room property commands views of the vineyard-rich, UNESCO-listed Marne Valley and Champagne Hills, best seen over a glass of something bubbly on the impressive terrace.
Concierges stand ready to arrange exclusive tasting visits to private Champagne houses, as well as activities including electric bike rides, buggy tours, boat excursions and horse riding. Back at the ranch, a state-of-the-art, 1,500 sqm/16,000 sqft spa offers indoor and outdoor pools, hammam, sauna, yoga studio and nine treatment rooms.
Diners can choose from smart modern bistro Le Bellevue and fine dining at the Michelin-starred Le Royal, a Neoclassical dining room where chef Christophe Raoux makes magic with locally sourced farm produce and herbs grown in the hotel’s grounds.
Photography courtesy of Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, words by Rupert Mellor
Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay, Cernay-la-Ville
A magical mêlange of medieval and neo-Gothic architecture sits in 185 acres of parkland in the idyllic Haute Vallée de Chevreuse, southwest of Paris. This is Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay, a 12th-century former Cistercian abbey open to guests since a €60m restoration in 2019. Divided across various buildings, its 146 guest accommodations include rooms, suites and standalone pavilions, all decorated in eccentric English country mansion style by Dior Maison’s Cordélia de Castellane (our favourite is the cute Pagode pavilion, a Zen-ish perch for two right on the lake).
Public spaces include vast, richly styled vaulted salons, and six drinking and dining options, ranging from upscale French traditional, in Les Chasses, to the cosy, rustic vibes of L’Auberge, to the jaw-dropping breakfast hall, formerly the monks’ refectory.
Erstwhile stud-farm stables now house a spa and the whole place bristles with stuff to do, from rowing on the lake to petting the resident alpacas to catching a movie in the plush 49-seat cinema.
Photography courtesy of Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay, words by Rupert Mellor
Loire Valley Lodges, Esvres
To think that less than two hours on the train separate visitors to one of the world’s most bustling capital cities from a decidedly slower stay in a region ranking among France’s quietest corners, the famed “Valley of the Kings”, is rather curious indeed. But Paris is hardly out of sight and the Loire River barely in view when its relaxing effects begin to kick in. At Loire Valley Lodges, a treehouse hotel boasting 18 boutique lodges across some 300 acres of woodland idyll, guests can look forward to luxurious creature comforts from private hot tubs to breakfasts in bed while enjoying all that makes the soul smile: birdsong in the mornings, lengthy forest hikes, wild swims and leisurely picnics.
There are also outdoor art installations that contrast with nature in a playful way (the 2023-opened property is the brainchild of Parisian art dealer Anne-Caroline Frey), and those in search of ultimate relaxation shouldn’t miss out on the massages and wellness treatments that can be arranged to take place in the privacy of one’s owns lodgings.
Speaking of the rooms, each comes with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing you to wake up to uninterrupted views of the lush surroundings, while some even feature special perks like private saunas or canopy beds that will make it hard to tear yourself away from the relaxed setting – just remember there’s no rushing the good life in France… in fact, we can’t think of anything less French.
Photography courtesy of Loire Valley Lodges, words by Steffen Michels
