Chateau Louise de La Valliere

This 13th-century estate underwent extensive renovations in recent years to restore the château and its gardens to the grandeur of the grand siècle, reopening in 2022 as the luxury hotel Château Louise de La Valliere. Staying here is an immersive experience; the interiors are museum-like, displaying precious tapestries and oil paintings, staff members wear period costumes, and dinner is a lavish candlelit affair featuring soup, fish, meat, and cheese courses based on 17th-century protocol.

Suites are themed and named after key figures in the life of the so-called Sun King, including one inspired by Marie-Antoinette’s boudoir. While each is unique, all are opulent and theatrical, with classical details like heavy drapery, velvet furniture, rich wood paneling, gilded mirrors, fireplaces, chandeliers, and Carrara marble bathrooms with clawfoot tubs. Many suites are in the main château, with others housed in smaller outbuildings set amid rose gardens, orchards, and a park with 200-year-old trees. The hotel’s spa, with a heated pool, is also in a freestanding building. Activities include champagne tastings, outdoor film screenings in the gardens, and self-guided picnic and bicycle adventures through nearby forests and vineyards — dining al fresco, according to the records, was one of the king’s favorite pastimes.