If you are planning a trip to France, there is guide and website you are going to love. It is called “Bienvenue au Château” and it will enable you to stay in various Châteaux and country manors, all across France. Have you always dreamed about being able to stay in a Chateau for a night or two? This guide will fulfill your dream!
You already know how much I love castles & châteaux. What I love even more is to stay in one! If like me, you dream of being a prince or princess for a night or 2, then go to www.bienvenueauchateau.com to book your stay in a château, or at least dream about it!
No, no, this isn’t a sponsored post!
Stay in a Château with “Bienvenue au Chateau”
A few months back, I stayed at a charming 16th century country house favored by Henry IV, in his time: the Manoir d’Hermos. Located in Normandy, not too far from Paris and even closer to Rouen, such manoir offers beauty & tranquility in an impressive natural surrounding. Marius, the sweet resident donkey is a bit of an Instagram star and adds to the charm of the place with his fellow sheep!
It is there, that I discovered, the brand “Bienvenue au Château” and their lovely guide. “Bienvenue au Château” is an association which promotes bed & breakfast style accommodations in private châteaux, manors and historical houses. The goal is to help protect the extremely rich French architectural heritage, while providing unique accommodation to guests, like you and I.
This is a fantastic, I thought! And as I was going through the pages of the guide, I realized it would become my ‘go-to’ guide, when looking for accommodations. Not just because of the pretty drawings, useful map and lovely descriptions but also, because staying in places with so much history, with hosts who love sharing such stories, is just so special.
The paper guide is extraordinary. 121 châteaux, manoirs and country houses are listed as at 2017. Each one of them displayed on one page, with a beautiful ink representation and plenty of information. Have a look below!
I’m mentioning the paper guide because I find it so thoughtful. To display all those amazing places with a drawing, rather than just a picture, shows the love!
But of course, Bienvenue au Château also has a website which is www.bienvenueauchateau.com and which will enable you to see ‘regular’ pictures of each properties. Gorgeous pictures, I show say! Browse around and start dreaming about your next stay!
“Bienvenue au Chateau” and “Relais & Chateaux”
OK, I’m actually not going to compare “Bienvenue au Château” and “Relais & Châteaux“. The first one is about B&Bs and the later about 5 stars hotels. It is not meant to be the same, obviously. I’m mentioning both here, because I know it can be a little confusing.
If you don’t know the Relais & Chateaux network, let me just give you a little summary:
The “Relais & Châteaux” network has over 500 boutique hotels and restaurants, located in 63 different countries. Some are true gems, there is no denying.
You may, in fact, recall how much I loved our stay at Saint Gerlach near Maastricht or our stay at the Auberge du Jeu de Paume in Chantilly. Those are just 2 examples amongst quite a few. Mr A. has taken me to some pretty amazing hotels and restaurants!
Usually there is one fairly big issue with “Relais & Châteaux” and it is… the price! It’s not always the case, and it’s possible to find super deals but to start with, most of the “Relais & Châteaux” properties are usually pricey.
The other thing to point out, is that contrary to what the name may suggest, a lot of places are not really châteaux. A lot of them are, especially in France, but maybe not as many as you would expect. To be fair, most people probably thing ‘luxury’ when thinking of “Relais & Châteaux”. I may be amongst the very few, who focus on the ‘Châteaux’ part!
So here you have it. “Bienvenue au Châteaux” is only French (at least for now!) Bed and Breakfast style and “Relais & Châteaux” is mostly international 5 stars hotels or restaurants.
Again I’m actually not trying to compare the 2. I’m just trying to add a little clarification to help you decide what is best for you!
I do hope you will manage to try at least one of the properties listed by “Bienvenue au Châteaux” as I’m pretty sure you will like it!
I love castles but I love churches too! Like this one where I slept like a baby!
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