The Best Places to Drink and Stay in Cognac

A converted Cognac distillery on the Charente, where the old cooperage is now a cocktail bar and a Michelin-starred restaurant lines its walls with ancient barrels. The hotel holds a Michelin Key. Rooms in the heritage building keep the bones of the warehouse visible while adding every modern comfort, and the spa and pool complex fills the lower level of the newer wing. Cognac the town was overdue for something like this.

A cocktail bar sitting on the banks of the Charente river, in the middle of Cognac country, that has committed fully to the local spirit, which is either very obvious or very smart. Over 200 bottles line the shelves, and the staff treat recommendations as a calling. The cocktail list runs from classics to odder pairings, with cognac at the center of all of it, as you'd expect given the address.

A 150-year-old sequoia anchors the gardens of this hotel, set on a former cognac distillery's riverside grounds just outside the old town. The restored Belle Époque manor has marble floors, Murano glass chandeliers, and a romantic staircase; barrel storehouses out back hold more rooms with vaulted ceilings and exposed beams. Breakfast lands in the library, afternoon tea at the main bar, and cocktails flow freely on the terrace.