The Top 12 Hotels Near La Vieille Auberge
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A former monastery beside the hot springs of Barbotan-les-Termes, this hotel draws on the springs for its own spa and carries a Michelin Key. The 25 rooms feel traditionally stylish without trying too hard, and the dining room runs on Michel Guérard's seasonal French menu, so the cooking is a genuine reason to stay rather than an afterthought. The kind of place where the itinerary writes itself: soak, eat, sleep, repeat.
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An old tannery on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route, converted by two Parisians into a five-room boutique hotel after four years of careful work. The co-owner, a former decorator, had custom paint shades mixed for the lime-washed walls, and the rooms pair designer furniture with vintage pieces and deep bathtubs. A separate Pilgrim Cottage houses hikers more simply. Breakfast arrives on ceramics made in the village.
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A 13th-century mansion that once belonged to the Count of Toulouse now does duty as a small hotel in a medieval walled village in Gascony. Designer Jacques Garcia, whose fingerprints are all over Paris's grandest hotel interiors, brought his full Baroque energy here: silk taffeta canopies, gilded mirrors, clawfoot tubs, chandeliers heavy enough to give a structuralist pause. A courtyard pool and cooking classes round things out before dinner inevitably calls.
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Four rooms in a restored Gascon farmhouse in a corner of Gascony that likes to call itself the French Tuscany. One room has a freestanding tub and a stone fireplace, two have Jacuzzis, and the whole place has the eclectic, cheerful décor of someone who spent years in Parisian fashion before coming home to run their great-grandmother's inn. The kitchen punches above its size, and the Michelin Guide has taken notice of the hotel.
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A 17th-century former monastery that a husband-and-wife team has turned into a 12-room luxury hotel deep in the Dordogne, an hour and a half from Bordeaux. The mill suite has a glass floor with a stream running beneath it, which is either a selling point or a sleep issue depending on your nerves. Stone walls, timbered ceilings, 50 acres, and a barn restaurant working with local ingredients. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.
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Eight rooms, each named for a year woven into the owning family's story, sit inside a stone house at the center of Saint-Émilion's medieval square. This small inn pairs contemporary interiors with all the history the walls can hold, and manages to feel neither fussy nor like a museum. The restaurant downstairs holds a Michelin star, which means the breakfast hour might be the quietest the place ever gets.
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Rooms with balconies over Saint-Émilion's medieval rooftops make it easy to forget you're also supposed to be wine tasting. This luxury hotel inside an antique building pairs the old stone shell with bold colors and patterned wallpaper that would not look out of place in a design magazine. Breakfast is lavish, which is the hotel's way of telling you the vineyards can wait. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.
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A Belle Époque mansion where three rivers meet, Villa Mirasol is a boutique hotel with seven rooms and suites wrapped in colorful accent walls and quiet river views. The gardens, a mix of French and English styles, have shaded footpaths and a riverside terrace made for breakfast with no particular urgency. An elevator lined with a floor-to-ceiling hand-painted fresco moves guests between floors with more drama than strictly necessary.
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The real draw at this nine-room château hotel just outside Saint-Émilion is underground: old stone quarries where Cabernet Franc ages in oak barrels. Above ground, the restored interior goes a little sideways in the best way, with each room styled to its own theme, from Pop Art yellows to zebra prints. The candlelit dining room is properly French and traditional, but the wine made on the premises is the thing everyone is actually there for.
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