Dordogne looks like it came out of a French storybook. — Photos: Pixabay
Despite its density of storybook towns, international travellers have long relied on a circuit of tried-and-true favourites in France: Paris, Bordeaux, and the Cote d’Azur.
The following four regions are no secret – the French, and some smart Brits, have long understood their appeal. But they have largely escaped international attention beyond that, leaving them blissfully free of crowds. With new five-star hotels and train routes improving accessibility, that may not be the case for long. Book now, before your friends catch on.
Cote d’Azur alternative
Arcachon, an hour from Bordeaux, has been called the Hamptons of France – wealthy, preppy, beachy. And if that’s true, then Cap Ferret is the Montauk. (Hamptons and Montauk are both in New York, the United States.)
The chicest place to stay there is Hotel des Dunes, which reopened in 2023. Owner Karine Tiphagne bought the 1969 hotel, situated next to Cap Ferret’s famous lighthouse, and refurbished it in the effortlessly laid-back style of some of her favourite beach communities in the US: Montauk, yes, and also Southern California and Hawaii’s Waimea Bay. Tiphagne calls the vibes “swank-free”.
“I remember an American client arriving last year, excitedly telling me that we reminded her of the Surf Lodge Montauk 10 years ago when it was still a calm, cool, authentic and laid-back place,” Tiphagne says.
To wit, its 11 rooms and two suites have cheery yellow-and-white tile wainscoting and are steps from breezy, swinging hammocks and a footpath leading down to the beach.
It’s the ideal perch from which to discover the local beaches.
Cap Ferret is set on a peninsula with a windswept oceanside – perfect for kitesurfing – and a quieter lagoon side that’s protected by dunes and the forest, ideal for sailing. The hotel’s chefs can pack picnic baskets before you decamp for either one, or you can take a flat-bottomed pinnace boat to local oyster-farming villages – the captains serve bivalves and wine right on board.
For breakfast, bypass the hotel’s generous spread and head instead to Maison Fredelian.
The iconic bakery and pastry shop is also fresh off a renovation – but the incredible waffles and canneles are the same ones they’ve been serving since 1939.
Cap Ferret is set on a peninsula with a windswept oceanside. — Handout
Camargue is famous for its white horses, and if you go during the right season, you might even catch some events featuring the animal.
B-side of Provence
Some 215km from the purple- hued lavender fields of Alpes-de-Haute Provence is a landscape awash in rosy tones: the Unesco-designated saline wetlands of the Camargue, home to legions of pink flamingos and wild white horses.
Until now, you’d visit as a day trip from nearby locations. Montpellier and Marseilles are both an hour away, and Arles, home to the spectacular Luma foundation – with a shimmering Frank Gehry-designed tower that wrapped construction in 2021 – is even closer.
But this June brought the area’s first luxury hotel: Les Bains Gardians, the sister property of the sexy five-star Les Bains Paris, courtesy of owner and former filmmaker Jean-Pierre Marois.
The 48 rooms are all in stand-alone straw-roofed cottages traditionally called cabanes de gardians, or cowboy cabins. They’re outfitted with antique furnishings, gauzy mosquito netting and the same black-and-white chequerboard blankets used by the actual gardians that lend the hotel its name.
Horses figure heavily into the programming: Ten (tame!) horses live in the on-site stables. You can go riding on the area’s remote beaches, or in a horse-drawn carriage through the small fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Horse therapy classes are also part of the extensive wellness programme – which also includes a hammam, sauna and whirlpool baths.
And in a nod to the other local animal, the hotel’s 1970s-style pool overlooks a flamingo-filled pond.
Extend the animal theme by witnessing one of the Camargue’s famous bullfights, where there are no matadors and the bulls aren’t killed. Instead it’s a competition of agility; men dressed in white attempt to grab a ribbon or tassel from between the bull’s horns in one of the many local amphitheatres, for hundreds or even thousands of onlookers.
Saint-Nicholas de Veroce is about 40 minutes from the tourist-heavy attraction, Chamonix. — BORIS MOLINIER/Tourism.saintgervais.com
Alpine sleeper hit
Vincent Gombault, co-owner of the small but luxurious hotel group Almae Collection, grew up skiing in Saint-Nicholas de Veroce, a sleepy, pastoral village in the Mont Blanc ski region, 40 minutes from Chamonix.
So it was a natural setting for the collection’s marquee hotel, Armancette, which opened for its first full year in 2022. The chalet retains tons of historic charm – the adjacent bakery has remained unchanged since 1952, and locals still gather there for their morning coffee, croissants and blueberry tarts – but its 17 rooms are now filled with sumptuous velvet chairs, high wood-beamed ceilings and fine linens.
From a chairlift that’s five minutes from the property, you have access to trails that feed into the greater Megeve and Chamonix ski region; in the summertime, the same mountains offer a wealth of biking, paragliding and hiking adventures.
Eating here is half the fun. Alpine cheeses star on the menu at Le Bistrot du Mont Joly, where the burgers are topped with Reblochon and fondue graces many tabletops on the terrace. And at La Table d’Armante, chef Fabien Lapree – formerly of the Michelin-starred Saisons in Marseille, and a Meilleur Ouvrier de France finalist in 2018 – serves an eight-course tasting menu filled with Alpine lake trout and locally grown produce.
Then again, if upscale dining appeals, you’re only 90 minutes from Courchevel, where seemingly every luxury brand – Aman, LVMH, Oetker Collection – has a six-star resort with equally ambitious dining.
Bonus: You can now get to the region in high style from Paris, thanks to the overnight Paris-Moutiers Belmond train route that made its debut in December 2023.Chateau country
Picture an adorable, perfect French village straight out of Chocolat or Beauty And The Beast, castles and all. That’s Dordogne in a nutshell, yet the region – 200km east of Bordeaux and 160km north of Toulouse – remains under the radar, perhaps owing to the dearth of luxury accommodations for laypeople.
With two fabulous new properties that opened in 2022, the region has never been more attractive. About an hour’s drive from Bergerac Dordogne Perigord Airport is Domaine de Rochebois, a luxurious 40-bedroom chateau on a grand estate with a nine-hole golf course, extensive manicured gardens, a brewery and a spa run by Parisian beauty line Nuxe.
Nearby in the medieval town of Sarlat-le-Caneda is Le Petit Manoir, a new inn in a 15th century manor house that’s part of chef Alain Ducasse’s Teritoria group.
It has just nine rooms and suites, all outfitted sumptuously in brocades and thick rugs, plus a stunning courtyard with a pool – but strangely, considering Ducasse’s involvement, no restaurant for dinner.
Consider that a good reason to get out and explore the neighbouring villages – many with similarly historic architecture and ancient-looking castles.
A few regal destinations include the imposing 13th century Chateau de Castelnaud and Chateau Jardins des Milandes in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle. The latter may surprise you: It’s the former home of Josephine Baker, the iconic American-born entertainer immortalised in 1920s silent films and Parisian Art Nouveau posters that still line the castle’s rooms. – Bloomberg
