Hotels in France understand how to keep both parents and les enfants happy on any budget, whether it’s a fairytale châteaux, beachside condo, urban palace or playful wood cabin among the treetops. Geographic variety alone translates as buckets of adventure, and you’ll find that hotels – up mountains, by the sea, on rivers and amid vineyards – facilitate a huge choice of concierge activities such as guided walks and cycling itineraries, cookery courses with the pâtisserie chef, horse-riding treks, extreme watersports and even grape-picking as a family outing.
Within the hotels, family rooms embrace everything from suites with extra beds to functional bunk rooms and spacious apartments with kitchenettes. And then there’s the cuisine – simplified and pint-sized in most hotel restaurants to sweeten the fussiest of young gourmets. Our experts round up the best family hotels in France, from Picardie to Provence.
BRITTANY
The Castel Beau Site couldn’t be closer to Ploumanac’h’s pretty curved beach. Children only have to gallop down the stairs to build their sand castles, splash around in the transparent sea or jump from one pink granite rock to another. The hotel has a handful of huge family rooms and offers a popular lunch snack menu. The area offers a variety of outdoor activities including kayaking, sailing, walking, hiking, horse-riding or cycling. Family hangouts in the picturesque village of Ploumanac’h add to the charm of the stay.
From
£
137
per night
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• The best hotels in France
Staying at the Grand Hôtel des Bains in Locquirec is like taking a break from the outside world. With a spa, an indoor pool, a private beach, a park, family rooms and plenty of activities, there’s loads on offer here. Spectacular sea views abound, and the hotel is only a few hundred yards away from one of Brittany’s most beautiful beaches and surfing spots. With its dining room designed for families, babysitting on demand and other bespoke services, this is an ideal destination for families.
From
£
122
per night
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Welcome to the magical world of the Paimpont forest, where children will be enchanted not just by the the legendary woods, but also by the old coach-inn feel and succulent comfort food of the Relais de Brocéliande. While parents enjoy the spa, harp concerts and divine massages, children have the hotel’s large park and regular storytelling sessions by the fire. Family bedrooms are spacious with simple furnishings, comfortable carpets and plenty of light.
From
£
95
per night
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• The best hotels in Brittany
NORMANDY
At the Site Normand, children – and parents – can connect with the rich terroir of the green and hilly Suisse Normande (Norman Switzerland), a steep, wild stretch around the Orne Valley. The chef’s policy is to cook what he locally finds in the morning, and so eating here is always interesting. Clécy offers countless possibilities for outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing on the river, horse-riding and days out at the nearby miniature railway or at the treetop adventure park. Extra beds can be added in some rooms.
From
£
100
per night
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L’Erguillère, at the top end of the Corentin peninsula in Port Racine, has a strong seaside family home feel, with a sloping lawn, large terrace outside, and fire in the cosy dining room, which is used for breakfast and tea. L’Erguillère hasn’t got a restaurant but offers a half-board option at the excellent family-friendly nearby restaurant, the Moulin à Vent. There is plenty to explore: hidden beaches and creeks, poet Jacques Prévert’s gardens and the Cité de la Mer maritime museum in Cherbourg.
From
£
67
per night
Le Grand Hard, set in the Parc des Marais nature reserve, is a 10-minute drive or bike ride from the white-sand beaches of Cotentin Bay. The former farmhouse serves as a ‘relaxation retreat’, and the owners provide a fleet of bicycles, pétanque sets, children’s toys and games. There’s also the option for groups to book an evening ‘Grillade’. With large suites, a dedicated children’s menu and plenty to do, families will feel at home here.
From
£
90
per night
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PARIS
From the life-sized robot that checks guests in digitally to the communal baby room (with baby bath and microwave) on each floor and accommodating half-portions served in the restaurant, this contemporary design hotel really does accommodate family stays in Paris. Rooms sleeping up to six sport playful cabin bunk-beds or ‘pods’ with sliding doors, and who could resist the iced donut rings served in a rainbow of colours on the lavish breakfast buffet?
From
£
105
per night
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The overwhelmingly luxurious Peninsula Paris goes well beyond the traditional reach of a Parisian palace in its dreamy family offerings. Walking onto the hallowed football pitch with a favourite Paris Saint-Germain FC player at the Parc des Princes stadium and crafting haute-couture chocolate with a top chef are among the exclusive suite of once-in-a-lifetime cultural experiences organised by the hotel’s Peninsula Academy. The hotel spa (for guests from 16 years of age) runs a babysitting service, and pint-sized gourmets enjoy tasty menus enfants in the hotel restaurants.
From
£
1,047
per night
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BURGUNDY
There’s no hint of stuffiness at Le Relais Bernard Loiseau, despite its five-star rating and two Michelin-starred restaurant. Children can have their own special menu devised by the chefs. The beautifully landscaped gardens invite rambles as well as chilled-out pool time, and kids also have their own indoor playroom. Baby monitors, cots and baths are free to borrow, and the hotel offers a babysitting service as well as interconnecting rooms.
From
£
225
per night
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NORD-PAS-DE-CALAIS
Le Touquet’s grandest hotel makes it easy for those travelling with babies and young children, and it’s just a 10-minute walk from the sandy beach. Cots, extra beds and baby equipment can be borrowed, and there are family rooms as well as interconnecting single rooms for older children who want a bit of independence. The hotel also offers a babysitting service if you want a quiet dinner in the Michelin-starred restaurant. If you’re dining en famille, the chef can adapt the menu.
From
£
191
per night
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PAYS DE LA LOIRE
There is possibly no finer address for successfully wedding cultural visits to the Loire Valley’s blockbuster chateaux with old-school mucking around in the great outdoors. Set amid 180-odd acres of woodland is this vintage hunting lodge, sporting a lake (fabulous fishing), hiking and cycling trails (the hotel has bikes to borrow), boules, tennis, an outdoor pool and small farm with fluffy rabbits to pet. Children and parents alike can learn the enviable art of French patisserie in the hotel’s popular cooking school, and there’s a kids’ club.
From
£
436
per night
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Creating a family-friendly urban pied à terre is no mean feat, but Charlotte and François at ‘The London’ in downtown Saumur rise to the challenge admirably. The heart of their hotel is a stylish lobby-lounge brimming with comic-strip books (in English and French) for guests to read. Doubles sleep four comfortably – or head upstairs to a superb attic apartment with family-friendly kitchen and extra large dimensions. A family trip to national riding school Le cadre Noir is a Saumur rite of passage.
From
£
65
per night
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A beautiful chateau set high above the Loire river, with a truly spectacular design and flawless service. The chocolate-box town of Saumur is 15 minutes away, with its money-shot chateau – take a trip on one of the Loire’s historic canal-style boats to admire it. On site, energetic families can head to the tennis courts or mini-golf course, and bicycles are available to borrow. There are family rooms with sofa beds, cots and baby baths, and a children’s menu at the exceptional restaurant.
From
£
68
per night
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POITOU-CHARENTES
Spacious rooms and a walled garden allow guests to experience traditional Ile de Ré family life from a conveniently central location. Family suites interconnect with extra rooms, and any baby equipment can be provided, down to a portable bathtub. One larger family suite has been laid out like a flat, with a parental bedroom and a Tintin poster-lined room for four children separated by a cosy seating area. Games and books are available in the lounge, where children can be watched while parents enjoy the hotel’s spa.
From
£
187
per night
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Created as the family-friendly extension of the Hôtel de Toiras, Villa Clarisse is the picture-perfect family home. It’s located just moments away from the entertainment of the town’s harbour, yet is unbelievably peaceful within its walled garden, which hosts a heated swimming pool with small sand pit if you can’t face the trek to the beach. The incredibly discreet staff only appear when you need something, such as at snack time, when they can fetch children waffles and ice cream from the famous La Martinière shop next door.
From
£
308
per night
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Regardless of the comfortable suites and sizeable swimming pool, the main attraction for families at L’Yeuse is its unique garden. The Jardin Respectueux not only provides homegrown produce to the hotel’s kitchen, but it has also been set up as an educational trek down to the Charente river, where families can learn about local biodiversity, look out for indigenous species of birds and insects, and partake in seasonal festivities celebrating the pumpkin harvest, local craftsmanship and of course, the region’s most coveted treasure – cognac.
From
£
137
per night
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NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
The chic château choice for families seeking a more sophisticated séjour in France. Four-star Lalande is a flawless blend of bourgeoisie refinement and old-world grace. Its elegant interiors and heirloom furnishings are best suited to those with babies (cots are provided and babysitters can be arranged) or older children (two-room family suites sleep four comfortably and extra beds can be added). Cycling along the Vallée de l’Isle bike route or learning about prehistoric cave art at Lascaux are perfect family days out.
From
£
156
per night
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This hotel basks in a blissfully rural setting among the manicured vines of the 600-year-old winery Château Smith Haut Lafitte, and there’s plenty to do here, from cookery classes with the chef, to tours of the château’s vat room, wine cellars and cooperage. There are bikes to explore the estate on, woods to hike or jog in, and a fitness room. Children will love scrambling around the estate on bikes, meeting the farm animals, and playing in the two pools. Babysitting services are available.
From
£
187
per night
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This secluded chateau hotel near the Dodorgne’s celebrated Grotte de Lascaux is a fantastic family choice; as close as one gets to a resort hotel in the bucolic French sticks. The vast period interiors of the turreted castle are sufficiently worn (a welcome reassurance for anxious parents with brazen tots on board) and the outdoor space and facilities are matchless: endless swathes of green lawn, woods, a gated pool, playground, badminton and tennis courts, ping-pong, boules pitch, and an obstacle course between trees, to name a few.
From
£
92
per night
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Children craving a slumber in a fairytale castle with witch-hat turrets and secret crenellated walkways might just find their dreams come true at this graceful 14th-century chateau in the rural Lot. Its nail-biting location – teetering on a cliff edge above the Dordogne River – is straight out of a picture book and once inside, little guests are pampered with mini robes and slippers, colouring paper and pens, in-room cakes and chocolate lollipops, and pint-sized gastronomy in the Michelin-starred restaurant.
From
£
140
per night
Châteaux dans les Arbres or ‘Castles in the Trees’ is no exaggeration: these fanciful wooden houses, hidden amid treetops or peacefully floating on the lake, half an hour’s drive from Berjerac airport, are the last word in luxury treehouse design. Walk-in showers, heating and air-conditioning, minibars and coffee machines are smart parent pleasers, while younger guests can haul up the breakfast basket each morning and bagsy a first go in the terrace hot tub. Treehouses share a heated infinity swimming pool, ping-pong table, boules and bicycles.
From
£
166
per night
Set within a sprawling park, with extensive woodland, two lakes, a tennis court and a swimming pool, the Chapelle Saint Martin has something to keep everyone entertained. With horse-riding, boating and fishing, Mölky (a Finnish throwing game) or croquet, and seasonal activities such as mushroom-picking or Easter egg hunting, guests won’t even have to leave the property to enjoy a complete holiday out in the fresh air.
From
£
204
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While this chateau doesn’t have an official kids’ club, families are very well catered for. Family rooms have separate sleeping areas, and sterilisers, baby monitors, changing stations and nappy disposal systems can all be provided. All of the children staying in the chateau eat dinner together at the same time while their parents socialise, and bilingual babysitters can watch them while parents enjoy their own meal. Activities abound, with a pool and a lake to swim in, woods to explore, and crayfish that even the youngest can find.
From
£
110
per night
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ALSACE
The setting for this riverside five-star hotel is impossibly romantic and certain to leave children spellbound. It has all the family-friendly facilities you would expect – interconnecting rooms, extra sofa beds – as well as baby monitors, cots, changing mattresses and bottle-warmers. In the fine-dining waterside restaurant, children have their own menu, with smaller portions of grown-up food but at reduced prices. Although the spa is for adults only, children aged 12-18 and accompanied by an adult can try the special range of teenage treatments.
From
£
153
per night
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RHONE-ALPES
It’s all about personal service and alpine vibe at Les Grands Montets, a snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug chalet hotel in the Alps with big mountain views and heaps of natural space to run wild in. Four-star family rooms range from interconnecting doubles to duplexes and suites; cots, bottle-warmers and high chairs are available; and playing traditional board games in front of the fire or lounging in the hot tub after a hard day’s skiing or hiking en famille is, quite frankly, what family holidays are about.
From
£
128
per night
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PROVENCE
This friendly b&b near l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is one enormous playground. The huge gardens are filled with play areas, including a trampoline, pétanque and a giant chessboard to go with its pool, hammocks and daybeds scattered about. On the rare day that it rains, children can entertain themselves with the big toy box in the cosy lounge. For babies, there are bottle-warmers, cots and high chairs you can borrow, and one room interconnects with another that has a sofabed.
From
£
127
per night
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Families seeking a cosseted, countryside idyll in Southern France should look no further than Terre Blanche. It’s one of the best for family holidays in France as there’s something for everyone, from two championship golf courses to an enormous spa and Michelin-starred cuisine. Children aged three-12 years of age are kept busy at the kids’ club with activities including picnics with the resort’s donkeys, beekeeping and golf lessons. There’s even a dedicated children’s restaurant with menus created by a dietician.
From
£
410
per night
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For parents, this ravishing chateau gives the impression that the Counts of Provence have just popped out for more wine. Consider junior counts and countesses sorted, from magician shows and treasure hunts, to crafts. Charming concierges can conjure up a picnic or cycling tour to an abbey. There are plenty of posher dining options but the family will probably prefer the retro Italian trattoria and pizzeria, as unpretentious as its prices.
From
£
501
per night
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Set in a Provencal village in cycling country is this quirky chateau suiting families in search of style and character on a budget. The ancestral pile may have belonged to the Marquis de Sade but today it’s fit for family fun. Temptations run from the seductive pool to the family-friendly bistrot on the summery terrace. The boutique bedrooms have even found favour with Sherlock Holmes (aka Benedict Cumberbatch). Tennis, kayaking and cycling are easily sorted, as are visits to canyons and lakes.
From
£
108
per night
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This is a half-timbered Provencal hideaway that is not aimed at families but delivers, almost accidentally. It’s also a rarity, an atmospheric 17th-century olive mill that doubles as a budget hotel with a fine restaurant attached. Children can go on bike rides, long walks and art trails or lounge by the pool, which happens to be beside a Gallo-Roman aqueduct. The children’s menus and poolside summer barbecue should hit the spot but the old-world gourmet restaurant is lovely, too.
From
£
91
per night
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Set in the Lorgues back country, this rambling wine-and-sports estate is perfect for the wildest children, who can wear themselves out in the vast grounds. From tennis to nature trails or cycling through vineyards, the options are exhaustive (and exhausting). There are miles of tracks to walk, cycle or pound along, perhaps stopping to admire the model farm. The food is fantastic, with the brasserie perfect for children (and parents).
From
£
180
per night
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This mellow farmhouse just outside Aix is both family-friendly and friendly on your pocket, too. The laid-back mood makes this place popular with multi-generational tribes. The secluded outdoor pool is the summer focus, rivalled by table tennis, boules and electric biking. There’s plenty of space so children can career around safely, darting between the rare-breed hens and the turtles in the pond. While kids splash in the pool, parents can chill under the plane trees, rosé in hand.
From
£
98
per night
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If you don’t mind spending money on your children, come to Le Mas du Langoustier. It’s private and sprawling with a pool and tennis court in there somewhere, and then you’re on the rocks, overlooking a creek and beach that, though not private, feels that way. The different blues of the sea are as clearly defined as colours on a flag and, over on the wooded headland, stand the remains of a fortress.
From
£
173
per night
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Despite being weird and wacky, the nhow delivers all you’d expect of a sophisticated design hotel. There’s a marine theme going on but also an homage to Marseille. Bedrooms are predominantly white, with splashes of yellow-and-black graffiti-daubed walls and jokey jellyfish lampshades. As well as five family rooms and child-friendly activities during French holidays, children can take to the pool and nearby beach while savvy teenagers will be in selfie heaven.
From
£
158
per night
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Children will love the wild setting at this unpretentious Provençal farmhouse; there’s a comfortable home-from-home vibe and endless outdoor adventures. The lovely large pool is set within its own walled garden and is open between June and September, during festival season (horse parades, bull marching and running, and the important Saintes Maries pilgrimage). Miles of sandy beaches are a short, scenic drive away.
From
£
225
per night
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Set high in the hills above Vence, this remote retreat works as a swish family escape. Apart from endless terraces, there’s a scene-stealing pool with chic cabanas, private family villas, and children’s spa treatments. Given the sense of space and serenity, guests seem to fade away. Aside from summer barbecues, there’s a rarity, a relaxed Michelin-starred restaurant – for the price of an average Riviera meal.
From
£
301
per night
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There are few places on the Côte d’Azur that draw the wealthy elite like Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The five-star Royal Riviera Hotel impresses families with its private beach, pool and gardens landscaped by the gifted designer Jean Mus. Children are welcomed with a VIP kids’ programme that includes a passport at check-in, gifts, free fruit cocktails and ice cream, table tennis and water sports.
From
£
228
per night
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This beachfront hotel along Cannes’ La Croisette is surprisingly family-friendly, despite being more synonymous with film stars. As well as interconnecting rooms and free stays for children aged under 12 (sharing their parents’ room), there’s a well-run kids’ club, Le Studio by Petit VIP, which keeps children from four to 12 years entertained with workshops including sculpture, cookery, art and dance sessions.
From
£
203
per night
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Where the French Riviera dreams of a Swallows-and-Amazons adventure. On the outskirts of the hilltop Saint-Paul-de-Vence, this woodland resort offers treehouse accommodation named after characters from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Parents can enjoy a massage or sauna, while children lounge around in hammocks and play in the ecological pool filtered through plants and zooplankton. The organic, vegetarian breakfasts are a boon.
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Set on the coast, close to Cannes, this is an appealing and affordable foodie haunt for families who want a beachfront and marina location without sacrificing style and character. Both the beach and the whimsical Chateau de la Napoule castle tearooms are around the corner, with ferries whisking you to the islands in 15 minutes. L’Ermitage is part of a bigger estate so while children play at the decently priced tennis club, golfing parents could hole up on the sister estate.
From
£
152
per night
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The rooftop vistas over Cannes marina have a wow factor that works for selfie-obsessed teenagers, but the mellow mood works for all the family. Apart from the summer barbecue and beach, the hotel’s restaurant offers a superior three-course children’s menu on the rooftop. You can also set up children’s entertainment or parent-and-child massage in the superb spa (less weird than it sounds).
From
£
187
per night
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This beachfront spot is a rarity on the Riviera. The Victoria, a budget boutique hotel that welcomes children, is friendly, stylish and English-owned, and faces a free pebble beach and illustrious Cap Martin itself. You’re close enough to the sea to fall asleep listening to the sound of the waves. Delightful staff can advise on excursions, including the seafront hike to Monaco, beginning from here. Meals are easily sorted at the excellent Italian pizzeria and trattoria next door to the hotel.
From
£
63
per night
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The Royal Antibes’ sleek ‘cruise ship’ look belies its family appeal and fame as Antibes’ only city-centre beach hotel. It is run by an Italian family who match the setting with friendly service and fine local seafood. In summer, the beach club mood predominates, with every child receiving a present on arrival. Children will love the delicious organic cakes as much as the roomy family apartments. As always, parents need to factor in extra costs for all beach facilities.
From
£
93
per night
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This affordable boutique bolthole looks like an upmarket surf shack – already a plus for the children. It’s set towards the tip of one of the world’s priciest peninsulas, the Cap d’Antibes, but the beach chic vibe works for families. There’s a small pool (swimming lessons are available) but the hotel is a stone’s throw from the beach. Paddle-boarding, water-skiing and bike rides can be booked by chirpy staff.
From
£
163
per night
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LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON
Another outstanding family favourite in France’s hot south is a 200-acre Languedoc wine estate, which seduces with its chic mix of hotel rooms in a 19th-century château. Plus it has brilliantly equipped self-catering houses, some with private garden and plunge pool. The restaurant serves early suppers for children while barbecue packs and picnic baskets make light work of self-catering. The on-site choice of outdoor action, with les parents or in the kids’ club – swimming, tennis, kayaking, horse-riding, guided bike rides – is dizzying.
From
£
161
per night
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Vineyard picnics, wild river-canoeing, kite-surfing on the beach or canal-boating: family holidays are hardcore idyllic at this fairytale 19th-century chateau. Fully equipped self-catering cottages ensure a home-from-home experience, and the restaurant serves an early children’s dinner (rare in France). While parents chill by the pool, glass of Languedoc rosé in hand, young explorers can press wildflowers, craft bow and arrows, partake in scavenger hunts or outdoor sports and much more at the fantastic kids’ club.
From
£
163
per night
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There’s nothing like an island for firing the imagination of aspiring young pirates and swashbuckling knights, and this modern boutique resort on a private islet delivers with its own beach, speedboats across the lagoon and nautical-themed rooms. Children can’t access the spa or rooftop pool, but are welcome in the outdoor pool in the grounds. Reception provides baby cots and changing mats, children aged two to 12 years staying in their parents’ room get 50 per cent discount, and there’s an entertaining kids’ club.
From
£
214
per night
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MIDI-PYRENEES
This charming restaurant-hotel has been run by the Saint-Martin family since 1840, and offers a multitude of handy services. The family suite is unusual in that it can accommodate a family of five, with bunk beds and a single bed in the children’s room. Young children are not made to feel out of place in the restaurant, where they are well catered for with burgers and homemade ice cream, a boon considering that it is reputed to be the best place to eat in the area.
From
£
93
per night
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MONACO
The Monte-Carlo Bay is one of the best family-friendly resorts in the south of France. Most families visit this four star in summer when they can take advantage of the unusual sandy-bottomed lagoon and the excellent kids’ club for children aged three to 12 years. While little ones have fun with an all-day programme that packs in a wide range of activities (from watersports to arts and crafts, animated films and even cookery workshops), parents can slip into the spa, Balinese-style pool beds or the slot machine-filled casino.
From
£
259
per night
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For luxury family holidays in France this is the ultimate option for well-heeled families. This celebrated Art Deco hotel comes with its own jetty, Olympic-sized pool, private beach and beach club. The summertime kids’ club is free for children aged three to eight years. These pampered little angels enjoy a well-planned timetable that includes pool time with themed workshops, musical activities, treasure hunts, table football, table tennis and board games. Dining options range from Michelin-starred organic cuisine to wood-fired pizzas.
From
£
428
per night
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Contributions by Elisabeth Blanchet, Abigail Blasi, Tania Cagnoni, Eddi Fiegel, Robin Gauldie, Lisa Gerard-Sharp, Paula Hardy, Jessica Knipe, Gaby Le Breton, Hannah Meltzer, Mary Novakovich, Clare O’Hagan, Anthony Peregrine, Tristan Rutherford, Louise Simpson, Nicola Williams