Sleep in a Lighthouse, a WWII Bunker or a Wine Barrel: 8 Quirky Places to Stay in France | EUROtoday

A snug lodge room is all effectively and good. But France, a rustic that has at all times excelled on the artwork of residing, is quietly elevating the stakes. Across its areas, a brand new era of uncommon lodging has emerged. From the highest of a Breton lighthouse to the within of a snow groomer at 2,000 meters, listed here are a few of the most extraordinary locations to sleep in France.

1. Stay in a lighthouse: Phare de Kerbel in Morbihan, Brittany

France has a few lighthouses the place you possibly can really spend the evening, every a very totally different expertise. The most dramatic is Phare de Kerbel in Riantec, Morbihan, the one lighthouse within the nation the place you sleep on the very high of the tower, in a glazed studio 25 meters up with a 360-degree panorama over the Quiberon Peninsula and the open Atlantic. For one thing extra distant, the Île Virginie keeper’s cottage close to Plouguerneau in Finistère places you on the foot of the tallest dressed-stone lighthouse on the earth, an 82.5-meter large, in a whitewashed stone home with conventional carved field beds, sleeping as much as 9 and reached by boat from the mainland.

2. Stay in a wine barrel: Les Foudres du Chêne du Py, Beaujolais

On the Côte du Py, the volcanic hillside that produces a few of Morgon’s most distinctive wines, the Domaine Le Chêne du Py has transformed two massive oak lightning (the vats used to age wine) right into a visitor room. One barrel is fitted out because the bed room, the opposite as the toilet. The setting is about as authentically Beaujolais because it will get: you might be surrounded by the vines within the coronary heart of one of many ten Beaujolais crus. Tea area affords bike loans, a panoramic outside pool, and a charcuterie board with a bottle of Morgon for 2 on request.

3. Stay in one of many world’s nice observatories: Pic du Midi de Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrénées

As the final cable automotive descends for the night, 27 friends stay on the summit of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. The Pic du Midi observatory has been peering on the universe from this Pyrenean summit since 1882, and for one evening it is yours; dinner within the restaurant, a guided stargazing session with the astronomers, and a mattress with a view that no valley lodge can contact. Reservations open two years upfront.

4. Stay in a snow groomer: La Plagne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

In La Plagne, one of many resort’s most uncommon locations to remain is a decommissioned piste groomer, remodeled right into a self-contained mountain suite at 2,000 meters above sea stage. Reached by snowcat and surrounded by silent, closed-off slopes as soon as the ski day ends, it affords a strikingly distant in a single day expertise, but inside there may be actual consolation: a double mattress, toilet, heating and even a house cinema system.

5. Stay in a bubble hanging over a cliff: Cocoon Village, Corsica

Near Porto-Vecchio in southern Corsica, Cocoon Village affords one of many island’s most memorable in a single day stays, with a set of clear sleeping bubbles set on a cliffside above Lac de l’Ospedale, amongst historical pines and the aromatic maquis. The setting is the principle attraction: safe, dramatic and designed to benefit from the panorama, with nights spent beneath a cover of stars and the Mediterranean someplace past the darkness.

6. Stay in an airplane: La Caravelle, Vosges

In the Vosges countryside, one in every of France’s most uncommon locations to remain is a decommissioned Sud Aviation Caravelle, remodeled right into a gîte with all of the character of its aviation not nonetheless intact. Bought from Corsair and transported to its rural setting, the plane was as soon as one of many nice symbols of post-war French aviation, and as we speak its fuselage has been transformed into two unbiased loft-style stays, every sleeping as much as 4 friends and fitted with walk-in showers. The wings nonetheless prolong throughout the panorama and the cockpit stays in place, whereas inside, porthole home windows and the slight tilt of the cabin make for an in a single day keep that feels half boutique retreat, half aviation time capsule.

7. Stay in a zoo: Zoo de la Flèche, Pays de la Loire

At La Flèche within the Sarthe, Zoo de La Flèche Lodges affords one of many Loire Valley’s most distinctive in a single day stays, with themed lodge suites set throughout the grounds of a working zoo. Inspired by landscapes such because the savannah, jungle and Arctic, the lodges mix a powerful sense of escapism with actual consolation, together with non-public terraces and scorching tubs that make the expertise really feel far safer than you would possibly count on. An early breakfast served contained in the park, earlier than the day’s guests arrive, provides to the attraction, giving friends a uncommon probability to benefit from the setting at its quietest.

8. Stay in a WWII bunker: Bunker L479, Brittany

On the Breton coast close to Saint-Pabu, one in every of France’s most sudden locations to remain lies inside a former German radar bunker, half-buried within the sand. Carefully excavated and remodeled over 18 months, the huge 24-room construction extends partly 12 meters beneath floor, with its wartime areas imaginatively reworked for contemporary stays: the outdated map room is now a lounge, the communications room a bed room, and the operations heart a hammock room. Sleeping as much as eight friends, it retains loads of atmospheric nods to its historical past, from military-style signage to period-inspired objects.

For extra inspiring locations to remain in France, discover the lodging listings in our listing, the place you can see every part from characterful countryside retreats to standout stays with actual character. And for extra concepts, insider suggestions and fantastically written options on the place to go, what to see and the best way to expertise one of the best of France, check out France Today journal. It is the right companion for planning your subsequent journey, whether or not you might be looking for a boutique lodge, a rural escape or one thing delightfully out of the peculiar.