The Top Spas to Book in Historic French Cities

Surrounded by the organic Château Smith Haut Lafitte vineyards, this hideaway is at the forefront of wine tourism. If you’re a fan of Caudalie’s beauty products, you’ll pop your cork over the rustic-chic vinotherapy spa, housed in a timber-framed building. Make sure you take advantage of the pool and barrel-shaped hot tub with water sourced from a natural spring. Sip a glass or two of wine at the two-Michelin-star restaurant before sleeping well in a richly decorated room. Les Sources is barely a 20-minute drive from Bordeaux, the world’s largest urban World Heritage Site and wine capital.

Staying within the ramparts of Carcassonne, a heart-stoppingly lovely Unesco World Heritage Site, is soothing in itself. Add in the Cinq Mondes spa at this medieval-style château, and you’ll feel totally blissed out. Lap the seasonal outdoor pool, flanked by cypresses and thick hedge, before a treatment using Swiss Cellcosmet or own-brand Cinq Mondes potions and a session in the hammam. Go back for a sensory shower and phyto-aromatic bath with essential oils.

You wouldn’t expect to find a spa in Lyon tucked away down a slender cobblestone street. Yet, amid the atmospheric Vieux-Lyon setting of this museum-clad city, four Renaissance townhouses create a lavish layer of rich fabrics, claw-foot tubs and airy verandas. Styled on Roman baths, the Pure Spirit Spa features a deep, turquoise spa pool and doles out every type of face and body treatment, from a firming cranberry wrap to a nourishing Himalayan rose facial. Heat things up in the wooden hot tub, before a candlelit Michelin-star supper at the on-site restaurant.

This spa hotel in La Rochelle is easy to find, at the base of the medieval lighthouse, close to the city’s medieval houses. Bright rooms and suites in the modernised 19th-century mansion feature glamorous touches, such as gold and turquoise Louis XIV chairs; book the Sirène Suite for a bath that’s big enough for two and a sun terrace with rooftop views of the Tour de la Lanterne (lighthouse sounds sweeter in French). The relaxation area is an actual spa with a sauna, chromotherapy showers, a whirlpool bath and two hydromassage tables with 12 options, aimed at reducing stress, fatigue and insomnia.

In the charming Carmes neighbourhood with its medieval-style streets, by the banks of the Garonne, the pink-brick facade of this hotel hides a pretty courtyard. This spa in Toulouse is designed as a home-from-home – that is, if your home is a swanky apartment with parquet floors, velvet sofas and open brickwork. Relax in the mosaic-tiled steam room ahead of your massage. Afterward, keep the world at bay in the tisanerie (tearoom) by reclining on a chaise longue, nibbling healthy snacks and sipping herbal infusions.

Exhausted? Try this spa in the genteel seaside resort of Granville in Normandy. The town is the birthplace of Christian Dior and has a museum devoted to the designer. But for a spa retreat, the location of this beachfront beauty on the outskirts is hard to beat. So is its connection to the Prévithal thalassotherapy institute, which means access to a world of seaweed baths and marine mud wraps in the seawater wellness centre. Take a dip in the balmy 32C (90F) pool before trying one of 10 aquatic workshops.

Set in a graceful 19th-century building overlooking the Loire River, this spa hotel in Orléans is as soothing to the body as it is to the eye. Bag a sophisticated suite for the balneotherapy bath and riverfront views to get your wellness weekend off to a good start. Unwind further in the sauna and steam room after a lemon-peel scrub, chased by a deep tissue massage. Then it’s over to the herbal tea room for a green tea and an afternoon snooze. Feeling better? There’s a champagne bar waiting for you. Toast Joan of Arc, who saved the history-rich city from an English siege in 1429.