Ville d’Avray: Les Etangs de Corot

A lovely, rambling old hotel overlooking a broad pond that was often painted by 19th-century pre-Impressionist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Les Etangs de Corot was recently taken over and renovated from top to bottom by the owners of the renowned Les Sources de Caudalie hotel and spa in Bordeaux. A pastoral weekend retreat in the countryside near Ville d’Avray, between Paris and Versailles, the 40-room hotel has individually decorated rooms, some with terraces, and three restaurants: Le Corot, with gourmet cuisine by chef Benoît Bordier; the casual bistrot Café des Artistes in the vaulted cellar; and the outdoor thatched-roof garden “guinguette” summer restaurant Les Paillottes, perched on stilts in the big interior courtyard garden. The beautifully appointed Caudalie Vinothérapie Spa is almost a twin of the Bordeaux original, and the products based on grapevines and grapes are the same—the only difference here is that the zen-like cabines have louvered windows looking out over the pond. Doubles from €195.

53 rue de Versailles, Ville d’Avray, 01.41.15.37.00. website

Originally published in the May 2009 issue of France Today; updated in August 2011