Treetop Hotels: France’s New Generation of Luxury Forest Retreats

Where do frazzled Parisians head when urban life takes its toll? To the treetops! Jennifer Ladonne gets away from it all.

An hour on the train from Paris and a 10-minute taxi ride take me to the wooded outskirts of a tiny village in Normandy for my overnight stay in a treetop cabin at Youza Ecolodges. As my taxi pulls away, I’m left standing in a silent forest, the only sound the faraway call of a cuckoo, like a cosmic reminder of my new relationship with time.

A fog of wood smoke points the way to the main lodge. As I yank my suitcase over the forest path, I can just make out the spectral outlines of two angular wooden lodges perched high on stilts, barely discernible among the lofty oaks.

From stress reduction to boosting immunity and creativity, an impressive body of research has underscored the therapeutic value of spending time among trees. In the past decade or so, a new generation of French hoteliers has taken the notion and run with it, offering harried urbanites and nature lovers a different way of winding down, turning off and benefiting from silence, starlight – and trees.

“More than 50 per cent of our clientele are Parisians,” says Arnaud Durandin, the co-director of Youza with his wife, Frederique, who greets guests at the lodge, a contemporary space with soaring windows and rustic-chic interiors.

“We’re close enough to Paris to be easily accessible, but remote enough to feel away from it all.” Durandin emphasises the convivial importance of the lodge, where an outdoor firepit is lit every day at cocktail hour to encourage couples and families to roast marshmallows, sip a glass of wine or indulge in Youza’s signature cocktail made with pine needle syrup.

Inside, a bar offers homemade locally-sourced snacks, coffee, tea and soft drinks, and a stash of board games invites guests to linger at a common table or in front of a roaring fire.

Youza’s onsite chef prepares snacks for an apéro as well as hot dinners that guests can opt to have delivered to their lodge. A picnic basket breakfast, included in the price of the cabin, is delivered at 8am sharp.

Youza’s 18 sleek, design-forward cabins come in three wood-clad designs: duplexes geared toward families with two compact bedrooms and a small kitchen; the rest sleek, loft-like cabins perched among the trees with giant windows that put you squarely in the forest, half of them with Nordic baths set into the terraces.

Though a hot tub is nice, I particularly love the wood-burning stove on a chilly May night. Upon arrival I am offered a burlap satchel containing starter kindling and logs, an offering unique among the cabins I visit and one that seems rather disconcerting considering the cabins are all wood-clad, but one that ensures year-round guests.

Though neither Youza nor Coucoo Cabanes, the next stop on my treetop parcours, suffers a lack of demand in any season.

A pioneer among forest dwellings, Coucoo Cabanes opened its first ecolodge 17 years ago in the Franche-Comté region of central France.

“When we started… we had to explain that you could get away close to home and still experience a real adventure,” says founder Gaspard de Moustier.

Coucoo now has six properties throughout France – two within an hour from Paris – and two more in the offing.

Coucoo largely created the blueprint for the newer generation of design-driven, high-end forest lodgings, whether a treehouse, standalone cabin perched in a forest clearing, or a lakeside cabin surrounded by forest.

The formula is simple: find ample untouched wooded acreage, preferably with a pond or small lake, open fields and plenty of personality, blend the cabins into the landscape and “preserve privacy, respect biodiversity and have the lightest possible impact”, all without sacrificing style and comfort. “But that’s not enough,” says de Moustier. “We work exclusively with local authorities and partners who share our vision of respectful tourism that benefits the environment and creates value for the region.”

Though each of the properties has its own identity, they all share key elements: a streamlined, contemporary design, rendered in wood, with the option of a ‘spa’, consisting of a heated, stand-alone Nordic bath, and ample terraces and picture windows offering total forest immersion.

All provide tea and coffee, comfortable, high-quality bedding, chic furnishings, sensitive lighting and a picnic basket breakfast discreetly delivered at dawn. Limited wifi is another essential feature.

More than half of Coucoo Cabanes’ clientele comes from an hour away. Coucoo Grandes Chênes is set within the forest of a medieval hunting ground, where a stately 16th-century château (the setting for Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film Beauty and the Beast) still stands.

Guests stroll or cycle down a lane of ancient plane trees to reach a forest harbouring 25 perched cabins, all a discreet distance from one another. The domaine also encompasses a restaurant, bar and sprawling golf course – so if total immersion in nature is a bit much, you’ve got options.

Our cabin, a bit cosy for three but perfectly well-equipped, feels like an aerial hobbit house, complete with a magnificent oak tree running through our terrace. A narrow bridge leads to an open hut just big enough to circumnavigate a Nordic hot tub that could easily accommodate four adults. It is a rare delight for three tired Parisians to soak in perfect silence under the trees at night.

Another perched family cabin I visit is triple the size, with a giant wraparound terrace with picnic table, deck chairs and a hot tub, a small kitchenette and fridge, and two large bedrooms that could easily sleep five.

Of the 26 spa cabins at Coucoo de La Réserve, 10 grace the banks of the property’s three impossibly turquoise lakes. On a walk around the 86-acre property, director Simon Basuyau shows me a vast expanse of wildflower-strewn fields nurturing young shoots of cherry, pear, apple, plum and other heritage fruit trees along with plants designed to attract local wildlife.

Basuyau points out a particularly picturesque forest marsh discovered by the resident ecologist (each project has one) thanks to a Napoleonic-era map unearthed in a local archive.

Along with miles of walking and biking paths (bikes are offered free of charge for guests), Coucoo also organises yoga classes and massages. Like Youza, Coucoo Cabanes prizes simplicity and treats nature itself as a luxury. “For us,” says de Moustier, “true luxury is silence, space, time, a sunrise over a lake, a hot bath in the heart of the forest, or a dinner prepared with local products after a day without notifi cations.”

Loire Valley Lodges would agree with all of the above. But if the “true luxury” of nature doesn’t quite cut it, they’ve got your back. Set in the heart of Loire châteaux country, the lodges are elevated in more ways than one.

As well as 18 luxe cabins perched on stilts in the trees, with wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows (all with electric blinds) and spacious terraces with lounge chairs and hot tubs, there is also a Michelin-starred restaurant specialising in ingredients foraged on the property, a chic cocktail bar and a swimming pool.

Private massages can be booked in your room or at the charming Bee Lodge in the garden. You can also book a range of upscale activities: wine tastings, garden visits, hot air balloon rides and golf. Art is a major theme here, examples of which you’ll find scattered around the 750-acre wooded property and in your lodge – each designed by a local artist with themes that range from safari to the 1960s.

The website’s interactive map helps you choose the lodge that most appeals – we opted for the Trianon, with both sauna and hot tub.

After our continental breakfast, served in a picnic basket retrieved from below by a handy hook and pully system, a sauna is just the thing before hopping on one of the hotel’s bikes (electric or not) to the nearby Château de Chenonceau, an hour’s bike ride away (Villandry is also an hour by bike), leaving a meander through the many walking trails for the evening, before retiring to our treetop château.