France’s Palace of Versailles is now accepting overnight reservations for the first time ever, under operations by the Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle hotel.
The regal getaway — Airelles’ seventh luxury hotel property — houses a spa, an almost 50-foot-long indoor swimming pool and a kitchen led by chef Alain Ducasse, whose menu draws from the exquisite flavors of King Louis XIV’s French court. The most alluring amenity, though, is the exclusive access to the palace, which includes areas that are typically blocked to visitors.
Nightly reservations begin at €1,700 EUR (or $2,014 USD) and include tours through various quarters of the palace complex, including the king and queen’s state apartments as well as a hall of mirrors. Guests also have the opportunity to explore other parts of the grounds, including the 2,000-acre Orangery Gardens, the Grand Trianon and Le Hameau de la Reine, which was built for Queen Marie Antoinette.
Le Grand Contrôle was first designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart as a hunting lodge in 1861 for King Louis XIV. Turning the decades-old building into a present-day hotel, architect Christophe Tollemer led a careful restoration process, which included the implementation of historical features like parquet flooring, stonework and wood panelling as well as working with a French heritage and art specialist to decorate the hotel with period work, furniture and other details that recreate its 1788 French ambiance.
Additional Le Grand Contrôle experiences include a dedicated butler, breakfast, afternoon tea and a stocked minibar. For dinner, the hotel aims to recreate traditional royal banquets at Ducasse at Château de Versailles, where waiters ring a bell to call guests to their tables for a five-course meal promptly at 9 p.m.
Take a look at images of the hotel above, and head to Le Grand Contrôle’s website to book a reservation.
Follow us on:
Make sure to share this post and subscribe to our newsletter to receive notifications on our latest posts, as well as exclusive content and much more!