A SNOWY HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN A CASTLE OUTSIDE LYON

by YouShouldGoHere
December 25, 2004
in Eat Here, Stay Here
0

[BAGNOLS, FRANCE] — I booked a Christmas trip to Paris many years ago and had a couple of extra days of exploring before flying back on my NYE flight — the best times for an upgrade BTW.

I booked a quick TGV to Lyon and then rented a car to go to this cool castle hotel outside of town that I’d read all about. Chateau de Bagnols. A fortress of a castle, turned into a luxe hotel and destination-dining Michelin-rated restaurant. What a perfect place to spend a cold couple of days between holidays.

exterior castle walls Château de Bagnols

At the time I was there in 2004, it was managed by the lovely Rocco Forte hotels, my favorite, which is how I got to know about the hotel. It has since been managed by a new company, with raves reviews from this knowledgeable TripAdvisor. And because it was a Relais & Chateaux hotel, I knew the food was the destination.

It looks like it was built for war, not dinner!

The weather was not so good when I was there and my main camera crapped out in Paris, so I did not get many good pictures at all, but here’s what this amazing castle looks like from the outside.

(Photo from the hotel’s old website.)

Check out these amazing photos from the Relais & Chateaux website for Chateau de Bagnols. They capture what I couldn’t at the time. Built in 1217 (!) this is a castle built to fend off multiple armies, not have the nicest threadcount around. Complete with a moat and fortified towers and a drawbridge. It’s like one of those How Things Work books on castles, but this one has nice sheets.

The hotel was recently featured in Tablet Hotels story on the best castle hotels in the world, which encouraged me to update this old post.

chateaubagnolstablethotels — (*Photos from Tablet Hotels’ fun article on castle hotels here.*)

Dining is the Destination

You come for the food here and when you see the gorgeous front-and-center display kitchen, you know that’s the emphasis they put on the dining experience. It’s right there in the courtyard for all to see, from morning to night. That’s why the Chateau de Bagnols has a 19.6 out of 20 on the Michelin guide.

Château de Bagnols dining room — 1217 is the name of the restaurant, named after the date the hotel was built. I had an amazing meal. It was just me, but rather than shoving me off in a corner like most restaurants, they pulled up a Table for One right by the fire, just like the picture above. I was treated like a King. (*Photo is from the hotel website*.)

I couldn’t capture the beauty of this room, with it’s roaring fire. Can you find a better place to have an Armagnac on a snowy December night?
(*photo from their old website*)

A Fantastic Hotel in a Castle on a Hill

This has all the trappings of a castle from 1217.

Moat: check.
Drawbridge: check.
Fortified Gates: check.
8 Foot Thick Walls: check.
Turrets: check.
Views for Miles: check.

I love traveling to the countryside in the dark of winter. You can just imagine how these fields look in summer.

Château de Bagnols pea gravel — *Nobody does pea gravel better than France.*

They have an amazing pool in summer, surrounded by green fields as far as you can see. (*Photo from the hotel website.*)

The Rooms at Chateau de Bagnols

While sturdy and strong-shouldered on the outside, the inside is light and airy. As opposed to most old hotels with teeny slit windows, most rooms open out onto the breezy courtyard.

This was my room, it was two stories tall with a peak roof. Stairs led down to the giant bath, fit for a king (and maybe a consort or two).

Here is the 4.5+ rating for the Chateau on TripAdvisor. Some good honest thoughts in there.

A Snowy Day In Lyon

My original intention was to take a daytrip to see the recently opened (at that time) Millau Bridge, the highest bridge in the world. I’d rented a nice fast BMW for the drive. Unbeknownst to me, this was early internet days, a freak snow storm hit the area and it freaked me out.

I got up early in the am, packed a car breakfast and headed out. But the snow came dumping down like a Christmas movie. I hadn’t even gotten to Lyon before the lousy rear-wheeled drive BMW refused to go anywhere, or do any command. It was the most scared I’d ever been in a car. A foot of snow, with ice underneath. The car wouldn’t go two feet without sliding off the highway.

It took me over an hour to get a single mile back to the Lyon exit. The snow was even deeper then, I was cussing like a sailor. Maybe even crying. I finally pulled over on the shoulder of the exit, locked the car and left it there. I trudged back to the Hertz, slammed the keys on the desk, grabbed a pen and a rental map, marked an — X — on the exit and said “Here’s where the car is. C’est ici. “

And then I had a nice day walking around snowy Lyon. 🤣

It was snowing so hard, most of the shops and restaurants were closing early. I walked around under my shoes were soaked through, then bribed a taxi driver 100 Euros to take me back to the hotel.

I loved Lyon. I went back early the next morning to walk around before my TGV back. Remarkably, all the snow had melted. Writes note in book: ~~~~ ✍️ “Must come back to Lyon.”