THIS IS THE PRETTIEST HOTEL I’VE EVER STAYED IN

by YouShouldGoHere
April 23, 2016
in Eat Here, Stay Here
0

[EUGENIE-LES-BAINS, FRANCE] — I had the best intensions…

Looking to break up my random drive across France, I decided to sneak in to the famed Les Prés d’Eugénie hotel for a taste of what made Michel Guérard world famous — one of the pioneers of Nouvelle Cuisine that changed French cooking forever. 🍽 Chef and his wife Christine built this magical spa hotel in the country as a destination for his 3 Michelin star restaurant. We’re talking 3 stars for 30 years!

I’m a food icon idiot, I just like to eat. But I learned about Les Prés d’Eugénie when I was staying at Le Chateau de Riell, their sweet little sister hotel in French Catalonia. (Scroll down a little on my page and you can follow that action). When checking out, not knowing where I was going next I asked “What about this Prés d’Eugénie place?” “Ohhh, mon dieu, C’est magnifique. Mais c’est trois étoiles!” I put it on my List. Def.

So when I was in the neighborhood I remembered the “mon dieu” and booked, but could only get in one night. Damn spontaneity…

Unfortunately, zigzagging through the country roads of Gascony my stomach started arguing with me — not the hungry-good kind of yelling, more like the movie Alien must-get-out-of-this-body kind of angry. 👹 Musta been the oysters at the last place. Double damn.

I had to emergency stop four times on the drive — it was cool out but I was not. And hot. When I arrived, I couldn’t have felt worse. To make matters worse worse, somehow the Chateau de Riell had alerted them about my IG posts from there, so when I pulled up they treated me like I was the Queen of England, but I was pasty, not pastel.

“We knew you’d be coming” said the impeccable GM Emmanuel. “Please allow me to personally show you around the grounds. Oh, and Chef Michel would also like to sit with you at dinner” 😳 (ME!?!? Hahaha… shhhhhh, don’t tell them about the real me…)

Oh my god, the gardens of this place, like a fairytale palace. Acres of bloomin’ glory. Flowers of every type, every hair of grass combed perfectly in place. I had reservations at 8. With The Legend himself. GULP!

This place is so world famous that all you have to do is type in “les pres d’ ” on Google and it’s right at the top.

As one of the highest rated hotels in the world, it’s spendy; I could only afford to stay there one night — well, actually they were booked solid but for one night. But once I experienced the place, I would have gladly added more nights if I could have. Worth every euro.

It’s just a dream. I can’t wait to come back, spend more time and really enjoy every single square metre.

: … such a shame I had food poisoning from the night before I arrived here. The Oyster’s Revenge. The grounds of this place are the finest I’ve ever seen. And I’ve covered a lot of grounds. Acres and acres of magic green carpet. Every square metre, perfectly coiffed.

: I’m a freak about proper lighting. Usually my friends in the restaurant business jab me whenever we’re somewhere nice, when asked my opinion my typical response is “Cool place, great food. I really want to fix their lighting.” Most people just don’t get it. But here? OMG do they get it. This hotel has the best use of lighting I’ve ever seen. Especially in a hundreds year old building; all the fixtures discreetly tucked away, so all you see is their hard work. The decor might help, too.😳

: This is their LouLou’s Lounge Bar. Just dreamy. Just read this copy from their wonderfully written website: “Tea is served in the afternoons, under the benevolent eyes of the Empress, immortalised by Gustave Legray. Madeleines, gingerbread and other delicacies are a must. At 9 p.m., our maîtres d’hôtel open the doors of Ali Baba’s cave: an amazing library of Armagnacs, nestling in a large Chinese cupboard.” OMG, I missed out on Ali Baba’s Armagnac Cave?!?! 😩

: An Armagnac library?!? Named Ali Baba? Good god. 😳 Yup, this is where you want to have an Armagnac. 😩 Since this hotel is in the ❤️ of Gascony, which is the ❤️ of Armagnac, I bet that library has some interesting and novel ones to check out. I ❤️ Armagnac.

: Just look at those orchids, you could take a stringline down the hall and they wouldn’t vary a millimeter. Okay, so short story, long. I was up all night with the heroine sweats, praying to the porcelain gods, cursing the angry oyster I ate before I even arrived at this slice of heaven. That asshole. I eventually made the call and, sadly and shiveringly, had to cancel my 3 Star Michelin dinner I purposefully came here for. I only had one night to do it.. and it was gone. 😫 The Best Meal I Never Had. But by morning, the storm had passed and everything was fine again. 😀 Of course, right before I had to leave… 😟 But I did get a chance to finally check out how incredible this place is, without The Panic. My tour re-engaged with the awesome (and now wary) General Manager Emmanuel who, I’m sure, had buckets discreetly hidden everywhere, just in case… So I’m going to show you a bunch of pics of what I didn’t get to enjoy, so that you can come here and do. Seriously, this place is off the charts. I’m coming back and doing a reset.

: I’m tellin’ ya, the amount of gorgeous detail per square metre of this place is just something to behold. Every niche and corner turns into a wondrous surprise, with not just some paint and a pretty picture, but deep deep layering of subtle detail and textures that brings out the character of the architecture. And always, aways white flowers. Not campy decadent Rococo stuff, with garish colors and gold leaf like you see at some Old School places, but delicate, simple and neutral colors everywhere. And just the right amount of right. And light.

: Always, always white flowers. Everywhere. As it should be. Like white sheets. (All sheets must be white, too.) If any of my sisters or exes would ever like any of my posts, they’d tell you that I’m a white flower freak. Every birthday or special occasion, bam, all white flowers show up at their door. Nope, don’t need all that other fluff. Just give me the good white stuff. I almost always have to argue with florists over the phone, nobody gets it. (And no, I’m not gay. Just romantic.. ) But THIS? They get it. And we’re not talking about throwing some white tulips in a vase and calling it a day. Around every corner, in every niche, some cathedral arrangement of the most delicious looking flowers you’ve seen. All white. Google their website. It’s like a master class in floral design. For an all-white flower lover, this place is like going to church. And I got schooled on the right way to do it.

: Orchids, orchids everywhere

: There are sumptuous rooms in the drop-dead looking main building in the last post. Then there are scrumptious little out buildings like this spread across the property, tucked into their own green little heavens. Spend some time looking at every square inch of this pic to appreciate that some little army of beret-ed Edward Scissorhands quietly passes by here all day long to make sure that everything is just so. Now zoom back and multiple that by every corner of the vast 20 acre estate. Even behind the bushes was nice — trust me on that one, I checked… 🙊.

: There are sumptuous rooms in the drop-dead looking main building in the last post. Then there are scrumptious little out buildings like this spread across the property, tucked into their own green little heavens. Spend some time looking at every square inch of this pic to appreciate that some little army of beret-ed Edward Scissorhands quietly passes by here all day long to make sure that everything is just so. Now zoom back and multiple that by every corner of the vast 20 acre estate. Even behind the bushes was nice — trust me on that one, I checked… 🙊.

: Of the short time I was here, this was what I saw the most. The view from my window. Must admit, if you’re going to be sick as a dog in your room, you can’t beat this marvelous view… staring out like a sad puppy. 🐶. It was like staying in a technicolor terrarium, even on a rainy day.

: This was my beautiful room they upgraded me to. Just dreamy. I could live in this room.

: This adds a whole new meaning to “King Bed”

: There are different buildings with different character and style of rooms (you can see them on their website) but I would highly recommend one of the outbuildings, like the convent. This was my sweet room I hid out in with my sour stomach. Complete with its own little perfect pea gravel terrace. (The French are the best pea gravellers in the world, in my opinion.👇) I would enjoy living here. Yes, indeed.

: They grow all their own flowers on the property

: This is the back of the main building. I liked the cozy convent better. But check out the interiors on their website. They have nice bright rooms in this wing.

: Somewhere else, this would just be a square shed. In the US, a metal butler building, but here?

: Of course, the main purpose of the hotel is a spa. They have all sorts of curative waters and treatments going on .

: Orchids, orchids everywhere

: There is an outbuilding called La Ferme, home to the more casual restaurant. Wait until you see how “casual” it is….

: Picture perfect

: When you stay at a glorious spa hotel built around a destination Michelin 3 star restaurant in the countryside of France, this is what their daytime “casual” restaurant looks like. Hahaha… cracks me up. 😂 Pinch me. This is ridiculously good looking. Like France. My old apartment in New York could fit In that fireplace…

: Would you look at this damn kitchen??!? He set up an Institute on an the grounds and created a professional cooking school here where professional chefs, can come for weeks and learn his secrets. You can take classes from the hotel too. This is the prettiest kitchen I’ve seen, looking out all over those incredible grounds I previously posted. I just know I’d cut off my thumb.

“I cook the way a bird sings”, says Chef Michel Guérard’

Not only was Miche Guérard on the avant guard of the old guard on Nouvelle Cuisine, was on the vanguard cooking healthy French food, starting way back in the 70s.

He invented Cuisine Minceur, “slimming cooking”, and reinvented Nouvelle Cuisine to be better tasting and less filling. Smart way to convince people to drive 500 miles from Paris to a spa in the country and it has worked fantastically since ’74. Now people come from 5,000 miles away. I mean, hell, the man even owns the trademark “ Health Cuisine® ” That’s boss. I wanna own a trademark…

With the hotel, spa, and a bunch of cookbooks on eating healthy, he’s a legend and has more Chevaliers to his name than Leo’s had hot girlfriends. When we finally met, I thought I was meeting his Sous. He looks 30 years younger than he actually is, so this stuff works.

Check out these other writeup about Les Pres d’Eugenie. A great article in the Wall Street Journal. A profile in FOUR magazine. The UK’s Telegraph newspaper. A great profile in Forbes magazine. And in the UK’s Conde Nast Traveller.

Last visited June 2015