Château weekend break: two hours from the big cities, nothing to organise

A weekend at a château starts with a question of distance: how far from Paris can you find, for two nights, an entire house with its living rooms, grounds, and accommodations for everyone? Our forty-four inhabited castles, estates, and manor houses are located within a one- to two-hour drive of major cities. The Château de Rubelles is forty minutes from Paris in the heart of the forest; Le Bois de la Lune is an hour away; Les Zoaques is 1 hour and 30 minutes from Rouen; Coulom is thirty minutes from Toulouse; and Montplaisant is an hour from Lyon. With sleeping capacity ranging from 11 to 47 guests, stays of two or three nights, and nothing to organize except the trip itself: the beds are made, and the owner is waiting for you.

A getaway to a castle 2 hours from Paris, for a birthday or a family reunion

The short-term rental format changes what we expect from a place. For a weekend at a château with friends—a 40th birthday, a bachelor or bachelorette party, a family reunion—you need a large dining table, a kitchen, a living room for the evening, and enough bedrooms so everyone can sleep there. Rubelles sleeps 24, Villers-en-Ouche 25, Le Bois de la Lune 28, Le Landel 39, and L’Écluse 47 near Sancerre. We arrive on Friday around 7:00 p.m., have dinner in the dining room, enjoy the grounds on Saturday, and relax by the fireplace in the evening. An unusual weekend at a château is also what you’ll talk about when you get back: the room in the tower, breakfast in the orangery, and a game of tennis in the middle of the woods.

A castle for a romantic weekend, just the two of you or a few couples

Not all of our estates are large mansions. Le Bellay near Saumur, Beauregard, Coulom in the Lauragais, and La Villaine in Touraine can accommodate 12 to 15 people: three or four couples, or a family with adult children. For a romantic weekend at a château, these are the ones to choose—a 17th-century manor house, a three-hectare park, and a swimming pool—rather than an estate that can accommodate 250 guests. The concept remains the same: the house is all yours, no one else is staying there, and the owners are there to welcome you before stepping back into the background.

Prices, Activities, and Destinations for a Short-Term Trip

A short stay at the château is billed for the entire house, for two nights, including utilities, linens, made-up beds, and end-of-stay cleaning. Published rates range from €1,600 for two nights in a 15-person castle during the off-season to €7,200 for a 36-person estate in the summer; most weekends for 20 to 25 people cost between €3,000 and €5,000, or €150 to €250 per person for two nights, including lodging. The most popular regions for a weekend getaway are those that can be reached in less than two hours: the Paris suburbs, Normandy, Touraine via the TGV, Burgundy via the A6, the Lauragais and Ariège from Toulouse, the Bordeaux region from Bordeaux, and the Dombes and Beaujolais regions from Lyon.