33 luxury hotels were just awarded ‘Palace’ status by the french government – see the full list

France is a country that fastidiously applies rigorous nomenclature to everything from cheese to wine. (You know the rule: If it’s not made in Champagne, it’s not Champagne.) So of course a nation famed for its exacting culture and being the most visited in the world – clocking 102 million international tourists in 2025 – has a very specific appellation system for its luxury hotels. On 2 June , France’s Ministry of Tourism expanded its list of hotels and resorts with the highly coveted “Palace” distinction for the first time since 2022. The designation recognises a level of hospitality that, in the Ministry's view, exceeds even that of a traditional five-star property. There are six newly minted Palace hotels in metropolitan France: Bulgari Hotel Paris, Cheval Blanc Paris, and Fouquet’s Paris in the capital; Four Seasons Megève in the French Alps; Hôtel Martinez - The Unbound Collection by Hyatt in the South of France ; and Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa in – where else? – Champagne. Additionally, Palace status was renewed for 27 other hotels who reapplied for it, a coterie of urban grandes dames, rural retreats, beachfront pads, and sumptuous alpine lodges that include iconic names like Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel; Le Meurice; and Airelles Gordes, La Bastide (all three of which have just received CNT Triple Crown status, our newest – and most prestigious – award yet). The exact criteria for what makes a Palace hotel are well guarded, but applicants are evaluated on their location, design and appearance, cultural heritage, spa and restaurant venues, and level of service, among other considerations. The distinction is not permanent and must be retained through a reapplication process every three years. In 2026, the complete tally of Palace hotels in France now comes to 33, the largest the list has ever been. All the properties – the new initiates and those who re-pledged, so to speak – were honoured at an event at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris on 2 June. Following the announcement of the six new Palaces, representatives from the hotels and members of the media were invited to something that resembled a high school science fair for luxury tourism: Select Palaces manned booths and stations that demonstrated their hotels’ offerings. Le Meurice handed out desserts by celebrity pastry chef Cedric Grollet. Hôtel de Crillon served cocktails – and non-alcoholic versions – from its popular Bar Les Ambassadeurs. Shangri-la Paris had a spa therapist on hand for five-minute face massages. Les Sources de Caudalie (another CNT Triple Crown winner) poured Bordeaux wine from its estate’s vineyards . Southwestern countryside hotel Les Prés d’Eugénie brought jars of honey as well as the bees that made them. Not present, however, were the hotels whose Palace distinctions were not renewed after the latest nationwide evaluation: Hôtel Du Palais Biarritz - The Unbound Collection by Hyatt; Mandarin Oriental, Paris; and Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme (a winner of the CNT Triple Crown). Answering a question from the audience, Christian Mantei, the president of the country’s tourism development agency Atout France, explained that any hotel that has lost its Palace label is welcome to reapply again next year. According to chatter among the event attendees, all three will likely pursue Palace status after significant property renovations. Perhaps that’s what France has figured out: the whole point of such meticulous labelling processes. No one gets to rest on their laurels, and so the standards – whether of cheese, wine or luxury hotels – are raised ever higher, most often to the benefit of travellers. To next year’s would-be Palaces: Bon chance. See the complete list of 33 Palace hotels below, in alphabetical order. France's 33 Palace Hotels for 2026 St. Tropez ’s hedonistic charms are famous, and this is a glorious invitation to flop beneath olive trees amid the soothing peace of a 30-acre estate away from the main event. The fairy-tale château, the latest Mediterranean opening from the group behind Le Grand Contrôle in Versailles, is all turrets and cupolas with a sun-blazed ochre façade. The suites spoil with sea or pool views, Ralph Lauren homewares and citrus products from Parisian perfumer Blaise Mautin. Creative dining panders to every tantrum and tiredness level: Italian in the Carrara bistro, real McCoy Provençal at the Thirties L’Auberge des Maures (which moved here from downtown St. Tropez last year) or pan-Asian at Nobu -partnered Matsuhisa (kudos for the DJ and itinerant magician). Seafood and cocktails with lavender, thyme, and other local herbs seduce guests in the superlative beach club on A-lister Plage de Pampelonne. But where are all les enfants? Having a ball at the kids’ club extraordinaire, a palatial villa with activity rooms (Lego kingdom, arcade games, art studio, pottery workshop, cinema, you name it), trampolines, tennis courts, a treehouse, pirate-ship playground and smart outdoor pool. A quick jaunt up the Alpin Jardin slope from Cheval Blanc Courchevel, a palace bearing the architectural oomph and wildlife murals of a Habsburg hunting lodge, lords over its snowy kingdom. Les Airelles Courchevel’s Hans Anderson details were crafted in the 1990s, avoiding the cold corridors and austere, dusty libraries of centuries-old country houses. Palatial splendour merges with chalet cosiness, particularly in the raclette and charcuterie-heavy Le Coin Savoyard restaurant (one of three in the hotel and four off-site) and in the salons, where sofas and traditional rugs are illuminated by chandeliers and dim sconces. There’s a storybook quality to this ultra-elegant hotel on the edge of the Luberon’s prettiest hilltop town. It was given a $31 million overhaul in full-on 18th-century Provençal style by the Airelles Collection in 2014, but managed to emerge classic yet not clichéd, formal but not fusty. The walls are glutted with oil portraits, and antiques sourced from l’Isle-sur-Sorgue are the real thing; staff are dressed in somewhat cumbersome costume (medieval-style bodices and straw boaters) but ever attentive. There are incredible views of the valley below from every nook and cranny of the garden, the dining terraces, and the west-facing bedrooms. The building is stealthily spacious with 40 bedrooms, and there’s a serious Sisley spa, designed with monkish minimalism, plus four superb restaurants. Dinner at the new rustic-style Clover Gordes is a joyous affair, helmed by chef Jean-François Piège, with signature dishes including pizza soufflés and a carbonara of wild squid. And should the mistral kick up, sip your digestif at the bar on a velvet couch by a crackling fire. This is Provence in its most honeyed glow. Doubles from about $388. Between the Gio Ponti artwork, Caracalla baths–inspired pool mosaics and even the dozen signature Italian pastries on offer, this Parisian hideaway is suffused with more than a little bit of Italy . The public spaces of the hotel – which sits squarely within Paris’s tony Golden Triangle – call to mind the well-appointed home of a Milanese friend (see the portrait of actress Monica Vitti in the lobby), while the 76 rooms and suites offer quiet luxury with blackout shades and photographs of brightly coloured jewels from the Bulgari archives. It would be almost criminal not to block off an entire day to spend at the spa, or not to visit the bar each evening for a well-deserved aperitivo. Rooms from $1,655. —Betsy Blumenthal Château Saint-Martin & Spa Perched high on the hills overlooking Saint-Paul-de-Vence, one of the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera, is the Château Saint-Martin & Spa , an erstwhile castle of the Knights Templar (first built in 1150) with grounds where famed French artists like Matisse, Picasso and Chagall once strolled. Of course there are the elegant rooms and suites; the Spa Saint-Martin by La Prairie; and the stunning restaurant, L'Oliveraie, set in an olive grove. But here, it's really all about the view. Allegedly, the grounds were purchased by its owners (the Oetkers of the eponymous Oetker Hotels collection) purely for the striking vistas of the Côte d'Azur – they didn't even examine the rest of the estate's 34 acres. Today the extensive gardens are dotted with contemporary art; an apt feature, given that Vence is a design hub teeming with galleries and modern art museums. – Matt Ortile Cheval Blanc Courchevel’s mustard exterior suggests a traditional, Savoyard scene of reindeer rugs and bannisters carved with twee hearts and cowbells inside. Instead, alpine cosiness is cleverly expressed through sleek contemporary shapes and a minimalist spin on a multitude of materials and textures. Xavier Veilhan ’s abstract bear installation animates the enormous pool, Bruno Peinado ’s mirrored horse greets the Bentley SUVs at the entrance, and an Andreas Gursky aerial print of ant-like skiers backs the reception desk. Positioned over Jardin Alpin and Bellcote slopes or 1850s snowy chalet roofs, rooms seize on lavish minimalism, with gentle Alps -inspired flourishes. Large bathrooms serve as mini-spas, some with private hammams – all with bathtubs festooned with Guerlain goodies and in-built television screens. The main event, though, is the ski room – where ski butlers furnish guests with state-of-the-art skis before sliding them onto the slicked Jardin Alpin piste with or without an instructor. The hotel is in position for beginners to snow plough their way down Courchevel’s green runs – but it’s equally a privileged perch for intermediates or advanced skiers to bomb down to La Croisette for the resort’s reds and blacks. Or, head further into the vast Trois Vallées ski area covering Courchevel, Meribel and Val Thorens with endless backcountry to explore. Skip the sleepy districts that house so many of Paris’s plush hotels, and book a private perch with a bird’s eye view of the river and La Samaritaine as your fashion-forward neighbour. From a sophisticated suburban crowd to the Bobo’s of the right bank, every type of Parisian rubs shoulders with jet-setting guests in the convivial seventh-floor Art Deco brasserie meets cocktail bar, Le Tout-Paris. It’s the place to be seen before you escape to the subterranean spa or your room with a view. Almost every one of the 72 elegant, beige and gold-hued rooms, 46 of which are suites, overlook the Seine. The best spot from which to enjoy Cheval Blanc's idyllic position is from a sunlit winter garden suite; this private perch offers views from Notre-Dame Cathedral to the Eiffel Tower, as well as a glimpse into day-to-day life in the French capital, the famous bouquinistes (or booksellers), and romantic promenades. Tucked away below ground, the brightly lit spa designed like a modern living room is helmed by another member of the LVMH équipe and star of both Parisian couture and beauty: Christian Dior. Over the past two years, the Caribbean island of St. Barts has bounced back from Hurricane Irma, but the recovery required much more than a coat of fresh white paint on the verandas. Take the former Isle de France, now Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France, part of LVMH’s Cheval Blanc stable and always the essence of St. Barts, for example. Part of its post-Irma upgrade was the acquisition of the hotel next door, Hotel Taïwana, so the property now sprawls along Flamands Beach with oceanfront and garden rooms as well as penthouse-style suites, all fashioned by the careful hands of French designer Jacques Grange in linen and teak, blush-pink and ikat. This re-imagination is a masterpiece in scene setting that you won’t find anywhere else beyond the beaches of the French Riviera. There are good reasons why, in the first half of the 20th century, the French Riviera in general and St. Tropez in particular became the stuff of legend. This is one of them. When it opened in 1936, La Résidence de la Pinède, as it was then known, was an elegant, uncomplicated maison by the sea, a short distance from the town centre. When it reopened in 2019, having been acquired by LVMH, it had been transformed into Cheval Blanc St-Tropez. Though outwardly still the same elegant, uncomplicated maison by the sea, things had actually changed beyond recognition. The new interiors by Jean-Michel Wilmotte manage to be at once soothing and startling, with Provençal art everywhere you look. A 20th-century classic has turned into a 21st-century one, with no loss of charm. Cheval Blanc makes for an intriguing contrast with its sister property on St. Tropez’s main square, White 1921 (another LVMH gem), as well as with much-loved Hôtel Byblos, and it holds its own in spite of competition from the likes of Michel Reybier’s La Réserve Ramatuelle and Jocelyne Sibuet’s effortlessly stylish Villa Marie. Fouquet’s Courchevel One of Courchevel 1850’s most sublime ski stays, the former Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges was rechristened in 2026 as Fouquet's Courchevel to better align its branding with its luxurious sister addresses in Paris and New York – a wise move given that everything here is ultra high-touch. The team here goes above and beyond – from leaving surprise wintry treats in your suite to literally putting on your ski boots for you before you hit the slopes. At the end of the day, you may even receive a post-ski shot of Génépy, an herbal Alpine liqueur made in the region. If you’ve been putting off that ski trip because you can’t fathom the planning and admin – and you love all the creature comforts of beyond-five-star French hospitality – then this is the palace for you. – Tamara Southward In the heart of the bustling Champs-Élysées , with clear views to the Arc de Triomphe, Fouquet’s Paris combines old-world luxury with modern amenities. It’s a perfect jumping-off point for discovering a quartier that’s less frequented by locals but a requisite stop for visitors to the City of Light. Rooms and suites capture the essence of Parisian elegance – lofty ceilings, fresh bouquets, tufted headboards that call to mind Louis XIV decadence, and soaring windows overlooking the city’s famed promenade. Bathrooms are outfitted with Diptyque products and the grand tubs just beg for a long soak. The Exception suites, designed by Jacques Garcia (the eye behind Hotel Costes, Le Royal Monceau and more), offer guests the chance to experience their own intimate, Haussmanian pied-à-terre. Richard Waite Four Seasons Resort Megève Situated in the French Alps , Four Seasons Resort Megève is composed of luxe chalets clustered together and elegantly folded into the slopes of Mont d’Arbois, with direct ski-in, ski-out access, putting the best of winter at guests' fingertips. Spring for a night in the Suite Idéal, the highest guest room in Megève (and