Chateau-Hotel de Bourron

The château is perfect. Very cozy and welcoming. The owners are great, the gardens of the château and the château itself are a masterpiece. The room is very spacious and you feel like a special guest in the castle, very well decorated and preserved

There is a good reason that this chateaux gets so many 10/10 ratings. The building and grounds are very impressive, yet it also has a warm and friendly feel. My wife and I were planning to spend a few days and nights in Paris. Before going to the city, and after a arduous flight from Boston to CDG, I wanted our first night to be peaceful and relaxing. The friendliness of the owners, the comfortable bed, the quiet surroundings, the tasty bakery just outside the gate, the multi-course excellent French dinner at Premices (also just outside the gate) were just what we needed to get ready to enjoy Paris. Before heading to Paris, we visited Fontainebleau, which is just a short drive away--just as impressive as Versailles with much shorter lines to get in. I wholeheartedly add my 10/10 to the many others!!

The château sits on the edge of the village of Bourron-Marlotte, accessible on two sides of the park via gates with intercom. Approaching the delightful manor from the front you cannot help but be impressed with the whole complex: moat, two guardhouses at the front, and the cute brick and-stone style palace with a horseshoe-shaped staircase at the end of the gravel driveway. It all looks magnificent especially in the evening when the lights are switched on. That feeling of awe somehow diminishes once you enter the building: a small hallway and reading room, quite dark interior and a simple staircase. Our Chambre Prestige (a standard room) was in the main house and overlooked the back of the property. It was quite small with limited built-in wardrobe space and felt a little cramped. It was very cold inside as the radiators were either lukewarm or not working. On request, we were given an electric heater so it heated up eventually. The bed was comfortable. The window shutters, with the ancient locking system (we noticed similar ones at the Château de Fontainebleau!) blocked the morning light very effectively. There were no tea or coffee-making facilities in the room but we could use the facilities downstairs. Neither was there any TV – apparently that is the policy of the owners, which was fine. The bathroom was quite standard with a walk-in shower, His and Hers sinks, and a toilet tucked in at the far end. Bathrobes and slippers were provided. We had a dinner in the Les Prémices restaurant, housed in the former stables, some 5 minutes walk from the Château. The food was quite limited but just fabulous and wine list quite extensive. Breakfast was the traditional, rather simple type, with no hot dishes or cakes on offer. The hosts were very friendly and approachable. Probably best to bring your own wine as there wasn’t a bar as such in the Château. An honesty bar would have been a neat solution here. At the end of the day the Château de Bourrier is more like a posh and expensive B&B but has the kudos of staying in the home of comte and comtesse de Cordon. As the proprietors have said themselves, “part of the charm of Château de Bourron, is to be entertained by the owner of the castle”.

My wife and I stayed at the Château de Bourron for four nights in late September, using it as a base from which to visit other chateaux in the area. Overall, it's a wonderful place to stay, but it's not flawless. When arriving, we had to get out of the car and buzz the intercom to get someone to open the front gates for us. After checking in, we were given a key to tap to open the gate. That's neither good nor bad, but something to note when arriving for the first time. The estate is beautiful, everything you might expect, from the manicured grounds to the well-kept buildings. Our room was spacious and had a great view of the grounds. We found the bed and pillows to be very comfortable. Breakfast was pleasant, along the lines of bread, cheese, meats, coffee and tea. There is often nobody at the front desk, so we had to call when we needed assistance and nobody was around. That detracts a little from the experience, since it seems somewhat of an imposition to call someone just to ask for restaurant recommendations, or for other information. It seemed perfectly quiet the first night, although that was our first night after arriving, so we were dead to the world. Other nights had a little background noise from trains running through the area, but overall it's super quiet. We were woken up at 8 a.m. on our first morning by the cleaning staff opening our door, without knocking or asking if anyone was in the room. At night, getting the balance of when to close the windows, between "beautiful weather and fresh air" time and "bugs will start coming in" time was a little tough for the first couple of nights. The first night we had to evict a half-dozen "stink bugs" — they don't bite or really annoy, except that they make a lot of noise flying around the room. The shower was somewhat less than desired: the drain was bad on the first day, and got worse every day until we had a chance to mention it to the owner, whereby it was fixed for the day we left, and drained very well. The shower head was adjustable on a vertical rail, except the adjustment knob was missing, so it would slide down to the lowest position, only ideal for washing the midsection. We used a band-aid around the rail to somewhat keep the position from sliding down. The shower curtain uses velcro ties that were either worn or simply inadequate, as pulling the shower curtain back would often cause half the curtain to come unattached from the rod. Along the same vein, the toilet's pull handle would often stick in the flushing position, and would have to be manually moved back into place. Since the tank is set about 7 feet up the wall, we used a coat hanger to reach up to jiggle the flushing arm. Although annoying, these are fairly minor complaints compared to the overall pleasant stay we had there; we'd not hesitate to stay again.

Chateau de Bourron is a lovely place to stay. That is precisely why we chose it. But, if you have an emergency medical problem, this is not the place to have a reservation. This is exactly what happened to us. Admittedly, we called on the day of our reservation. The Chateau de Bourron would not consider giving us a full or partial refund, even though we had a medical emergency.

We stayed in the auxiliary building, the Maison d’Artagnan, in a beautifully appointed “comfort” room. Breakfast, which was delicious, was in the chateau itself. In our room there was a booklet that included a description of the history of the chateau, as well as recommendations for nearby restaurants and things to do. I highly recommend the Chateau de Bourron.

Beautiful room and gardens. Short walk to excellent restaurants. Extremely nice hosts. And, an elevator. 😀😀

Best place we stayed while in France. Beautiful and quiet get away. My wife and I loved it and plan to stay longer next time.