How To Stay In A 2,000-Year-Old Castle In France’s Rhone Valley

Château De Fontager in France’s Rhône Valley is open to overnight guests and daytime visitors

Château De Fontager

No trip to the French countryside is complete without visiting a chateau, and a newly renovated castle in the Rhone Valley offers visitors the option to stay overnight.

Dating back to the Roman Era, Château de Fontager in Serves-sur-Rhone boasts over 2,000 years of history across more than seven acres. Serving as a private residence for French Nobility, the property has undergone extensive renovations in the past few decades, with the most recent 2022 restoration offering 32 guest rooms, a wellness area, billiards room, fine dining restaurant, bistro, wellness area, sporting club, and a park with petanque fields, an herbal garden, and an Olympic size swimming pool.

Guests are invited to explore the grounds before a dinner reservation at the fine dining restaurant, Le Chant De La Source, and checking into the property is a nice way to immerse yourself in the château lifestyle, especially for a nice bath and deep sleep after a 6 or 8 course gastronomic menu (and the wine pairing is suggested to).

Here’s how to visit Châateau de Fontager:

Getting to Château de Fontager

Situated in a relatively remote part of the Rhône Valley, Chateau de Fontager is only accessible by car. The closest airport is about an hour’s drive away, Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport, and the closest international train station is thirty minutes away, Valence TGV. The local train station, Saint Vallier TER, is a 10 minute drive away and taxis are available.

Accommodations at Château de Fontager

Château de Fontager offers five types of rooms, ranging from the petite double, which starts at €120 per night, to the junior suites, which start at €210 per night. Nodding to Danish ownership, rooms are adorned with contemporary Scandinavian furniture and details, offering a calming atmosphere.

Dining at Château de Fontager

A big draw of visiting Château de Fontager is the French Nordic fine dining restaurant, Le Chant De La Source (“The Song of Spring”), led by Danish chef Nikolaj Skou Poulsen. Six-course (€70) and eight-course (€100) menus are available, plus wine pairings including rare local bottles (like a white Châteauneuf du Pape) and more specialty pours.

The dining room itself is warmed and illuminated by an enormous wood fireplace, and guests are seated at white tablecloth adorned tables to enjoy culinarily complex seasonal dishes, think beef tartare garnished with herbs and greenery foraged on the property, and turbot cooked with crisp chicken skin for a savory, hybrid protein dish. Local produce is incorporated throughout the menu via Nordic preservation techniques o pickling, salting, and fermentation.

Next door to the spacious fine dining room, the cozy Le Bistrot Du Chateau offers a more casual dining experience for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with dishes available ala carte or as a tasting menu.

Activities at Château de Fontager

Beyond exploring the historic halls and playing billiards in the main château, the property includes a plethora of resort-style activities. The large swimming pool offers cabanas and pool chairs to relax in during the warmer season, plus beverage service outdoors.

An adjacent Sporting Club offers the tennis courts, one padel court, a fully equipped gym room, and a yoga studio. A wellness area also offers a sauna and massages can be booked on-site.