La Ferme Saint Simeon

La Ferme Saint Simeon

Twenty of the rooms at La Ferme Saint Simeon come with their own hammam, a detail traced back to a 17th-century farmhouse that the Toutain family turned into an inn in 1825 and where Impressionist painters kept returning for the light over the Seine. That history now sits inside a 34-room, three-floor Relais & Chateaux property on the heights above Honfleur, a ten-minute walk from the historic centre, with a garden, terrace and a stretch next to the beach for anyone who wants sand rather than spa robes. The wellness side runs to sauna, steam room and massage by appointment, plus a spa tub rather than a swimming pool, so lap swimmers should look elsewhere. There is a restaurant, a bar, a snack bar and breakfast that can be sent to the room, a library for slow afternoons, and staff who work across English, French, German and Russian. Families are catered for with a playroom and babysitting, though the quiet-room categories and oak-panelled suites suggest this is built more for two people wanting to do nothing together than for a group needing entertainment. Pets stay for a fee, transfers from the airport or train station can be arranged with notice, and a deposit is taken at check-in, standard practice for a house of this pedigree. What no other hotel in Honfleur offers is that private hammam, worked into rooms with exposed beams and cathedral ceilings that predate the idea of a spa altogether. It suits people who want the history to outlast the amenities list, not people counting on a pool. A 17th-century Honfleur farmhouse turned Relais & Chateaux inn, with twenty rooms fitted with a private hammam found nowhere else in town, sauna, steam room and a beach out front, but no pool for lap swimmers. Better suited to two people settling in than a group after entertainment.