Chateau du Palanquey

Chateau du Palanquey

Five rooms, one floor, and every window looking out over vineyard rows: Chateau du Palanquey sits ten minutes from the village of Saint-Emilion, with a 360-degree panorama over the Saint-Emilion and Castillon vineyards that shifts with the light through the day. The property earned a Key in the Michelin Guide Hotels 2024, a distinction judged on design, service, character, value and contribution to the local area, and it is not one many small vineyard properties in this corner of France can claim. The Esthederm spa, with heated indoor and outdoor pools, sauna, jacuzzi and a fitness room, is included free for anyone booking a room, though massages and facials need booking ahead. The Suite Vendange goes further still, with a thirty-square-metre roof-top terrace and a private jacuzzi facing the vines and the village's thirteenth-century church. Dinner at the Table d'Hotes leans on produce from the property's own vegetable garden and orchard, cooked as French country food rather than restaurant plating. Electric car charging is reserved for guests, and mountain bikes and electric bikes go out free of charge for anyone who wants to cover the vineyard roads without a car. This is an adults-only address, built for couples and friends travelling slowly rather than families with children, and its single floor without a lift keeps every room within easy reach. Pets are welcome for a small daily fee. Checking in from four in the afternoon, checking out by noon, guests here are not counting amenities so much as counting hours until the next glass of Palanquey wine on the terrace, looking at vines instead of a screen. Five rooms above the Saint-Emilion vineyards, ten minutes from the village, with a free Esthederm spa and a Michelin Key from 2024 that most vineyard hotels this size cannot match. Adults-only, one floor, no elevator. Suite Vendange adds a private roof-top jacuzzi facing the vines and the village's old church.