Le Cloître Gourmand

Top choice in Chartres


Entered from rue du Cardinal Pie, this 17th-century townhouse framed by duck-egg-blue shutters has timber-panelled walls, beamed ceilings and up-close views of the cathedral's north portal. Book at least a week ahead in high season to dine on dishes like smoked pigeon with fir oil, roast salmon with dandelion-root foam and dark-chocolate ganache with hazelnut dust.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Chartres attractions

1. Centre International du Vitrail

0.02 MILES

After viewing the stained glass in Chartres’ cathedral, nip into the town’s International Stained-Glass Centre, in a half-timbered former granary, to see…

2. Tour Nord

0.03 MILES

Climbing 350 steps up to the 112m-high Tour Nord (aka Clocher Neuf; New Bell Tower) of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is well worth it. A 70m-high platform on…

3. Portail Royal

0.04 MILES

The west, north and south entrances of the Cathédrale Notre Dame have superbly ornamented triple portals, but the west entrance, known as the Portail…

4. Musée des Beaux-Arts

0.05 MILES

Chartres’ fine-arts museum, accessed via the gate next to Cathédrale Notre Dame’s north portal, is in the former Palais Épiscopal (Bishop’s Palace), built…

5. Cathédrale Notre Dame

0.05 MILES

One of Western civilisation’s crowning architectural achievements, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is renowned for its brilliant-blue…

6. Clocher Vieux

0.06 MILES

Along with the the Portail Royal, the main Romanesque feature of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is the 105m-high Clocher Vieux (also called the Tour Sud or…

7. Cathédrale Notre Dame Crypt

0.08 MILES

The 100m crypt of Cathédrale Notre Dame, a tombless Romanesque structure built in 1024 around a 9th-century predecessor, is the largest in France. Tours…

8. Collégiale St-André

0.21 MILES

From rue Cardinal Pie, the stairways Tertre St-Nicolas and rue Chantault – the latter lined with medieval houses (number 29 is the oldest house in…