La Demeure d'Hortense

Top choice in Auvergne


The welcome from Catherine and Philippe couldn't be warmer when you check into this stately 19th-century mansion with plenty of original features. Wind your way up the marble stairs to individually decorated rooms like light-flooded 'Guilin' and – our favourite – Morocco-tinged 'Ménara' (complete with an Islamic table and embroidered slippers).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Auvergne attractions

1. Musée de l’Opéra de Vichy

0.39 MILES

This seasonal museum houses rotating exhibits that document the performances, costumes and culture of Vichy’s turn-of-the-20th-century opera house.

2. Hall des Sources

0.45 MILES

Chug a mouthful of reputedly healing waters at the Hall des Sources, a late-19th-century atrium resembling an art-deco greenhouse. The water is naturally…

3. Parc des Sources

0.45 MILES

Vichy's centrepiece is the huge Parc des Sources, the town's oldest park. Dating to the mid-18th century, the park is lined with chestnut and plane trees…

5. Église St-Blaise

0.48 MILES

Two contrasting churches combine at Église St-Blaise: the concrete outer shell of a 1931 art-deco church, resembling something of a Soviet space rocket,…

6. Source de l'Hôpital

0.49 MILES

The brass taps of the Source de l'Hôpital, which was first used in Gallo-Roman times, dispense unlimited quantities of warmish mineral waters to curistes …

7. Source des Célestins

0.53 MILES

For unlimited sips of Vichy's reputedly healing mineral waters, head for the Source des Célestins, housed in an attractive 19th-century atrium with lacy…

8. Parc Kennedy

0.64 MILES

Just south of the Parc Napoléon III is this stretch of parkland hugging the Allier River, landscaped in the style of an English garden during the late…