La Grande Boucle

We commemorate the 2025 Tour de France with a look at some of the best hotels along the route, from the start in Lille to the epic Alpine climbs to the big conclusion on the Champs-Élysées.

If you know nothing about the Tour de France — if, and I’m speaking to our many American readers out there, your entire knowledge starts and ends with the now decades-old dramas surrounding Lance Armstrong, then you’re missing out on a new golden age for the legendary bike race as champions Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard trade the yellow jersey. Pogačar, winner in 2020, 2021, and 2024 is known for being one of the greatest all-around cyclists who ever lived. Vingegaard, winner in 2022 and 2023, particularly excels at climbing, the sport’s most grueling crucible, where the best performers can separate themselves from the pack.

La Grande Boucle (“The Great Loop”) takes place annually in July over 21 unique race stages. The starting point (called the Grand Départ) changes locations from year to year, and sometimes isn’t even in France. The rest of the route varies yearly as well, introducing new towns and incorporating different challenges, but always features flatter land for sprints and mountainous terrain for climbs. The ending, with very little exception, is in Paris as the riders stream around the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs-Élysées.

Whether you care about cycling or not, it’s undeniable that this year’s race glides through some enchanting towns and passes by some wonderful Tablet hotels. We chose a selection of our favorites, a mix of places that, like Pogačar, provide an all-encompassing grand experience, and others, like Vingegaard, that stand out for the outstanding execution of their specialties. Most importantly, they all exude charm and joie de vivre. Because just like riding a bike, your hotel stay should be fun.

Hopefully, all this talk about bicycles has you itching to ride one. Some people believe there’s no better way to travel:

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” — Ernest Hemingway
 

STAGE 1: LILLE

Mama Shelter Lille

Lille, France

Lille has a down-to-earth bohemian spirit that sets it apart from other cities in France. It’s the kind of place where people order beer instead of wine. Mama Shelter Lille, a colorful boutique hotel in the historic center, mirrors that energy. Though all the guest rooms are private, the place brings back memories of staying in a youth hostel, thanks to the convivial atmosphere and graffiti-like urban art that graces the public spaces.

STAGE 3: VALENCIENNES > DUNKERQUE

Royal Hainaut

Valenciennes, France

You might confuse the palatial Royal Hainaut Spa & Resort Hotel for a castle, but this building was actually a hospital, constructed by Louis XV in 1751. A thoroughly modern addition, the towering glass atrium, looks out over the Ceremonial Courtyard, while rooms are enhanced by original architectural features like blue stone vaults and seven-meter-high ceilings. Valenciennes offers an excellent jumping off point to discover this area of northern France.

STAGE 4: AMIENS MÉTROPOLE> ROUEN

Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde

Rouen, France

Rouen is the ancient capital of Normandy, perhaps best known for Notre Dame, a gothic cathedral which dates back as far as the 12th century. It’s this historic side of Rouen that the Hotel de Bourgtheroulde is meant to express — the building that houses it was constructed in the 16th century, and that era is celebrated throughout. The highly regarded Restaurant d’Aumale, on the other hand, is strikingly modern, as is the dramatic underground pool.

STAGE 5: CAEN

Chez Laurence du Tilly

Caen, France

Right at the heart of the Norman city of Caen, Chez Laurence du Tilly is exactly what it sounds like: Laurence’s place. This Laurence’s career was made in the Parisian advertising world before she transformed herself into a stylist, and transformed a lovely hôtel particulier into a maison d’hôtes whose three apartments combine low-key residential good looks with livable comforts.

STAGE 7: SAINT-MALO > MÛR-DE-BRETAGNE GUERLÉDAN

Les Charmettes

Saint-Malo, France

A pair of 19th-century villas on the coast of Brittany have been joined together and transformed into a charming and unpretentious 16-room boutique hotel directly overlooking the beach at Saint-Malo. This is the Hôtel Les Charmettes. The interiors are stylish, a bit irreverent, and completely cozy and approachable, with a seaside vibe that never ventures into kitsch.

STAGE 9: CHINON > CHÂTEAUROUX

Fontevraud l’Ermitage

Fontevraud-l’Abbaye, France

One of the best-known abbey complexes in France, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud isn’t just a popular tourist site — it’s a hotel as well. Set on the sprawling 12th-century complex where Eleanor of Aquitaine once lived (and where Richard the Lionheart is buried), Fontevraud l’Ermitage enables guests to see this historic and architectural treasure from a whole new perspective, one that’s bright and vibrant and not mired in the medieval.

STAGE 10: ENNEZAT > LE MONT-DORE PUY DE SANCY

Radio

Chamalières, France

Hôtel Radio, in Chamalières, is best known for the Michelin-starred restaurant of the same name, but this boutique hotel is more than just a place to lay your head after dinner. Built in 1930, the Radio is all Art Deco glamour, from its wrought-iron arched doorway to the decorative mosaic floors. Guest rooms are simple and modern, furnished in a monochromatic palette with colorful accents; some have separate seating areas.

STAGE 11: TOULOUSE

Maison Soclo

Toulouse, France

Maison Soclo combines 18th-century Toulouse residential charm with 21st-century boutique-hotel style. The rooms are inspired by a French interpretation of British “cosiness,” which here means an orderly visual impression combined with unrefined, homespun textures and surfaces — plus teddy bears. Shiplap walls and half-moon porthole windows give the impression of being in a nautical-themed treehouse.

STAGE 14: PAU > LUCHON-SUPERBAGNÉRES

Hotel La voie Lactée

La Mongie, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France

Located in the village of La Mongie, this luxury boutique hotel is directly across from the ski lift and the cable car to the Pic du Midi observatory, offering staggering views of the mountains from the airy ground-level lounge, restaurant, bar, and all of its guest rooms. La Voie Lactée means “the Milky Way,” and rooms are named after astronomical features — galaxy, constellation, the Big Dipper — all viewable thanks to light pollution restrictions in the area.

STAGE 15: MURET > CARCASSONNE

Hôtel Le Parc – La Table de Franck Putelat

Carcassonne, France

Medieval Carcassonne, the birthplace of cassoulet and the Languedoc red wines that pair with it, is a foodie destination, so it stands to reason that several of its best hotels are attached to fine dining venues. Hôtel Le Parc was created as an elegant and practical addition to the celebrated La Table de Franck Putelat. Come for the creative tasting menus and relax afterward in one of the hotel’s ultra-chic rooms and suites.

STAGE 16: MONTPELLIER > MONT VENTOUX

Hotel Richer De Belleval

Montpellier, France

In the sun-drenched heart of Montpellier’s old town, Hôtel Richer de Belleval stands as a glorious collision of centuries. Once a 17th-century mansion, now a ravishing blend of ornamental classicism and modern whimsy, it’s a place where velvet boudoirs meet sculptural lamps, and history lingers in every carved detail. Celebrated dining, a contemporary art foundation, and views over Place de la Canourgue complete the transformation.

STAGE 17: BOLLÉNE > VALENCE

Le Clair de la Plume

Grignan, France

The village of Grignan, at the foot of a medieval castle, surrounded by fields of lavender, is emblematic of what makes the south of France special. With rooms and suites in several different buildings, and other sites devoted to the Michelin-starred restaurant, the garden and pool, and a lovely little boutique selling house-made pastries and local products, Le Clair de la Plume feels like it encompass the whole of the village.

STAGE 18: VIF > COURCHEVEL COL DE LA LOZE

Aman Le Melezin

Courchevel, France

There are several Courchevels, you see, each, until recently, named for its elevation, and the one known as 1850 is the highest, both figuratively (some call it the 21st Arrondissement) and literally. That’s where you’ll find Aman Le Mélézin, an exceedingly upscale and elegant European ski resort. The exterior sticks to a French Alpine chalet style, but the pared-down, high-minimalist, Asian-inspired look you’d expect from any Aman resort is on full display inside.

STAGE 20: NANTUA > PONTARLIER

La Maison d’à Côté

Pontarlier, France

On the French side of the border, midway between Basel and Geneva, is the mountain town of Pontarlier, home to much of France’s pastis and absinthe production, and to La Maison d’à Côté, a truly minuscule bed and breakfast featuring a mere two rooms, spanning the top floor of a 19th-century building in the town center. The décor is somewhat rustic and extremely eclectic, but always stylish and memorable.

STAGE 21: MANTES-LA-VILLE > PARIS CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

La Réserve Paris

Paris, France

La Réserve occupies a stately, subdued 19th-century Haussmannian structure that overlooks Square Marigny and, as best as we can tell, the official Tour de France finish line on the Champs-Élysées. That’s what you might see outside. Inside you’ll see exquisitely designed interiors by Jacques Garcia and rooms that are as lavish and palatial as they come in Paris, and equipped with every imaginable luxury, including individual butler service.