Hotels

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Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle

Six years and many millions of dollars in the making, Les Airelles Château de Versailles Le Grand Contrôle was arguably the biggest hotel news of the decade when it opened in 2021. Not for its size. It features only 14 rooms and suites. Nor for its groundbreaking style. It is more of a faithful restoration of an 18th-century building than a style statement. (Its French architects, artisans and designers vetted almost every detail with the historians of Versailles to ensure period accuracy.) The “wow” here is that the hotel is located in an original building on the grounds of Versailles; the hotel makes history by making history immersive.

Liveried footmen greet you at the towering arched doorway to usher you across a courtyard of potted palms and orange trees into a hall decorated with royal portraits, gilt mirrors, antique desks and Sevres porcelain. (Ninety percent of the furniture is 18th-century antiques.) Guest rooms are swathed in Pierre Frey fabrics that are printed with historical patterns sourced from the palace archives, and have been updated with modern comforts like minibars tucked into armoires and large bathrooms with claw-footed tubs—though televisions are absent. Nowhere are the cookie-cutter marble bathrooms of most modern five-star hotels; the aesthetic remains authentic 18th-century.

A few hours after checking in, each guest at Le Grand Contrôle can enter the private apartments of Versailles (the King’s or Queen’s) after the monument has closed. For two hours, a curator leads an exploration of the Palace of Versailles. We visited the newly restored royal chapel, the King’s apartments and the Hall of Mirrors, which is included with every booking. After touring the family chapel and bedrooms, peeking into the King’s private library and locked desk and returning via the 2,000-acre gardens and its famous Orangerie, which contains trees descended from Louis XIV’s original grove, it was impossible not to feel dropped into a fairy-tale evening. And it continued with a five-course Alain Ducasse dinner on the garden-facing terrace, heralded by trumpets and delivered by waiters in brocade uniforms.

When women in bustled silk gowns came to invite us to a game of whist after dinner, for an instant I did think it a tad Disneyesque; but I quickly fell back under the spell of the moment. Harpsichord music played under the stars as we retired to a candlelit salon for tea and a crash course in whist. Experiential luxury has become a travel buzzword, with many hotels tacking on special experiences, but this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime privilege. No Instagram photo can capture staying in the grand scale or stupendous beauty of the Sun King’s vision for a full 24 hours. Because after sleeping in hallowed halls, a French breakfast in all its fanfare of pastries, fresh fruit and warm dishes is served on the terrace or grand dining room, and another visit follows—either to the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon or the Hameau de la Reine before they open to the public. One can walk, or ride a bike or a golf cart, to the monument of the morning, allowing for true appreciation of the massive scope of Louis XIV’s ambition. There is also an excellent Valmont Spa for some self-pampering. And at an additional cost, guests can choose from multiple, only-at-Versailles private experiences: a visit to see the collection of the palace’s Central Library; a Marie Antoinette dress-up session and photo-shoot, with costumes from the series Versailles; a dinner in the former apartments of Louis XIV’s daughters, a tour of the Queen’s vegetable garden followed by a cooking class; an entire Marie Antoinette day, beginning with a Queen’s Ritual wake-up; an aerial tour over the palace.

The real magic of Le Grand Contrôle, of course, is that it puts history and its fashioners within reach. It offers an experience so immersive that it allows you to imagine a conversation with a king across centuries.