Two of Amboise's most storied addresses are being stitched together into one estate. Relais d'Amboise, opening in late September 2026, merges Le Choiseul and Le Manoir des Minimes into a single property on the banks of the Loire, directly beneath the Royal Château of Amboise. It's the second Loire project from Frédéric Jousset, the entrepreneur behind Relais de Chambord, funded through his Artnova investment vehicle, which backs cultural heritage restoration.

The estate runs along Quai Charles Guinot and makes full use of what makes this stretch of the Loire unusual: former noble residences, terraced gardens, riverside lookouts, and troglodyte caves hollowed out of the local limestone. Those caves aren't just a curiosity here. Four of the 63 rooms and suites are carved into the rock, and the spa occupies old galleries cut into tuffeau stone, now fitted with a sauna, cold bath, steam room, sensory shower and a heated outdoor pool, plus a yoga platform looking over the river. Rooms that stay above ground come with views to match — either facing the Loire or framing the château and Amboise's Renaissance skyline.

The design lineup is heavyweight. Paris firm LBBA handled the architecture and the main public areas, including the Le Choiseul restaurant and a rooftop bar called Le Turner. Interiors come from Fabien Roque of Roque Intérieurs, working in soft colours and natural materials, with artistic direction from Joséphine Fossey. A Bernar Venet exhibition is planned as a site-specific opening event, staged with the Château du Clos Lucé and the Royal Château.

What sets the place apart from a standard luxury hotel is how much of it is given over to culture. Three restored cave galleries — Les Greniers de César — will host rotating art exhibitions, private dinners and events, with a second gallery turned into an interactive leisure space and a third reserved for Loire wine tastings. The location helps: the hotel sits a short walk from Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci's final home, in the middle of one of France's most historically loaded towns.

For travellers, this is a genuinely new reason to base yourself in Amboise rather than day-tripping from Tours or Paris. The Loire Valley has plenty of château-hotel options, but few combine riverside rooms, cave spas and an on-site art programme in a walkable town centre. Expect it to book up quickly around the 2026 opening, especially for the rock-carved suites.

First reported by Sleeper Magazine.