La Cheneaudière – ten rooms in 1974, now Alsace's only Two Keys

In the Bruche Valley, between Strasbourg and Colmar, a plot the François family once called the Meadow of the Young Oaks gave La Cheneaudière both its setting and, in time, its name. The house opened in July 1974 with just ten rooms and, within six months, had joined Relais & Châteaux, a membership it has held ever since 1975. Still run by the same family, today under owner Nicolas Decker, it has grown into a 45-room five-star address without losing the independent, countryside character that drew its first guests. In October 2025 the MICHELIN Guide awarded it Two Keys, the only hotel in Alsace to hold the distinction among 38 French two-Key addresses that year, a ranking it kept when the 2026 selection was unveiled in September. Its gastronomic restaurant, Le Feuillage, under chef Jean-Paul Acker, carries one MICHELIN star, renewed again for 2026.

01The house

Arlette and Marcel François built on the meadow in 1970, and by July 1974 they and their daughters Mireille and Fabienne were welcoming the first guests into ten rooms; the house was admitted to Relais & Châteaux six months later. An extra wing with eighteen rooms followed in 1978, an indoor pool, sauna and hot tub in 1990, and in 2004 Mireille François handed the house to her son, Nicolas Decker, still its owner today. The 2010s brought a panoramic lift with a planted green wall, a rebuilt kitchen, and the long construction of what is now a three-floor spa; the hotel earned its fifth star in October 2017. A Villa François, grouping five connecting suites, opened in 2021, and the house marked its fiftieth anniversary on 1 July 2024.

That trajectory is exactly what the MICHELIN Guide singles out: a modest 1970s family business that has evolved into an elegant destination devoted to wellbeing, its name a nod to the oak trees still standing on the property, ringed by the mountains of the Vosges. The transformation was formally recognised in October 2025, when inspectors gave it Two Keys — the only hotel in Alsace to receive the honour that year — a status the house retained when the 2026 list was announced the following September.

02Rooms and suites

The 45 rooms and suites are spread across double-room categories named for the landscape around them — Les Forêts, Les Villages, Les Montagnes and Les Jardins — through to Junior Suites and panoramic Top Suites. MICHELIN's own description notes timbered, forest-facing rooms alongside more opulent suites with fireplaces and private open-air jacuzzis, while its text on the house points to cosy interiors in blues, greens and midnight black, echoing the surrounding forest and the Vosges.

Insider tip

Book Le Feuillage when you book the room; only 30 covers served each evening.

For longer stays or families, five connecting suites named Baptiste, Lucie, Mireille, Marcel and Arlette can be booked together as the private Villa François.

03Where to eat

Chef Jean-Paul Acker, born in Colmar in September 1992, first joined La Cheneaudière's kitchens as a commis in July 2011 at eighteen, working under chefs Roger Bouhassoun and Daniel Stein for seven years before leaving for Provence, where he spent three years as sous-chef to Glenn Viel at the Oustau de Baumanière as the house earned its third MICHELIN star. He returned to Colroy-la-Roche in spring 2021 to take over the kitchens himself, and in 2025 earned Le Feuillage its first MICHELIN star, a distinction renewed for 2026 alongside two Gault & Millau toques and the magazine's 'Grand de Demain' award.

The seasonal menu, offered as 'Dégustation' or 'Potager', runs to dishes such as Oscietra caviar with green beans and a lobster vinaigrette, and veal served two ways, rosé with seaweed and confit with savory. Service is limited to thirty covers a night, dinner runs from 7.15pm to 9pm, and the room is closed at lunchtime; men are asked to wear long trousers and closed shoes. A new 'Table Expérience' offers one table a night a kitchen visit and a caviar tasting with the chef, built around what the house calls an almost hypnotic sense of relaxation. For a simpler register, classic French restaurant Le Chêne shares the building and puts the hotel on the map for gastronomes in its own right.

04The bar

Le Calixte, the hotel's cosy bar, sits at the centre of the house with a pool table, armchairs and a list of rare spirits, signature cocktails, local craft beers and homemade fruit juices — a relaxed counterpoint to dinner at Le Feuillage, and a natural stop for guests drifting back from the spa in their bathrobes.

05Spa and wellbeing

The Nature-Spa spreads over 2,500 m² across three levels, built around four swimming pools, five saunas, a large hammam-tepidarium and what the house describes as the largest flotarium in Europe, a pool loaded with Epsom salt for solo or shared floating. The outdoor stainless-steel pool and a natural biotope pool, filtered by plants from the surrounding mountains and open only from April to October, sit alongside a Nordic bath, whirlpools, sensation showers and an ice fountain. Three treatment suites are themed on meadow, forest and mountain, with body care built around organic products.

06The neighbourhood

Colroy-la-Roche sits at around 500 metres, at the foot of the Champ du Feu, in the Bruche Valley on the border of Alsace and the Vosges. The village centre is a five-minute walk from the hotel, and the ruined Château de la Roche lies 2.6 km away. By road, Sélestat is 19 miles, Obernai 23.5 miles, the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle 22 miles, Colmar 31 miles and Strasbourg 38.5 miles — close enough for a day on the Alsace Wine Route, far enough to feel like deep countryside.

07Making the most of a stay

Book dinner at Le Feuillage when you book the room: with only thirty covers a night, tables go quickly, and the kitchen closes for lunch altogether. In October 2026 the house was offering a two-day, one-night autumn package with dinner, breakfast and spa access from €347.50 per person. Access to the main Nature-Spa areas is reserved for guests aged fifteen and over, with a separate family pool for younger children accompanied by an adult — worth knowing before planning a trip with a young family.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.