In the Landes, between the Pyrenean foothills and the Atlantic, a thermal village named for Empress Eugénie shelters one of France's most storied culinary addresses. Michel Guérard and his wife Christine founded Les Prés d'Eugénie here in 1974, turning a hamlet into a gastronomic landmark. A founding father of Nouvelle Cuisine and inventor of cuisine minceur, Guérard proved refinement and lightness could share a plate. The eight-hectare estate unfolds across five historic buildings set among rose gardens, water gardens, a kitchen garden, and boxwood labyrinths. Forty-five rooms and suites are each furnished with antiques, French paintings, and fruitwood tiles; select suites add canopy beds, fireplaces, and marble baths opening onto hidden gardens. A Palace de France since 2017 and Relais & Châteaux member since 1968, it is the Landes' only palace. Guérard passed away in August 2024; daughters Adeline and Eléonore now lead alongside Head Chef Hugo Souchet.
Three restaurants hold four Michelin stars combined. Restaurant Michel Guérard has carried three without interruption since 1977. Souchet cooks in the Empress's wood-panelled apartments with a naturalist touch, Chalosse lamb, Adour fish, garden vegetables — honouring Guérard's DNA while steering forward. L'Orangerie, one star since 2025, grills over an open hearth and revisits classics through a "Terroir Sublime" menu. La Ferme aux Grives serves southwestern comfort by the fireplace. At the garden's edge, La Ferme Thermale fills an eighteenth-century farmhouse: a thousand square meters of spa fed by two ancient springs, with kaolin baths, botanical wraps, and warm mud treatments alongside Sisley products. A living chapter of French culinary history where every rose, plate, and pool of spring water says the same thing: slow down and live well.
