Honfleur, Normandy, France
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If you are planning to visit the Normandy Impressionist Festival, which runs throughout Normandy until 27 September 2026, one essential stop is the pretty port town of Honfleur. The narrow cobbled streets, timber-framed houses, changing light and waterfront inspired generations of artists, including the Impressionist painters. Today, the town is popular for its galleries, seafood restaurants and cafés. It’s also the site of “Fog Tree #07031, Honfleur” a mesmerising art installation in the Garden of Personalities by Japanese environmental artist Fujiko Nakaya. The work not only cools down visitors with its fine spray but is an invitation to slow down and engage in immersive contemplation. Also in Honfleur, at the Musée Eugène Boudin, as part of the festival, is “Soleil rose, orange, rouge” by French artist Julien des Monstiers. The show offers a contemporary take on the local landscapes that inspired Monet with richly textured paintings that explore light, color and the boundary between abstraction and figuration. If you stay at La Ferme Saint-Siméon, it’s an easy walk downhill into central Honfleur, and the museum.
Where The Impressionists Came To Paint
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
Both artists, Fujiko Nakaya and Julien des Monstiers, conceived their work during a residency at La Ferme Saint-Siméon, the historic inn where Monet, Courbet, Sisley, Corot and Boudin once stayed. The Normandy Impressionist Festival 2026 marks the centenary of Monet’s death so this hotel, where he created work, seems like an appropriate place for a festival residency. Monet painted the road and buildings around the farm during his stays in Honfleur, including “Walk (Road of the Farm Saint-Siméon)” in 1864. And Boudin’s 1867 watercolor “At the Saint-Siméon Farm” actually depicts Monet and painters Johan Barthold Jongkind, Émile van Marcke and Jean Achard gathered around a table at the inn.
A Hotel With An Artistic Past
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
As the name suggests, La Ferme Saint-Siméon was once a farm. The property dates back to the 17th century and in 1825, the Toutain family turned it into a farm inn, run by the ebullient Mère Toutain, whose hearty Norman cooking and warm hospitality soon made the inn a gathering place for artists and writers. The artists often paid for their room and board with paintings although none by the big names in Impressionism are still on display. Today, the hotel does feature paintings by artists of the Honfleur School, including Cals and Dubourg, hanging in the dining rooms. Made at La Ferme Saint-Siméon, the works are now part of the current owners’ (Boelen family) collection.
Guestroom at La Ferme Saint-Siméon
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
Today, La Ferme Saint-Siméon is a five-star luxury Relais & Châteaux hotel with 35 rooms, a private spa, seven hectares of gardens and two restaurants. It celebrated its 200th anniversary as an inn in 2025. The interiors draw on the property’s Norman roots, pairing original timber details and woodwork with antique pieces, refined textiles and a restrained palette of natural shades. Each room has its own character, with features ranging from fireplaces and parquet flooring to views over the Seine estuary and surrounding orchards.
Wellness With A View
The spa at La Ferme Saint-Siméon
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
A special feature is the private spa set in a lovely walled garden. The Spa Potager is tucked into the hotel’s former kitchen garden and occupies a space once used as a painter’s studio. Guests can use the sauna, with its views across the Seine estuary, a hammam and an outdoor hot tub overlooking the vegetable garden. Treatments feature Maison Caulières products made with natural oils, including flax cultivated on the property, giving the spa a strong connection to the surrounding landscape and the hotel’s artistic past.
Dine In The Impressionists’ Footsteps
Les Impressionnistes at La Ferme Saint-Siméon
La Ferme Saint-Siméon
The town center of Honfleur is close by, where there are plenty of dining choices but the hotel itself has two excellent options. Les Impressionistes is the more sophisticated restaurant, where chef Matthieu Pouleur uses seasonal ingredients from Normandy, with an emphasis on seafood and local produce. La Boucane offers a more informal experience in a 17th-century building, serving unfussy dishes inspired by Normandy’s coastal larder.
Rooms at La Ferme Saint-Siméon, 20 rue Adolphe Marais, 14600 Honfleur, France start from €264 per night for a Classic Room.