Kerbel Lighthouse - France's Only Lighthouse Where You Can Stay at the Top

Few hotel check-ins require climbing 126 granite steps to reach your bedroom. By the time you've huffed and puffed your way to the top of the Kerbel Lighthouse in Brittany, you've earned the right to collapse onto that bed and stare out at what might be the most spectacular view in France.

This isn't your typical hotel experience. Built in 1913 to guide ships safely into Lorient harbor, the Kerbel Lighthouse (in French: Phare de Kerbel) stopped its maritime duties in 1989 and sat empty for years until Daniel Jégat had what can only be described as a magnificent obsession. In 2003, he bought the abandoned lighthouse and embarked on an engineering project that would make most people run screaming: converting the top into a livable space.

The transformation required a 180-ton crane to remove the original 6-ton concrete lantern, replacing it with a glass-walled studio that now serves as the only lighthouse accommodation in France where you can actually sleep at the top. The result is a 200-square-foot space perched 82 feet above the sea, offering a 360-degree view that stretches from Belle-Île to Groix Island.

The current owners, the Bergeron family, took over in 2018 and continue to maintain this labor of love. They seem to understand that they're not just running a hotel - they're the custodians of something genuinely unique in a world increasingly full of manufactured experiences.

Getting there is half the adventure. The spiral staircase winds up through the lighthouse's stone interior, past walls that once echoed with the footsteps of Honorine Le Guen, the lighthouse keeper who tended the petroleum vapor light for nearly five decades. She was reportedly the first woman in France to operate such a system, climbing these same steps daily with heavy fuel canisters until the light was electrified in 1932.

At the top, visitors encounter Jégat's most ingenious creation: a movable floor that serves as both entrance and isolation chamber.

When raised, it seals off the studio from the world below, creating what feels like a ship's cabin suspended in the sky.

The space is equipped with everything you'd need for a romantic getaway or solo retreat - a kitchen, bathroom, bed, and heating system - all designed with the compact efficiency of a yacht.

The views are, frankly, absurd.

From the circular balcony, you can watch fishing boats navigate the "little sea" of Gâvres, observe the tides reveal mudflats dotted with shellfish gatherers, and witness sunsets that paint the entire horizon in shades of amber and rose.

The lighthouse sits on the Brittany coast near Riantec, about 20 minutes from Lorient. It's become something of a pilgrimage site for travelers seeking genuinely unique accommodations, booking solid throughout the year.

But the lighthouse isn't just about that sky-high studio. The property includes the former lighthouse keeper's house, which has been converted into more conventional accommodations, and what's called the "oil room" - a quirky space with direct access to the garden and heated pool.

Perhaps most charmingly, the original lighthouse lantern has been preserved and converted into a sauna, because apparently every fairy tale needs a slightly surreal twist.