The Best Hotels in Provence, France for Every Traveller

As the name implies, this is no ordinary hotel. Hard by the Popes’ Palace in Avignon, it’s a 17th-century villa set amid acres of greenery and pools darting with koi carp: the grandest private garden in the whole city. Five themed bedrooms range from Venice, lined with Venetian oil paintings and a pretty chandelier, to Aphrodite with a sensual round bed and terrace. The spa is a little oasis of wellness, with a sauna, hammam and rain shower as well as chromotherapy and reflexology treatments. Make sure to step outside the elegant confines of the hotel, hard though it may be; the owners run an equally characterful bar a short walk away.

Welcome to this romantic honey-stoned 19th-century villa, set back from the Rhône within Avignon’s old city walls. Its four rooms include the Romantic, with a delicate pink-and-white canopied bed, and the beautifully styled Art Deco, lined with period pieces. Sink into leather tub chairs with one of the many library books by the side of the stone fireplace, or venture out for dinner in one of Avignon’s nearby restaurants. But don’t eat too much: for breakfast, the hotel serves buttery croissants in the dining room or al fresco.

Here, near the Old Port in Marseille, is a feast for the eyes and your stomach: Mama Shelter specialises in bright, boxy, minimal rooms and in-your-face public spaces, all styled by Philippe Starck. Expect graffiti-chalked black ceilings, local slang on walls and table football in the open-plan bar-restaurant. You can share a baked camembert with candied garlic and tartufata before retreating to a cosy corner for a colourful cocktail to the tunes of a DJ set.

It’s named after the area’s limestone rocks and was built as a private home in 1887. The location couldn’t be better, on a headland between two beaches overlooking the Cap Canaille, in the small seaside town of Cassis. You’ve got the bluest of seas on your doorstep, and there are two outdoor pools as well as a restaurant dishing delicious Provençal artichoke. Rooms are rich in Art Deco details, with parquet floors as well as grey and white marble bathrooms. Straw beach hats are left for your use along with a beach tote you can take with you on your walk to the buzzy port, a 15-minute stroll away.

What a great Aix-en-Provence location this place enjoys, in the mansion-lined Mazarin Quarter. This inviting townhouse-turned spa hotel woos with its leafy garden and terraces, where you can breakfast steps from the charming, Baroque fountain-filled Place des Quatre-Dauphins. Original features include a monochrome-tiled hallway to a grandly curving stairway, and individually decorated rooms in soothing shades of taupe and cream, with Egyptian cotton sheets. Unwind with an indulgent massage or facial at the spa, dip in the indoor pool and detox in the sauna. When fully relaxed, take the hotel shuttle to the nearby beach or shopping centre.

A short walk from the port, in the heart of St Tropez village, is this romantic, mustard-coloured mansion, with 12 peaceful rooms full of colourful fabrics and dark wood floors. Some spaces come with four-poster beds, while other categories overlook the walled garden, with a turquoise-tiled pool and soaring palms. Make sure you dine on Provençal specialities such as bouillabaisse, against the backdrop of hand-painted wall murals featuring flowers and monkeys.

Channelling all the glamour of the French Riviera, this beachfront beauty on the Cap d’Antibes was the setting for F Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. All 42 individually designed rooms have a contemporary take on the hotel’s Art Deco past, and feature Hermès wallpaper as well as Nespresso machines. Superior rooms look out over the garden or the sea towards Port Gallice, while Deluxe and Panoramic rooms have balconies and dreamy sea views. Dine in style on fresh fish at La Passagère, the Michelin-star restaurant; come breakfast, there’ll be delicately sliced smoked salmon.