'Wonderfully located' in the Marais, this inexpensive, newly renovated hotel overlooks the lively Place du Marché-Ste-Catherine.

“Guests enjoy really personal service” at this small hotel run by Marco Baumann and his wife, Danielle Haeberlin.

“Delightful, “peaceful and idyllic”, say visitors to this long-time Guide favourite.

'Perfect location, perfect staff, perfect pool.' On a hill at the east end of the Promenade des Anglais, this popular hotel has stunning views over the Baie des Anges.

In the village of Neuville-St-Amand in Picardy is Claude and Sébastien Meiresonne”s 1900s handsome white manor house (Logis de France), owned by their family since 1970 and set in three hectares of grounds.

Below Mont Ventoux, in a tiny Provençal village perché, this smart hotel is much liked.

'A terrific place,' said a recent visitor. Gloriously positioned on a peninsula in a fishing port on the north Brittany coast, this handsome white 1900s hotel is decorated in 'contemporary balnéaire' style: polished floorboards, grey and honey panelled walls, wooden furniture, original wicker chairs, and colourful modern fabrics: 'the apogee of casual chic'.

Near St-Germain-des-Prés, this small, luxurious B&B hotel is in a 16th-century building facing the well-known outdoor market (which some rooms overlook) of the narrow rue de Buci.

This 'beautifully refurbished' old bastide is located within walking distance of the ancient fortified village of Reillanne.

'Still the best all-around value for money in Paris'.

A 12th-century turreted former priory has been sympathetically restored, and is now a B&B hotel located two minutes' walk from Amboise centre.

Set in a 17th-century former townhouse on a side street in the Marais, the rooms at Hotel de la Bretonnerie offer an equal mix of history and romance: although on the small side (typical for Paris), they all retain period features, such as exposed wooden beams, fabric wallcoverings and/or four-poster beds.

This 'agreeable' small hotel is located in a quiet street at the northwest end of Jardin du Luxembourg (two minutes' walk away) and near St-Sulpice and Montparnasse.

'Very smart' and 'beautifully situated' (on the Rhône, in a famous vineyard), the Humann-Donet family's hotel is 'still highly recommended.

This Lorraine town has a “mini-Versailles” of a château, worth visiting. And in a wooded park to the south, this handsome, turreted 19th-century mansion is now a luxurious hotel (Relais & Châteaux).

This unusual hotel is a clever conversion of medieval houses on the side of a cliff, by the ramparts of this fashionable hill village, inland from Nice.

Located just steps away from the Promenade des Anglais is this small, Belle Epoque boutique hotel, with charming and friendly staff.

Considering its location (just behind the Ritz, and a short walk to the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries etc) and its reputation for excellent service, the Mansart offers good value.

Jean-Marc Six was a sommelier in Lille when he won a million francs in a bottle-top collecting competition sponsored by Perrier.

A 17th-century Carthusian monastery is now this “serious hotel with a formal atmosphere” (Relais & Châteaux).

The town may be “ordinary”, but this hotel on the outskirts is “very attractive”, says a visitor. It stands quietly across a road from parkland along the banks of the small River Sèvre.

Formerly a Benedictine convent, this 'civilised' little Left Bank hotel underwent extensive renovations in 2011 and is now bright and modern, although traces of its past remain with original exposed beams in some of the rooms, and exposed pale stone walls in the lounge.

“Honfleur is a delight in its shabby but beautiful way, and L”Écrin fits in well,” says a visitor to this 18th-century manor house. It stands up a hill, in a garden dotted with statuary.

The setting of M. and Mme Boyère's modern hotel is 'splendid', say visitors to the lovely Rhuys peninsula. Others wrote of 'a spacious feel, a friendly patron'.

'A lovely discovery', by a regular Guide correspondent. Just outside this medieval village perché north of Orange, above the Rhône, it is only a kilometre from the A7, 'but it could be a world away'.

“A wonderful antidote to faceless mid-Atlantic hotels”, this beautiful Renaissance château stands in its own lovely park on the eastern edge of Alençon.

Near the famous château of this well-known wine town on the Vienne, this B&B is a delightful place to stay.

A restaurant-with-rooms (Logis de France) in a village north-west of Rennes, just off the main road to Brest.