Best hotels in France

The front windows of this 1824 townhouse look straight across Place Boieldieu at the Opéra-Comique, close enough to read what's on tonight. Inside, it's toile de Jouy, oil portraits and an honesty bar that runs until midnight. Hotel and opera house share a name and a couple: Charles Favart, the playwright who ran the theatre opposite, and Justine, the actress he married. Their portraits hang in reception and their names mark the room doors. Beyond the square, the 2nd arrondissement's glass-roofed passages and grand department stores are all strollable in an afternoon, but the square itself stays quiet. Two centuries in, it still has the best seat in the house.

Named after Honoré de Balzac, a legendary 19th-century French novelist who died on this very street in 1850, this is a hotel steeped in history. Reopened in 2024 after a spectacular renovation, it's now a modern blend of cognac and camel tones, oak floors and marble mosaics laid from salvaged stone. Inside, you'll find a speakeasy bar with a lengthy list of cocktails named after Balzac's novels, a Japanese spa in the basement, and a discreet door through to the Pierre Gagnaire restaurant. Contemporary and cool, it's a refreshing respite from the opulence of the city.

Behind gates on the southern edge of Aix, this old bastide is wrapped in a garden of rose arcades, chestnut shade, fountains and chess tables, with a heated pool tucked under the branches. Cézanne came here to paint Mont Sainte-Victoire, and from the right spot you can still see what caught his eye. Serge Gainsbourg and Clint Eastwood have both signed the guest book, and the spa offers singing lessons alongside the massages (yes, really!). Central Aix, with its fountains, plane trees and unhurried lunches, is only a stroll away. The garden makes a strong case for staying put.

The J.K. family made their name in Florence and this former embassy is their first hotel outside Italy. Set on the the Rue de Lille, a serene, tree-lined avenue filled with ministries and antique dealers (and the Musée d'Orsay is a few doors along at number 62), the location is desirable and sophisticated - much like the rest of the hotel. Interiors are dressed in plum velvet, marble fireplaces and flea-market finds hauled back from Saint-Ouen, with plenty of black and white tiling and steel-framed windows for the contemporary touch. Downstairs is a marble lap pool, sauna and steam room, and restaurant Casa Tua does a cacio e pepe that ruins you for other versions.

Pale stone arcades, collonaded courtyards and a long terrace hanging over the Vieux Port: this vast 18th-century hospital is now the grandest hotel in Marseille. Designer Jean-Philippe Nuel has dressed the interiors in mineral greys and pale wood. Rooms face the water or Le Panier behind, and the best open onto private terraces with the gilded Madonna glinting on the hill opposite. Les Fenêtres runs from breakfast until late, Le Capian pours pastis above the boats, the Clarins spa hides in the old vaults, and after dark the façade lights up like a stage set. Nobody here is being subtle.