'Such a wonderful building; good value,' says a visitor about Françoise and Gérard Nicolas's 18th-century house, elegantly renovated in period style.

“Delightfully located”, outside Challes thermal station, is this superb 15th-century castle, renovated by the Trèves family owners.

A reader whose flight was cancelled due to a strike was consoled by the discovery of this small hotel in a quiet, narrow street in the old city.

Near the Roman theatre, at the foot of St-Eutrope hill is this 17th-century coaching inn, now a pink and green-shuttered two-star B&B with 'welcoming' owner/manager, Alain Bennejean

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

Returning to Pierre and Gisèle Lafortune's hotel, a former 17th-century convent near St-Sulpice, a visitor wrote: 'Expensive, but worth every euro. The people are charming.'

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 fin-de-siècle villa is a former home of the parfumier Pierre Guerlain. “Winningly eccentric”, it has a “pieds-dans-l”eau position” on the north side of the Somme estuary (excellent birdwatching and “very special, pearly light”).

In a 'delightful location' near Vacqueyras, at the head of a wooded ravine below the rocky Dentelles de Montmirail, this 19th-century building was once a spa centre.

In two buildings, separated by a garden with a swimming pool, is M. and Mme Grasset's 'relatively modern' Logis de France, popular with golfers.

In a shady garden on the edge of this Rhône valley town, this famous restaurant-with-rooms (Relais & Châteaux) was founded by Sophie Pic almost a century ago.

In the rolling hills of the Lot, this 19th-century manor house, approached by a long and narrow country road, has been turned by Abel and Anna Congratel into a chambres d”hôtes.

On a rocky spur of the south Brittany coast, this luxurious hotel (Relais & Châteaux) is owned by Bertrand Jaquet.

Easily accessible from the A7 Autoroute du Soleil, and just 24 kilometres from Montélimar (which has a TGV station), the Delaitre family's 'exquisite' ivy-covered, ochre-walled auberge is in a Rhône valley village perchéknown for its glazed pottery.

'A beautiful hotel,' one reader wrote. Built of local pink granite, this 19th-century Breton manor house (Relais & Châteaux) stands on a wooded headland on the edge of this popular resort.

'Superbly restored' by owners Jean-Yves and Christine Marivin, and with 'furnishings tastefully selected to create an authentic contemporary ambience', this stone-built manor house was found 'delightful' by regular Guide correspondents: 'Our welcome could not have been warmer.'

'A lovely hotel'. The owner/managers, Anne and Xavier Olivereau, are the fourth generation of the family to run this handsome pepperpotted Second Empire mansion, set amid woods and lawns in a park.

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

Near the centre of a quiet village, and close to the télésiège which serves the ski areas of Les Saisies and L'Espace Diamant, Anne-Christine and Frédéric Boulanger have since 2003 run their alpine hotel/restaurant.

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

In the painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze”s birthplace, and overlooked by the bell tower of the Romanesque abbey of St-Philibert, is this Renaissance “Bressane” building restored as an elegant, luxurious hotel.

For over 150 years, five generations of Papillons have owned and run this former relais de poste. It stands by a humpbacked medieval bridge in an old village on the River Dourbie, in the western Cévennes.

“You can tick all the “Good Hotel” boxes for this one,” say the nominators of this “beautiful house, away from traffic on the edge of a spectacular village”.

A long-time Guide favourite, the Chazal family's 'seriously good' small hotel/restaurant is on the main street of a pleasant market town in the Auvergne.

Near the Spanish border, in the remote Aldudes valley, this village is a key Basque folklore centre. Here, Pascal and Christine Arcé”s “beautiful country hotel”, by a trout river, is much admired.

In this famous medieval wine town, surrounded by vineyards, is this popular B&B hotel. “Staff were helpful, breakfast was good,” is one visitor comment.

'Full of character, delightfully decorated and a haven of peace': this 18th-century mansion is in a side street off Boulevard St-Germain.

“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.

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