Between the Place des Vosges and the Place de la Bastille, a short walk from the Marais, stands this 'quirky' small hotel.

South-west of Pau, in a tiny village on the edge of the Pays Basque, this old inn has been turned into a restaurant-with-rooms by owner/chef Pierre Chilo and his wife Martine.

In a village near Clermont-l'Hérault is this delightful small hotel, run since June 2014 by welcoming hosts Sonia and Sylvain Geindreau.

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'.

In a hamlet near Aire-sur-la-Lys, this graceful 19th-century mansion has been lovingly turned by its Belgian owner, Sir Francis Van der Elst, into a welcoming B&B with table d'hôte.

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

“It keeps on improving” according to a visitor returning to the Larain family”s glamorous hotel (Relais & Châteaux), on the banks of the Yonne.

“A truly delightful place. The garden and park provide pleasure from every point,” says a visitor: in 1976, this 18th-century château, a historic monument in a large park near Bayeux, was turned into an elegant hotel (Relais & Châteaux); extensive renovations were completed in March 2016.

“Our visit could not have been more enjoyable,” says a regular Guide correspondent, returning to Pierre and Isabelle Bertranet”s 16th-century mill house, now an elegant small hotel.

Set in a 200-year-old building in the pedestrianized centre of Lille (a ten minute walk from the Gare de Europe), Hotel de la Paix is a “friendly, efficient no-frills” B&B hotel with an art nouveau vibe; despite its location it is quiet, with soundproofed rooms.

Just west of the western gate of the “amazingly picturesque”, tiny home town of Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley, is this former 18th-century relais de poste, now Gilles de Crick”s restaurant-with-rooms.

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

Set in a farmhouse dating from 1789 in the ski resort of La Clusaz, Le Vieux Chalet is 'a very small but perfectly located and charmingly decorated hotel', according to recent visitors.

'Outstanding value, nearly perfect in its class.' Ever popular, this quirky little hotel is off the beaten track, in an 'amazingly quiet' square near the Porte d'Orléans.

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

Between woodlands and vineyards on a Burgundy hillside, this holiday hotel stands on a minor road, below an old Neolithic settlement.

On the edge of this historic town stands new owner Justin Giustianini's substantial half-timbered inn. It is on a dull main road, but bedrooms (in Louis XVI to Louis-Philippe style) face a quiet rear garden which has a dining terrace.

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.

With the impressive castle of Haut-Koenigsbourg on the horizon and visible from some bedrooms, this modernised, but traditionally styled Alsatian auberge (Logis de France) is run by owner/chef Jean-Luc Dumoulin and his wife, Francesca.

On the edge of a pine forest, near the southern tip of the Médoc peninsula, “Soulac is a proper little seaside town”, and l”Amélie is a “sort of suburb”.

Beneath the white and turreted château built by Louis X, home of the French Cavalry Academy since 1763, is Jean-René and Mary Lyn Camus”s stylish hotel, an 18th-century listed building overlooking the Loire.

The “very good food” and “warm welcome” continue to impress visitors to this “Flemish country inn” (Logis de France), where Philippe and Bea Dubreucq have presided for 40 years.

Run by the Marolleau family, this well-restored 18th-century building is in a narrow street, full of cheap restaurants, near St-Germain-des-Prés.

In a pretty village between Nîmes and Montpellier is this renovated, creeper-covered, old farmhouse, run by Alain Foubert.

In this small seaside resort, close to busy Boulogne, father-and-son Alain and Benjamin Delpierre”s “excellent” Art Deco-fronted hotel stands on the pedestrianised promenade on to which some of the sea-facing bedrooms lead.

“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.

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”).

'Splendidly located' on the quayside and facing south over the Vieux Port is this modern seven-storey B&B hotel.

Owner/chef Michel Philippe has long had a Michelin star for his cooking which “combines terroir and inventiveness”. His Relais & Chateaux property stands amid pine woods and hilly meadows, just outside this lake resort.