In the old town, between the Dominican church and the Unterlinden museum, this ornate mansion (1609), newly owned by Marilyn and Eric Girardin, is decorated with 100 sculpted têtes (heads). A restaurant since 1898, it now has guest accommodation. “Our rooms were spacious, comfortable, with very nice bathroom,” said one reader. “An excellent meal”: in the pale-panelled dining room lit by chandeliers, the carte offers classic fare, eg, pan-fried pike perch with crunchy sauerkraut & smoked bacon; roast duck breast with carrots confit in ginger and honey. Breakfast, in the lovely courtyard with Virginia creeper, is “superb”, and includes cheeses and hams. Some bedrooms have beams and sloping ceiling. The largest rooms are in an extension. Colmar has dull suburbs, but in its centre are many medieval and Renaissance buildings.