‘One of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed in,’ say visitors. ‘Staff were particularly helpful. Food was excellent.’ This 19th-century mansion is decorated in sophisticated Provençal style, and has a much-praised garden: Cézanne sometimes painted Mont Ste-Victoire from here. There are rose bowers, fountains, ornamental ponds, and a terrace with a swimming pool surrounded by loungers. The chandeliered dining room, La Table du Pigonnet, is attractive, and on warm evenings guests dine under chestnut trees on its terrace; the menu specialises in Mediterranean regional flavours. There is also a lounge club, with cocktails, tapas and music, and a bar. Bedrooms are decorated in blues, beige and ochre, reflecting the sunny skies and brown earth of Provence. Some traffic noise, and the area, south of the historic centre (‘a brisk walk away’), is ‘slightly dull, with 1960s university buildings opposite’.