Hôtel-Restaurant des 2 Rocs

This whimsical, thirteen-room hotel, occupying a Provencal stone house, has a superb restaurant in an unspoiled backcountry setting.

• The historic Coquelicot room, lined with Napoleonic medals
• The bottles of the fruity house rosé, chilled in the icy mountain water of the village fountain
• The village's mini-museum with works by surrealist painter Max Ernst and his wife Dorothy Tanning, who lived in Seillans for twenty years

The pretty flower-lined village of Seillans, built on a rocky cliff, was once frequented by the likes of Queen Victoria and French photographer Robert Doisneau. Guests holed up at the only hideaway in town, the Hotel des 2 Rocs. Today, this artfully revamped country mansion is run by hotelier couple Julie and Nicolas Malzac, whose flair for interior design and attentive service adds to the unpretentious charm of this small hotel.

Each of the 13 spacious rooms, named after flowers, is individually designed, but all are decked out in warm Pierre Frey fabrics, handpicked antiques, traditional Provencal bedspreads, and bathrooms with black-and-white tile floors and claw foot tubs. Rooms on the upper floors (like the sunlit Mimosa, with high, open-beam ceilings) have sweeping vistas of the countryside.

In the warmer months, a copious buffet breakfast is laid out on a lovely stone square lined with plane trees, replete with a gurgling stone fountain. You'll also want to have tea in the cozy downstairs parlor, filled with an eye-catching jumble of family attic treasures, vintage photos and drawings. The hotel's restaurant dishes up reliably tasty local dishes with the best regional products, like homemade foie gras with figs, rack of lamb with garden vegetables and divine soft chocolate cake filled with warm runny caramel.

Travelers who seek a quiet village in the woodsy backcountry, and enjoy hiking, wandering about town and the romantic atmosphere of an authentic country inn.