traveldk.com

Built in the 19th century, this chateau belonged to a prominent Arles family. Service standards and cuisine rate highly, and the rooms in the castle, the former chapel and adjoining converted farmhouses are very comfortable.

This pink-and-white confection with its fairy-tale turrets and splendid, ornately painted interior, silk-covered walls and rooms full of antiques was the 19th-century home of a Russian prince. It stands within a park full of palms and decorative trees.

This palatial hotel in manicured grounds standing on a hilltop site with views of the medieval village and the countryside is one of the most impressive places to stay in Provence. Superb service and excellent food.

Listed as an historic monument, this chateau is surrounded by beautiful gardens. Facilities include a pool and mini-golf course (see Allemagne en Provence).

This offshore island fortress was built in the 16th century to protect the city’s port and was turned into a prison in 1580. Among its inmates were the real Comte de Mirabeau, and the fictional Count of Monte Cristo, the antihero of Alexander Dumas’ novel of the same name (see Alexandre Dumas). The fortress is accessible by ferry from the Vieux Port.

A wonderful collection of medieval buildings now converted into a hotel. Rooms a luxuriously decorated with Oriental rugs and marble bathrooms.

The chateau has lovely grounds and first-rate Mont Ventoux wines.

If the stunning underground winery resembles a cathedral, it’s not coincidental. The site has had spiritual associations since the Greeks worshipped here in the 4th century BC. The owners aim to harmonize with this past, even programming cultivation by the phases of the moon. The wines, however, are anything but eccentric.

The chateau’s Côtes-de-Provence wines have improved tremendously in recent times. Its Cuvée Prieuré has the class to age for 15 years or more, which makes it more than worthy of its historic surroundings. The superb chateau and grounds host summer concerts.

Built as a Grimaldi fortress in 1309, this castle’s battlements dominate the landscape of Hautde-Cagnes. Inside the walls, however, is a wonderful surprise: a sumptuous palace, built in 1620 by Jean Henri Grimaldi. Today it houses a clutch of museums and art collections including a museum of modern Mediterranean art, a museum dedicated to the olive tree, and a collection of portraits of the renowned 1930s chanteuse , Suzy Solidor.