Les Remparts

In the first lines of his final novel, The Garden of Eden, Ernest Hemingway describes the natural beauty and lively port of Aigues-Mortes. This city in the south of France, with its charming medieval historic center, remains much the same as it was, but Hemingway’s characters never saw anything quite like the Boutique Hôtel des Remparts.

Opened in 2018, it’s a restored military barracks, its quiet guest rooms individually decorated, with exposed stone walls and freestanding tubs in the bedrooms. Some rooms have stately fireplaces and views of the 13th-century Tower of Constance or the historic ramparts after which the hotel is named; all are livened by bold, colorful accents and stylish contemporary chairs, desks, and fixtures, and supplied with all the comforts of a 21st-century luxury boutique hotel.

Wherever you go, you’re surrounded by sturdy old military-grade stone walls, whose heaviness is balanced by light and colorful modern furniture. Among the most striking are the indoor pool and spa, the latter by Eclae, whose products make use of the local Camargue pink salts, as well as the cocktail bar, its comfortable indoor lounge space, marked by high windows and stone arches, opening onto a panoramic terrace.