Cézanne

There’s more to choose from in the South of France than just the beach towns and the farmhouse inns. The charming Roman-era town of Aix-en-Provence is a perennial favorite, and it’s not hard to see why — it’s a picturesque city, with fine Mediterranean weather, a bit of culture, and a refreshing absence of the kind of ostentatious glamour that you’ll find further south. And in the middle of it all is a very fine boutique hotel, the remarkably urbane Hotel Cézanne.

Just as Cézanne, in his day, laid some of the foundations for modernist painting, the hotel that bears his name has one foot in traditional hospitality and one in the boutique-hotel world. The colors and textures of Provence are present throughout, but given a contemporary twist by the designer, Charles Montemarco. It’s a look that’s equally far from avant-garde design hotels as it is from antique-style traditional hotels.

Though it’s bigger than a bed-and-breakfast the Cézanne is minimal in terms of services. There’s a very fine buffet breakfast and the bar is open all day but there’s no lunch or dinner — this is the classic French way, which takes advantage of the fact that you’re never more than thirty seconds from at least one excellent restaurant.