The best beach hotels in France

“Seven days of great comfort in a superb location” were enjoyed at the Cesne family”s holiday hotel in a pieds dans l”eau position on the Cotentin peninsula, south of Cherbourg.

The Île de Ré, offshore from La Rochelle, is a popular bolthole for wealthy Parisians. It has miles of glorious sandy beaches, an interior of pine forests and vineyards, and plenty of charm (planning regulations forbid unsightly hoardings and oversized buildings).

Facing the sea, near the spectacular bridge which links Oléron to the mainland, this white-fronted property is in a village in the south-east of the island. 

This fin-de-siècle villa is a former home of the parfumier Pierre Guerlain. “Winningly eccentric”, it has a “pieds-dans-l”eau position” on the north side of the Somme estuary (excellent birdwatching and “very special, pearly light”). 

In sumptuous gardens high above the sea, this small luxury hotel has superb views across the Gulf of Valinco.

Built as a private villa in the early 20th century and “tastefully extended” in the 1960s, this hotel on the north Brittany coast “stands dramatically above pink granite rocks that lead to the sea”s edge, which one can scramble down to”, according to a visitor.

‘An idyllic luxury hotel in the Camargue”, this neat whitewashed mas is isolated by a lagoon just north of the Camargue”s little seaside capital.