France's long curving Mediterranean coastline west of Marseille gives you untamed landscapes, lagoons and wildlife, and a laid-back accessible beachy scene. The smartest place to stay on the accessible sandy section from Sete to Port Camargue is welcoming and bright Plage Palace, just outside the resort town of Palavas-les-Flots, locally referred to as 'Montpellier Plage', given its close proximity to this handsome regional town.
The hotel's 72 white and uncluttered rooms and suites all come with spacious private terraces, and most have Med views too. Interiors hit just the right note on the scale of luxury to simplicity, with modernist design credentials lightly worn. There's a sparkling heated swimming pool, and another one with whirlpool jets in the magnificent spa. You get a private section of this beautiful beach with white umbrella-shaded daybeds from which you can order cocktails and light bites, and the restaurant itself has a sea-facing terrace and a French-meets-international gourmet menu. If eating and drinking, beach time and spa time don't fill your days sufficiently, head to the Petite Camargue for sweeping scenery and wild animals, cycle or walk along the lagoons and dunes behind the hotel. And away from the coast Languedoc's bucolic countryside gives you picturesque villages and vineyards producing superb vintages.