Romantic Luxury Hotels - a Luxury Explorer guide

Villa Marie is the greatest addition to St. Tropez-luxe accommodation for a very long time. Half a mile outside town and overlooking the famous Pampelone beaches, this petit-luxe gem exuberates all the x-factors of St Tropez without being in the thick of it. Its design is modern Moorish with high-Provencal elegance and Florentine finishes. The gardens are lush and lively and the surrounding vines and pine forests make a very picturesque setting. The dining terrace overlooking the pines and the stunning, mint-green pool, with mega-yacht-dotted sea beyond is unsurpassed.

Villa Gallici in Aix-en-Provence is one of the most endearing, enchanting and embracing hotels you will find anywhere, let alone in this wonderful spa town with its opera festivals, galleries, shops, museums and alluring old town shaded by the plane trees on Cours Mirabeau. Chic Boutique or Petit Luxe? It's charme, charme, and charmant. Boudoir, boudoir de plus en plus, petit salon, Chelsea chic, Nobolis. It has a Provencal-Florentine-style with beautiful gardens enclosing a magical private universe. The warm and wonderful staff have no airs and graces. It's discreet, cosseting, homely and almost decadent in its appeal; but there is also a citrus freshness that lingers, creating vibrancy that is fairly unique to this part of the world.

Park Lane is special. Who doesn't compete for this coveted real estate on the Monopoly board and build a hotel there as soon as possible? Landing here is not cheap, but then where else do you stay overlooking the most prestigious park in London surrounded with elegant style and 'on-the-button' service? Where else has a luxurious meeting and seating promenade the length of Nelson's column? This is a grand affair but, today, it is also surprisingly trendy. The Dorchester is pulling in traditional grandiose as well as some rather hip trendsetters. Perhaps the coolest place in town?

Staying in luxury while maintaining the unique spirit of an island such as this is often a hard task, though The Oberoi has achieved this with exemplary skill. The resort is located in 20 acres of beautiful sub-tropical gardens with a 600-metre oceanfront. All the 72 glorious, authentically thatched Terrace Pavilion Rooms have enormous four-poster beds, sunken marble baths and exotic views of the ocean. They are decorated in subtle tones allowing nature to steal the show, though the ebony sculptures and headboards woven from sugarcane leaf do not go unnoticed. The hotel Villas have their own lush garden and a dining gazebo overlooking a private pool. However, some may opt for views of God's pool. The food here is exceptional using local ingredients to create mouthwatering Indo-Creole dishes as well as simple Mediterranean fare.

If, as a child, you were to drift into a fantasy world, as most of us have, and imagine owning an enormously grand stately home, with acres of bedrooms, lavishly decorated with smiling staff attending to the drapes and spreads; rooms on the ground floor filled with chandeliers and exotic guests then, apart from adjusting this dream with a grown up wish list - viz amazing bars, 3 Michelin stars and an 'esprit' vibe - then this is that grand house, on the best avenue, with the sparkling views to fall in love with, including everything that made your friends sick with envy. Jessica Parker chose it to romance her dream, and so should you.

Stay at this beautiful citadel during your honeymoon and cherish the memories. Unlike most battle-worn castles, Bagnols has been masterfully maintained, and today, thanks to the keen eye of Lady Hamlyn, this Chateau exists, quite simply, as the most perfect monument to preservation and restoration. There is not a single room or suite that would disappoint: each one is so individual and personal, reflecting its past with restored sandstone walls, exquisite antiques, original frescos, grand four posters in rich velvet, and bathrooms fitted to blend so perfectly with the building it is hard to believe they are a modern phenomenon. Holding hands by candlelight in the dining salon with the largest private fireplace in France sipping rich burgundy is tres romantique.