Many small French cites feature marvellous heritage. And some of the country's most famous sites are in the middle of the countryside. From Arles and Nîmes, worth visiting for their Roman ruins, you can easily reach the Camargue nature reserve and the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct. And if you stay in Niort, you can quickly get to the Poitevin marshland, another beautiful reserve. The enchanting city of Aix-en-Provence, which includes wonderful fountains and townhouses, is surrounded by vineyards, hills and endless fields of lavender. Colmar and Tours, where our hotels also await you, are both renowned for their quaint half-timbered houses – the former is the perfect stopover on a discovery tour of Alsace's wines, the latter an ideal base for visiting the splendid Loire Valley chateaux.