Les Charmettes

Four sea-facing rooms with balconies hang over the beach at Saint-Malo; the other twelve look onto a garden or courtyard, which is the consolation prize and not a bad one. This 16-room boutique hotel in two joined 19th-century villas wears its coastal setting without tipping into nautical-theme-park territory. The interiors are stylish in a relaxed, slightly irreverent way, and the bistro sits close enough to the water that on a good day you're basically dining on the sand.