Fodor's Expert Review Le Cloître

Tucked away on a pretty Old Town side street, this intimate, vine-clad hotel received a stylish makeover by Parisian interiors star India Mahdavi, who preserved the elegant bones of the grand medieval building—once the home for the provost of the Cloisters—but added chic touches, like vividly colored fabrics and rattan or burnished-wood furniture, that contrast with the limestone walls and other original details (some rooms have arches or a fireplace). The cool courtyard restaurant, which is open for lunch daily and dinner on the weekends, serves Arlesian specialties. You can sip a drink under a towering century-old tree or enjoy a coffee in the cozy library. Prices are gentle, but that may be because the hotel does not have air-conditioning, which can be inconvenient during the heat of the Provençal summer.