Les Gorges de l'Aveyron

Les Gorges de l’Aveyron is not in Bruniquel itself but below it, down in the gorges — where the river slows and the vegetation turns dense. The inn sits in a five-hectare park planted with oaks, lime trees and palms, with a kilometre of riverbank to walk along. You arrive by a road that dips under the canopy, and the village with its twin hilltop châteaux disappears above.

Eight rooms only, split between the main building and a former 18th-century mill. The Deluxe rooms, renovated in 2019, are the ones you remember: a private terrace facing the Aveyron, blue-stone double basins, bathrobes, and the sound of the water as a backdrop. The Mill rooms have a more rustic charm — thick walls, low windows onto the park.

The restaurant is the other reason to come. Pierre-Henri Vidal, a member of the Académie Culinaire de France, works with local producers and signs a restrained menu — the word comes up often in reviews, and it is a compliment. The dining room, a glass-walled space opening onto the canopy, is as accomplished as the plate. Booking the day before is mandatory.