Avignon's La Mirande is steeped in history and luxury

La Mirande refers to an ornate reception room in Avignon's astounding Popes' Palace (below), where the pontiff would greet visiting dignitaries. You see what they're saying: at La Mirande you will be received with honour.

Running the Vatican, which had moved to the southern French city in 1309, following a conflict between the French monarchy and Rome. He stayed in Avignon until 1377. A string of French popes built an enormous papal palace in the centre of the medieval city, and it remains one of the glories of French architecture, overlooking an immense square.

It couldn't be closer, facing the towering southern walls of the palace across a narrow street. Having begun life as a cardinal's mansion in the 14th century, it was remodelled in the 17th century as the Hôtel de Vervins with a fine baroque façade. The building became the Hôtel Pamard in 1796 and stayed in the influential Pamard family into the late 20th century.

Not at all. "Hôtel" here means a grand town house, bearing the name of the residing family. It only became a hotel in the hostelry sense in 1990, after a radical reinvention. The new owners, the Stein family from Germany, revamped it with a Parisian designer and a local architect, keeping with the historical styles and using materials from around the region.

If you like, although in a supremely comfortable way. The hotel has been modelled on the luxury living of past times, where you feel enveloped in history but can also enjoy the amenities of 21st-century life. The furniture and furnishings are based on historical designs, and some pieces are antique. Such has been the care put into the building's embellishments for more than a quarter of a century by general manager and co-owner Martin Stein that he bears the alternative title of artistic director.

Yes, the 18th century, which was the Age of Enlightenment as well as when the French aristocracy took their last gasp. While some features reflect the building's early origins, the Steins wanted to recreate the atmosphere of an 18th-century aristocratic residence, where period wallpaper and silk-lined curtains complement tufted armchairs and parquet flooring.