A medieval hamlet turned into a hotel in a 54-acre park high above the Aveyron River. Even the swimming pool has a fantastic view.

Fashion designer Catherine Painvin fled Paris for the Himalayas and finally ended up in Aubrac. The inn, with only six rooms—each more eccentric an

A 12th-century château with 30 dreamy rooms, some with balconies over the gardens, others looking out over the Millau Viaduct.

The renovated château has a swimming pool and serves a delightful dinner.

The hotel is nestled at the bottom of a picturesque gorge.

The restaurant offers a superb lunch. The hotel only has seven rooms, all of them lovely and freshly renovated, and each with a view of the river.

Aveyron's famous Laguiole knives can be bought at the new factory, designed by Philippe Starck, at the edge of the village of Laguiole.

Visit the archaeological site at La Graufesenque, where the Gauls made the pottery now housed in the Musée Fenaille.

A tour of the Caves of Roquefort will turn you into a lover of Roquefort cheese if you aren't one already.

The museum houses pottery made by the Gauls.

Where: Crossing the Tarn Valley in the Massif Central, near Millau in southern France.

Stats: 8,100 feet (less than two miles) long; cars travel