With its clutch of chic boltholes, the Île de Ré has a reputation as an idyllic weekend destination. The skinny, 30km-long (18mile) island off La Rochelle has no fewer than three establishments in the well-heeled weekenders’ bible, Herbert Ypma’s Hip Hotels France guide. And as a result they are booked up for months ahead.

So it is refreshing to find a gorgeous small hotel that hasn’t attracted so much attention. The Hotel de Toiras, with 17 rooms and suites, makes a delightful romantic retreat and is ideal for those who want to explore the island by bicycle.

A Friday mid-afternoon flight from Stansted meant that by 6.30pm I was sipping the local apéritif, pineau, on the pretty quayside in St-Martin, the Île de Ré’s picturesque little capital, watching the world go by in the early evening sun.

La Rochelle airport’s compact design meant that it took all of five minutes from the aircraft steps, through immigration to a taxi with hand luggage. We swept over the gently arching two-mile bridge linking the island to the mainland and half an hour after landing, my friend Stephanie and I were checking in.

The Hotel de Toiras is the creation of Olivia Mathé, an entrepreneur in her twenties who found two adjoining 17th-century buildings on the quayside up for sale. She persuaded several members of her family to chip in, and the result is an exquisite boutique hotel, distinctively styled by Olivia, which opened in 2004. The hotel is named after the Marquis de Toiras, who defended the island against an attempted invasion by the English Duke of Buckingham in 1625. My room, named after the prolific 17th-century letter writer, Madame de Sévigné, was decorated in rich blue Jacquard fabric with an enormous canopied bed, acres of parquet, a huge fireplace, and shuttered windows giving a wonderful view of the harbour. Other rooms are set around the internal courtyard. Planted with herbs and flowers, it is a lovely spot in which to read or sip a glass of something cold. The helpful English-speaking staff have lots of tips on what to do.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and we set out on bikes to explore. And what a relaxing experience it was. Green signs marked with encouragingly short distances between villages led us out of town to the coast, past fields of woolly donkeys. On the designated cycling path the only traffic to negotiate was pootling families, often with infants in trailers, and locals on their way to the shops.

As we crossed salt marshes divided into neat fields we saw beautiful birds — huge grey herons, egrets, oyster-catchers, shovelers, gulls — good excuses to dismount and observe. In a remote meadow we found a stall selling salt products; the salt-maker popped up from his salt bed to take two euros for a small packet of the finest table salt. Cycling on we came to a large white shed with tables outside offering a plate of oysters and a glass of wine for 9.50 euros (£6.30). I couldn’t have thought of a more civilised elevenses, but instead we pressed on to the Baleines lighthouse at the tip of the island. After a lunch of moules frites in a café by the church in pretty Ars-en-Ré, we made it to the lighthouse. We climbed to the top to see the long, narrow and flat island stretching before us on one side, and the empty ocean on the other.

Hotel guests are invited to join Tomas Urbanek, the young chef, on his daily trip to the covered market. So on Sunday morning we watched him choosing the fish for dinner and bought picnic ingredients for a trip to the beach.

Windswept, sunburnt and a bit saddle-sore we dined in on our last night. At a table set up in the corner of the elegant lounge we devoured the artistically presented langoustines and maigre we had “helped” chef to choose.

The Île de Ré has been described as the “St Tropez of the Atlantic” and “the Hamptons of France”. To me it is a more stylish Cornwall with better fish restaurants and nicer weather — and it’s quicker and cheaper to reach for a weekend.

Need to know

Caroline Hendrie travelled with Ryanair and stayed at the Hotel de Toiras (00 33 5 46 35 40 32, www.hotel-de-toiras.com), which has double rooms with breakfast from about £130 (195 euros) and dinner from £43 (65 euros).

Bicycle hire is from £6.65 (10 euros) a day.

Getting there: Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) has daily flights from Stansted to La Rochelle from £41 return. Flybe (0871 7000535, www.flybe.com) flies from Southampton and Birmingham to La Rochelle.

Eating: La Baleine Bleue (5 46 09 03 30, www.baleinebleue.com), three-course gourmet dinner for two with wine about £75.

Useful website: www.iledere.com

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