Checking In: Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, France’s Most Storied Hotel
“On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera…stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel,” writer F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his fourth and final book, Tender is the Night (1936). Inspired by the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Rock, Fitzgerald called his fictitious hotel Gauesse’s Hotel des Etrangers, a place where glitzy dinner parties and juicy society gossip was de rigueur. Of course, he was really writing about Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.
Set on the southern tip of Cap d'Antibes, half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, the 150-year-old hotel opened in the late 19th century as a writers’ retreat in the once-sleepy French Riviera. Surrounded by sea and mountains, burned-out artists could stay for long stretches for very little money. In the 1920s, the singer Cole Porter invited wealthy American expats Gerald and Sara Murphy (who also inspired the characters of Dick and Nicole Diver in Fitzgerald’s Tender) to visit. Instantly smitten by the area, the Murphys, in turn, invited a grand influx of other notable names to visit.
Much like the neighboring La Colombe D’Or, the hotel hosted a then unknown creative lineup including Pablo Picasso, who in the 1950s was commissioned to draw the restaurant’s menu, and Marc Chagall who sketched by the saltwater infinity pool. Later, writers Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound were both well-known bar fixtures. In the golden cinema era, there was also heated romance (Rita Hayworth, Prince Aly Khan), well-known affairs (Marlene Dietrich, Joseph Kennedy) and honeymooning (Liz Taylor brought all of her husbands). And, since 1946, the Cannes Film Festival transformed the hotel into Hollywood's official home away from home.
Befitting of its Great Gatsby era, only two families have owned the hotel. Which is to say, that luckily, things haven’t changed much. Set on 22-acres of century-old pine groves dotted with rose gardens, guests descend to old-school, swankily decorated rooms with French chintz, oil paintings, gilded mirrors, rich mahogany desks and pale marble bathrooms.
There are plenty of dining options. The unpretentious Grill Eden Roc sits perched above the Mediterranean sea, offering panoramic views alongside salads, fresh seafood and assorted risottos. The blue-meets-coral Eden-Roc restaurant features chef Arnaud Poëtte’s unfussy staples including bouillabaisse and roast chicken with tables facing the Lerins Islands. Afterwards, guests retreat to Bar Bellini for its namesake peachy drink; undoubtedly an ideal setting on the iconic Côte d’Azur. You can also visit Eden-Roc Lounge, where artist Agnès Sandahl hand-painted fresco adorns the wall or slip to the rooftop Champagne Bar for sunset bubbles and fresh sushi on the rocks.
Fitzgerald seemed to be prophesying the du Cap’s fame. “Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people,” he wrote.
Little Black Book:
STAY: Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, 167-165 Bd J. F. Kennedy, 06160 Antibes, France +33 4 93 61 39 01
VISIT: Nearby, dotted with olive and citrus trees, visit Impressionist artist Pierre Auguste Renoir's former home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Nearby, Picasso’s ceramics collection is housed inside the Grimaldi Castle. Known for its mountains, lakes and gorges, adventure seekers can hike in Mercantour National Park, while sun-seekers and swimmers opt for wading in the Mediterranean.
REQUIRED READING: Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc: A Timeless Legend on the French Riviera written by Alexandra Campbell and introduced by Graydon Carter.
