Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc

Hippolyte de Villemessant, founder of Le Figaro, built the Villa Soleil between 1865 and 1870 in the Napoleon III style as a retreat where writers might seek inspiration, and it opened in 1870 as a private mansion after a grand launch party. The Italian hotelier Antoine Sella bought the property in 1887 and opened the Grand Hôtel du Cap in 1889. The former villa still forms the main building today.

During the First World War the hotel served as an American Red Cross convalescent home for hundreds of wounded soldiers and nurses. Seeing the nurses swim in the sea to cool off, Sella built a seawater pool, carved into the rock in 1914, which started the French Riviera's summer season. The same year he built the Pavillon Eden-Roc, some 400 yards from the main hotel and more nautical in design, as a tea room for guests and locals. That tea room, today the bar La Rotonde, soon became what the hotel calls an institution of the Côte d'Azur, favoured by royal families, maharajas, leading industrialists and artists of international renown.

Gerald and Sara Murphy, a young American couple who had moved to France in the 1920s, once took the hotel for a whole summer, when the Riviera was still a winter escape for the wealthy. With them came writers and artists of the Lost Generation, among them F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Fitzgerald recast the hotel as the Hôtel des Etrangers in Tender Is the Night. Marc Chagall later sketched in one of the shady beachside cabanas.

The German industrialist Rudolf August Oetker and his wife, Maja von Malaisé, first saw the house while sailing along the Côte d'Azur in 1964; five years later, after the death of André Sella, they bought the hotel, which today belongs to Oetker Hotels. In 1987 the Grand Hotel du Cap was renamed Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, two years after Prince had filmed scenes of Under the Cherry Moon here. During the Cannes Film Festival, amfAR, the AIDS research charity, has for many years held a charity auction at the hotel as part of its annual Cinema Against AIDS event.

The hotel is in Antibes rather than Cannes, on Boulevard John Fitzgerald Kennedy; Nice Côte d'Azur, the nearest airport, is about 40 minutes away by car. The MICHELIN Guide likens the site, among pine forests on a rocky perch facing the sea, to an isolated Eden, from which the busy streets of Cannes seem far away. The seaside Eden-Roc pavilion stands apart from the main building and backs directly onto the rocks. The Grande Allée, a historic 200-metre promenade, gives views of the Mediterranean in one direction and of the hotel in the other.

The estate spreads across five buildings: the former Villa Soleil, the Eden-Roc pavilion, Les Deux Fontaines, a two-storey residence, and two private villas, Villa Eleana in front of the property and Villa Les Cèdres in the middle of the park. A rose garden of Queen Elizabeth roses invites a stroll, alongside a historic wisteria that has flowered for more than 150 years. A private limousine service with bilingual chauffeurs looks after guests' journeys from arrival to departure.

Classique rooms of 25–30 m², decorated in soft greens and blues in harmony with the view of the natural landscape, sleep two and have marble bathrooms with a separate bathtub and shower. In Les Deux Fontaines, Classique rooms sleep three, while Tradition rooms, 32 m² and for two, look onto the inner courtyard and have bathrooms clad in Italian marble. Supérieure rooms of 35 m² sleep three in the historical building, and Deluxe rooms of 30–40 m² come with sea and garden views.

Junior Suites of 45–50 m² sleep three and pair sparkling chandeliers, polished mahogany period furniture and antique prints with modern sofas and contemporary rugs; in Les Deux Fontaines, the Junior Suite measures 61 m². Junior Suites Deluxe, 45–55 m² and also for three, look over the sea and park or towards the distant sea, and some have a sunny terrace. The Junior Suite Eden-Roc, 49 m², has a terrace facing the sea, and the Junior Suite Deluxe Eden-Roc, the same size, a top-floor terrace looking over the Mediterranean.

In the historical building, the recently renovated Suites measure 50 m², and each Suite Deluxe is individually decorated. The 82 m² Suite Terrasse sleeps three and has two marble bathrooms and a balustraded terrace over the Grande Allée and the gardens, with a dining table for four; a communicating room and an extra bed can be requested. The Suite Eden-Roc, the penthouse of the Pavillon Eden-Roc, gives three guests 100 m² in a clean contemporary style, with a separate living and dining room, a library, a bar area, a collection of contemporary art, two bathrooms and a two-level teak terrace with a built-in jacuzzi and an outdoor lounge.

The hotel offers two private villas. Villa Les Cèdres, 120 m² for six, lies in the park a few steps from the Grande Allée, and Villa Eleana, 250 m² for seven, is contemporary in design with a sea view. Hotel du Cap Villa Rental adds villas on the Cap d'Antibes, among them the Provençal-style Villa La Guettière, 1200 m² for 18, with sea and garden views.

Executive Chef Sébastien Broda signs a contemporary Mediterranean and Provençal cuisine across the hotel's four restaurants. Louroc, which holds a Michelin star, opens every evening from 19:30 to 22:00 for a tasting menu or à la carte dishes built on the region's produce, and Giovanni's serves Italian dishes under a green pergola. Restaurant Eden-Roc offers modern Mediterranean cooking in its dining room and on a terrace suspended over the sea, while Le Grill, open for lunch and dinner, mixes Mediterranean classics, inspirations from further afield and more exotic touches in the spirit of a contemporary brasserie, facing the sea and the saltwater pool.

Bar Bellini opens from 10:00 to 02:00 and serves breakfast from 07:00 to 11:30. La Rotonde, a historic bar built in 1914, opens daily from 12:30 to 14:30 and from 19:30 to 22:30. For La Rotonde, the architect and designer Patricia Anastassiadis chose sinuous, curving pieces that echo the absence of angles in nature, creating an organic flow from the bar to the outside.

At the top of the Pavillon Eden-Roc, the Eden-Roc Lounge pairs views over the Mediterranean with wines, champagnes and Riviera-inspired cocktails. Le Bar du Grill looks out to sea from midday until the last light of day, and Bar Piscine brings drinks to guests on their sunloungers. The Juice & Ice Cream Bar makes ice creams, sorbets, juices and smoothies. Chef Pâtissier-Chocolatier Tarek Ahamada and his nine master confectioners make the house chocolates, and from the morning the hotel's bakery turns out artisan breads, viennoiseries and cakes.

The Dior Spa Eden-Roc draws its inspiration from the hotel's gardens, the sea, the rock and the Mediterranean sun, and was selected for the Vogue Spa Guide 2025. Its rituals take place in the Gloriette Dior in the park, the wave-lulled Cabane Dior or the Suite Roc Affusion, alongside a duo cabin, a hammam, a sauna, a relaxation area and a Dior boutique. The Bamford cabana offers certified organic botanical treatments facing the Mediterranean, and a beauty salon near the Pavillon Eden-Roc handles hairdressing, make-up, waxing, manicures and pedicures.

The saltwater infinity pool opens onto the Mediterranean. At the Fitness Village, state-of-the-art equipment and dedicated coaches are on hand, with private coaching on request. Treatments before 10:00 or after 19:00, and those given in a suite or villa, carry a supplement.

The hotel has five clay tennis courts, with personalised coaching available. La Verrière is a versatile space that serves in turn as Kids Club, paddle court or yoga room, and hosts special events for an evening. Under the pines, the cabanas are set up for spa treatments, gourmet stops or candlelit dinners for two, in complete privacy facing the open sea.

The Kids Club runs from 14 June to 31 August 2026, babysitting can be booked through the concierge, and children can make for the Juice & Ice Cream Bar.