La Réserve de Beaulieu Hôtel & Spa

The story starts in 1880, when Pierre Lottier opened an upscale seafood restaurant here and named it La Réserve, after the tank in which local fishermen kept their catch. In 1905 he added guest rooms, and with them the hotel was born. The hotel still describes itself as a house of tradition since 1880, and the MICHELIN Guide remarks on how relevant the spirit of 1905 remains for guests of a 21st-century luxury hotel.

The building is a Florentine-style villa behind a pink-and-white façade, later extended in a Renaissance Florentine style. The MICHELIN Guide, which awards the hotel Two MICHELIN Keys, the level it defines as an exceptional stay, singles out its well-preserved Belle Époque character and counts it among the most opulent luxury hotels on the French Riviera. Guests arrive through a marble-clad lobby, and the interiors are embellished with Italian décor.

Winston Churchill, Picasso and Rita Hayworth have all stayed here, and the hotel credits them with helping to build its international reputation; since 1900, according to the MICHELIN Guide, it has played host to monarchs and Hollywood stars, Frank Sinatra among them. The Guide adds that while the interiors might look broadly familiar to travellers of a century ago, the rooms are subtly modern in their comforts, blending classic elegance with contemporary simplicity.

La Réserve stands on the shores of the Mediterranean at 5 Boulevard du Maréchal Leclerc in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, a short drive from both Nice and Monaco and a short distance from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Most guest rooms overlook the sea and the Beaulieu-sur-Mer coast, and the sun deck is dotted with sherbet-orange parasols. Further along that coast stands Villa Kerylos, a Greek-style villa from the early 1900s and one of southern France's most visited sights.

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport lies 17 km away: about 30 minutes by the voie Mathis, or 35 minutes by the A8 motorway, leaving at exit 57, La Turbie. Beaulieu-sur-Mer train station is 400 metres from the hotel on foot, or two minutes by car, and a shuttle can be arranged on request.

The hotel gathers its food and drink into four gastronomic universes: Le Restaurant des Rois, La Table de Julien, Le Vent Debout and Bar Gordon Bennett. The gastronomic restaurant, Le Restaurant des Rois, is led by Chef Julien Roucheteau, Meilleur Ouvrier de France; it received its Michelin star in March 2013 and still holds it. The dining room sits in a Belle Époque setting, with crystal chandeliers, high ceilings, mouldings and ornaments, carefully laid tables, subdued lighting and a hushed atmosphere, and a service the hotel describes as attentive, discreet and warm.

Le Restaurant des Rois opens daily for breakfast from 07:00 to 11:00, served in the dining room or on the terrace facing the Mediterranean, and for dinner from 19:30 to 21:30. Pastry chef Benoit Jabouille creates delicate, indulgent desserts, and head sommelier Wilfried Goutorbe oversees a cellar of more than 700 references, ranging from classified great growths to small producers.

For a more relaxed meal, La Table de Julien has the convivial air of a Riviera bistrot, enlivened by culinary demonstrations from Julien Roucheteau's team, and opens every day for lunch from 12:00 to 14:30 and dinner from 19:00 to 21:30. Le Vent Debout, with its sunny terrace and sea view, serves lunch daily from 12:30 to 17:00 in what the hotel calls a soothing summer atmosphere.

Bar Gordon Bennett, the antechamber to the gastronomic restaurant, opens onto the landscaped patio when the fine weather arrives and serves cocktails and spirits every day from 18:00 to midnight. By day, Le Bar de la Piscine is open from 09:00 to 18:00, and for guests who would rather enjoy the calm of their room, room service runs around the clock.

Le Spa by La Prairie uses the protocols of the Swiss house La Prairie, whose rituals pair rare active ingredients with very precise techniques, and its space was conceived like the interior of an ocean liner: woodwork, filtered light, silence. It opens daily from 10:00 to 19:00, with last access to the facilities one hour before closing, and the fitness centre is open from 10:00 to 20:00.

The pool is what the hotel calls the signature of the house: a heated seawater pool set directly above the Mediterranean. The outdoor pool measures 2,000 square feet and is open from 09:00 to 18:00. Between treatments, the Salon Rose and the grand salon offer a pause for reading, tea, quiet conversation or a game of billiards.

The concierge team of Gaël, Pierre and Thierry is on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for restaurant, opera and show reservations, cars with or without a driver, boats with or without a skipper, travel arrangements, and private or group visits. The hotel can also organise transfers from the airport or the train station, with a chauffeur-driven fleet that includes a Mercedes S-Class Maybach, an S-Class limousine and a V-Class minivan.

For several years the hotel has worked with an ESAT, a sheltered workshop, giving people with disabilities the chance to take part in the olive harvest on its estate, a partnership intended to support inclusion.