Five-star hotels in Èze, from the perched village to the sea

Èze-Village or Èze-sur-Mer: three corniches, three settings

Three corniche roads divide the commune neatly. The Basse Corniche (D6098) is the shore road to Èze Bord de Mer, also called Èze-sur-Mer after its station; the Moyenne Corniche (D6007) serves the perched village; the Grande Corniche (D2564) reaches the Col d'Èze. Èze covers 9.47 km² and had 2,144 inhabitants in 2023.

The village is the famous view: the Nice Côte d'Azur tourist office describes a maze of narrow streets where Michelin-starred restaurants and luxury hotels rub shoulders with boutiques, workshops and artists' galleries. Two of the three five-star hotels are here, both inside the village.

Èze Bord de Mer is a summer resort on the Basse Corniche, running from Cap Estel in the east to the cove of Saint-Laurent in the west. The Èze tourist office describes a shaded beach with a wild character now rare on the Côte d'Azur, pink and ochre villas, and a favourable microclimate, sheltered from the swell by the point of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The third five-star hotel, Le Cap Estel, stands at this end of the commune.

Higher up, the departmental park of the Grande Corniche reaches about 700 metres and holds the Fort de la Revère, built between 1879 and 1885.

A rock fortified since the Iron Age

The Èze tourist office dates the first shelters on the rock to the Iron Age, around 220 BC, and fragments of cyclopean walls in the village survive from that early occupation. The castle was built in the second half of the 12th century by the family of Èze. Èze had passed under the House of Savoy by 1388, and Louis XIV destroyed the castle and the walls around the village in 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession. The ruins now crown the Jardin Exotique.

Two buildings below the summit deserve a stop. The Chapelle de la Sainte-Croix is where the White Penitents, a lay brotherhood that cared for plague victims, held their meetings. The church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption replaced a predecessor that was falling into ruin: the Italian architect Antoine Spinelli rebuilt it between 1764 and 1778 for Duke Charles-Emmanuel III of Savoy, neoclassical in style, with Baroque trompe-l'œil inside, and it has been a listed historic monument since 5 December 1984.

Château Eza: 14 rooms in the upper village

Hôtel Château Eza stands on Rue de la Pise in the upper village. The Atout France register lists 14 rooms and a five-star classification dated 9 November 2021. The hotel describes itself as a 400-year-old castle and a former residence of a Swedish prince; the Ministry of Culture's heritage inventory records the house known as Château Eza as a villa built in 1931 for Prince William of Sweden on the site of three old houses, and sold in 1938 to Evans Backer, who raised it by a storey and enlarged it with further buildings.

The MICHELIN Guide, which awards it Two MICHELIN Keys (as of 2026), notes that the smallest rooms open onto the medieval village while the larger ones look out to sea, and that there is no spa or fitness room; massages can be arranged in the room. The Presidential Suite has a plunge pool on a terrace with a 180° view.

La Table Gastronomique holds one MICHELIN star (as of 2026), awarded in March 2023 to chef Justin Schmitt, whose first post as an executive chef was at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. L'Horizon, the Mediterranean restaurant, opens from 1 April to 31 October; in winter, meals move to the gourmet room. A lounge bar with a terrace completes the picture.

Drivers take the small road between the two lower car parks at the foot of the village; the hotel's valet service is about 50 metres up, five minutes' walk below the top of the village.

Château de la Chèvre d'Or: a hotel spread through the lanes

Hôtel Château de la Chèvre d'Or, on Rue du Barri, is the largest of the three: the register lists 45 rooms and a five-star classification dated 9 December 2025. Its rooms and suites are scattered through the narrow streets of the village, most on several levels with stairs inside; the Nietzsche Suite has a terrace and a private pool facing the sea.

The MICHELIN Guide gave the hotel Three MICHELIN Keys in its 2026 selection, and the hotel reports that only 26 establishments in France hold that distinction. Its gourmet restaurant, La Chèvre d'Or, won a first MICHELIN star in 1978 and a second in 2000, and holds two stars (as of 2026) under Tom Meyer, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2023, who took over the kitchens in 2024. Les Remparts, on a Mediterranean terrace, and the Café du Jardin complete the restaurants.

Two outdoor pools, one of them heated, sit on the terraced hillside below the hotel, with a sea-view jacuzzi and sauna, a fitness room and treatments for hotel guests. The hotel belongs to Relais & Châteaux. It is seasonal: for 2026 the regional tourism board listed it as open from 11 April to 25 October.

Le Cap Estel: a private peninsula at Èze-sur-Mer

Hôtel Le Cap Estel, at 1312 Avenue Raymond Poincaré, is the seaside choice. It occupies a two-hectare private peninsula at Èze-Bord-de-Mer, and the register lists 20 rooms with a five-star classification dated 23 May 2024. Rooms and suites are divided between four parts of the estate, from the manor house to the water's edge.

Facilities suit a stay that rarely leaves the grounds: two sea-view pools, a private beach, a tennis court and a Spa by Sothys. La Table du Cap Estel, inside the manor house, holds one MICHELIN star (as of 2026) under chef Kévin Garcia, formerly executive chef at Frédéric Anton's Jules Verne; Le Ficus, by the pool, serves shared plates and wood-fired grills.

Le Cap Estel closes for the winter. The regional tourism board gave its 2026 season as 10 May to 18 October, and the hotel's website now gives its reopening date as 6 May 2027.

The Nietzsche path between the sea and the village

The Chemin de Nietzsche links the shore to the village. Friedrich Nietzsche first stayed on the Riviera from December 1883 to April 1884 and returned every year until 1888; the regional tourism board says he composed the third part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra on this steep path.

From Èze Bord de Mer station, follow the Basse Corniche east for 200 metres to the start. Cement gives way to steps, then to paving near the village. The board's page gives between one hour and an hour and a half for a climb of some 365 to 400 metres, recommends walking shoes and strongly advises against the path for young children; the Nice Côte d'Azur tourist office adds that a second, shadier section makes the walk easier in summer. Coming down, the path leaves the village from the Avenue du Jardin Exotique, between the Fragonard shop and the entrance to the Château de la Chèvre d'Or. Two more footpaths, the Chemin Savaric and the Chemin Serre de Fourque, link the corniches.

The Jardin Exotique and the perfume factory

At the summit, the Jardin Exotique was created in 1949 around the rocky spur that holds the castle ruins, 429 metres above the sea. Its south side gathers succulents from every continent; the north side, opened in July 2014, adds Mediterranean plants, caves and a waterfall. Sculptures by Jean-Philippe Richard line the paths. The view reaches the Esterel and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, and on a clear day Corsica. The garden received the Jardin Remarquable label in 2015.

It opens daily, from 9 am to 4.30 pm in November and December 2026 (closed 25 December), and is not accessible by wheelchair. Mobile signal is weak at the top, so print or screenshot tickets bought online.

At the foot of the Baroque church, the Fragonard factory, opened in 1968, gives free guided tours of its perfume and soap workshops and cosmetics laboratory.

Cars, steps and parking in Èze-Village

The old village is a place for walking: La Chèvre d'Or warns of pedestrian access only, with no lift. Drivers leave their cars along the Moyenne Corniche (RM 6007), in the paid car park on Place Figuiera or the underground car park with 400 spaces opposite the petrol station.

Getting to Èze: airport, train, bus and road

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is 18 km from Èze, about 30 minutes by road. TER trains along the Basse Corniche reach Èze-sur-Mer station in a few minutes from Nice-Ville, Nice-Riquier or Nice-Saint-Augustin. From the station, Lignes d'Azur bus 83 climbs to the village and on to the Plateau de la Justice; its route starts at the Baie des Fourmis in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. From Nice, bus 82 runs from Vauban to Èze-Village. Coming from Nice by motorway, the Èze tourist office directs drivers to exit 57 of the A8 (La Turbie) and then the D45 down to the village. Menton lies 21 km east by road, and the Côte d'Azur collection gathers the other five-star addresses along this coast.