A five-star hotel in Grasse, the perfume capital above Cannes

How Grasse became the perfume capital

Grasse is the sub-prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes, a town of 50,970 inhabitants in 2023, about 12 km north of Cannes. The commune climbs from below 100 metres to more than 1,000 metres on the southern flank of the Caussols plateau, hence the steep old town and its traverses, the stairs and footpaths that link one level of street to the next.

Perfume grew out of leather. Medieval Grasse was a tanning town, and its glovers-perfumers found the fragrant essences they needed in local plants. In the 16th century those were wild orange from the Italian Riviera, lavender, cassia from the mimosa family, myrtle and mastic. From the 17th century three flowers became the emblems of Grasse: jasmine, which arrived from India around 1650; rose centifolia, smaller but more fragrant than the common rose; and tuberose, introduced from Italy in 1670.

The scale has changed. Around 600 tons of flowers were harvested in 1905 and some 5,000 tons a year in the 1940s, but by the early 2000s production of all flowers together had fallen below 30 tons. What remains is precious: the town describes the rose de mai, jasmine grandiflorum and tuberose as raw materials used by the greatest perfume houses. UNESCO's inscription traces these skills in the Pays de Grasse back to at least the 16th century.

The flower calendar: when to visit Grasse

Before booking hotels in Grasse, pick the month: it depends on which flower you want to see. Rose centifolia, known locally as the rose de mai after its flowering month, is picked every morning for four to six weeks from May into early June, depending on the sunshine. Jasmine grandiflorum opens overnight through the warm, humid summers, and its harvest runs from August to mid-October, with pickers at work from dawn to midday. Tuberose opens at sunset and is picked at night between August and October.

Several growers open their fields during flowering. The Domaine de Manon, which has grown perfume plants since the 1930s over four generations, offers visits in the rose and jasmine seasons and reserves its jasmine harvest for the house of Dior. The Domaine Terre de Jasmin grows jasmine, rose and tuberose and welcomes visitors at picking time, and the Clef des Roses estate opens its centifolia fields in May, by reservation.

The Musée International de la Parfumerie and its gardens

Inaugurated in January 1989, the bicentenary year of French perfumery, the Musée International de la Parfumerie is a public institution with the Musée de France label and describes itself as the only museum of its kind in the world. Works begun in 2006 doubled its area to about 3,500 m². It occupies four historic places: the 19th-century entrance pavilion of the former Hugues-Aîné perfumery with the remains of a 14th-century Dominican monastery built against the town wall, the Hôtel Pontevès and its courtyard, the former Pélissier building, and gardens and terraces on several levels.

Its collection of around 50,000 objects follows perfume, soap, make-up and cosmetics back some 4,000 years, arranged by period from Antiquity to the age of globalisation and marketing. The museum is at 2 Boulevard du Jeu de Ballon, and the same museum service runs the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Provence on Rue Mirabeau and the Villa-Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard on Boulevard Fragonard.

The Jardins du MIP lie outside town at Mouans-Sartoux. Opened in May 2013 on some two hectares around an old canal and an agricultural basin, they serve as the museum's conservatory of perfume plants, with more than 700 species and field crops of rose centifolia, jasmine and tuberose. The Ministry of Culture gave them the Jardin remarquable label in April 2022.

Fragonard, Galimard and Molinard

Three historic perfume houses open their factories to visitors, and their guided tours are free. Fragonard, a perfumer in Grasse since 1926, works from a 19th-century factory in the old town at 20 Boulevard Fragonard, where visitors see the laboratories, workshops and packing rooms in which its perfumes, cosmetics and soaps are made every day. The firm also keeps a perfumed garden of the plants that make up the olfactory heritage of the Grasse area.

Galimard traces its origins to 1747, when Jean de Galimard, lord of Séranon, founded the perfumery in Grasse. It remains a family house, and its factory tours explain how aromatic raw materials are extracted, alongside a collection of old machines. Molinard, founded in 1849 and run by five generations since, receives visitors in its family bastide at 60 Boulevard Victor Hugo, where life-size automata show the stages of perfume-making, and keeps a shop in the old town on Place aux Aires.

The old town: cathedral, Fragonard and Napoleon

The old town rewards a slow walk. The regional tourist board picks out the cathedral, the 13th-century episcopal palace, 17th- and 18th-century mansions, lanes and fountains, and the town's Maison du Patrimoine runs themed guided tours as part of the Ville d'art et d'histoire programme.

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Puy probably dates from the mid-13th century, when the bishopric moved to Grasse in 1244, and its architecture shows Ligurian and Lombard influence. Inside are three paintings attributed to Rubens or his school, The Crowning with Thorns, Saint Helena and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and The Raising of the Cross, and The Washing of the Feet of 1754, one of the rare religious works by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. A 15th-century reliquary of Saint Honorat in carved and painted walnut recalls the founder of the monastery on the island off Cannes that bears his name.

Fragonard was born in Grasse on 5 April 1732 and came back in 1790, sheltering from the Revolution in the house of his cousin Alexandre Maubert. Napoleon passed through on 2 March 1815, the day after landing at Golfe-Juan: his column came up by Avenue Sainte-Lorette and the Jeu de Ballon, halted on Place de la Foux and went on to the Roquevignon plateau. Grasse is also the gateway to the Préalpes d'Azur Regional Nature Park.

Hotels in Grasse: La Bastide Saint Antoine

Hôtel La Bastide Saint Antoine is a 17th-century Provençal residence on the heights of Grasse, at 48 Avenue Henri Dunant, looking out over the hinterland towards the Bay of Cannes and the Mediterranean. It has held its five-star classification since 12 November 2024, with 16 rooms in the Atout France register, and the house is a member of Relais & Châteaux.

Rooms and suites come in two styles, Provençal or contemporary, and take their names from villages of the Grasse area. The categories run from classic and deluxe rooms to suites, prestige suites and an apartment.

The house is built around its table. Jacques Chibois welcomes guests to his gastronomic restaurant, a member of Les Grandes Tables du Monde, which offers set menus and an à la carte choice, with a bucolic terrace in the flower garden as well as indoor dining rooms. The cellar holds more than 1,000 references and 25,000 bottles. For what the official five-star label does and does not tell you, see our explainer on what makes a hotel five-star.

Getting to Grasse and getting around

By road from the A8 motorway, take exit 42 for Cannes–Mougins and follow the RD 6185, which also runs straight up from Cannes; from Nice the route is the N98, then the D2085.

TER line 4 links Grasse with Cannes, Nice and Ventimiglia. The Cannes–Grasse branch, 16.6 km of single track from Cannes-La-Bocca, reopened to passengers on 26 March 2005 after it was renovated and electrified. Grasse station, on Avenue Pierre Sémard, is about 2 km from the centre, around 30 minutes on foot or a ride on the town's Sillages buses. From Nice Côte d'Azur Airport without a car, take the free tram, line L2 or L3, from either terminal to the GR Grand Arénas stop, then the Zou 650 coach to its terminus in Grasse, which runs roughly every 30 minutes. In town, the steep streets and traverses call for comfortable shoes.

Around Grasse: Mougins, Cannes and the coast

Mougins, 8 km away, makes the natural companion to a stay in Grasse: the hill village of Picasso's last years and of Roger Vergé's cooking, with its museums and restaurants. The coast is close as well. Cannes, down on the bay, adds the seafront, the harbour and the festival calendar, and Antibes lies further east. For five-star stays along the whole shore, browse the French Riviera collection.