Cote d'Azur

The Cote d'Azur shaped the modern language of Mediterranean elegance. From Nice and Antibes to Cannes and Saint-Tropez, it blends art, architecture, promenades, private beaches and yacht harbours into an enduring Riviera mythology.

The Côte d’Azur runs from the Italian border at Menton to Saint-Tropez, a coast of capes, bays and hill villages backed by the Maritime Alps. Nice is its capital, with the old town, the Cours Saleya market and the Promenade des Anglais; to the east lie the Corniches, Villefranche-sur-Mer and Cap-Ferrat, to the west Antibes, Cannes and the red rocks of the Esterel.

The Riviera was first a winter resort for British and Russian aristocracy in the nineteenth century; only in the 1920s did summer bathing make it fashionable in July. Matisse, Picasso, Chagall and Renoir lived and worked here, and their museums — in Nice, Antibes, Vence and Cagnes — remain among the coast’s great pleasures, along with the perched villages of Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

May and June are the coast’s finest months. The Cannes Film Festival fills the Croisette in May, the Monaco Grand Prix takes place close by in late spring, and by June the sea is warm enough for swimming and the evenings are long. July and August bring the full summer season, with the beach clubs of Pampelonne at their busiest and jazz festivals in Nice and Juan-les-Pins.

September and early October are warm and calmer, the season of the classic regattas in Cannes and Saint-Tropez. Winter is mild and bright, and the coast keeps its own calendar: the Carnival of Nice and the Menton Lemon Festival both take place in February, when the mimosa flowers in the hills of the Esterel and Tanneron.

The Riviera’s grand hotels are as much part of its history as its museums. Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel, stands in its gardens at the tip of the cape; Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc has received film stars and writers at Cap d’Antibes since the nineteenth century; and Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel, fully restored, faces the sea on La Croisette.

LVXVRY books Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat through Four Seasons Preferred Partner and the Carlton through IHG Destined — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay directly, and can combine the Riviera with a few nights in Monaco or Provence.