The Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat has held the pine-covered tip of the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula since 1908, midway between Nice and Monaco, and a century of Riviera mythology has not made it lazy. Now run by Four Seasons and holding France’s official Palace distinction, it spreads 74 rooms and suites between the white Belle Epoque main house and a garden Residence wing, with the standalone Villa Rose-Pierre for those who travel with staff.
The set piece is Club Dauphin, the heated seawater infinity pool poured onto the rocks below the hotel and reached by a private funicular that trundles down through the pines. Lunch on its terrace, grilled fish and cold rose with the whole Mediterranean in front of you, is one of the great Riviera afternoons. Back up the hill, Le Cap handles the gastronomic end while La Veranda does long Provencal lunches, and the spa is a serene marble affair that rarely feels busy.
It is eye-wateringly expensive in July and August, when the pool cabanas become a Milanese social club, and that is exactly when we would not come. Book late May, June or September instead: the sea is warm, the gardens smell of pine and jasmine, and the hotel returns to what it does best, which is stately calm executed to the highest standard in France.
