About the hotel
Opened in 1870 as a writers' retreat, the Hôtel du Cap became the summer palace of the Riviera's gilded set between the wars. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda were fixtures — the hotel is the model for the Hôtel des Étrangers in "Tender Is the Night" — and the seawater pool blasted into the rocks at Eden-Roc in 1914 remains the most photographed swimming pool in Europe.
The estate sits in nine hectares of pine and rose gardens between Cannes and Nice, which is precisely why it matters: every May it becomes the de facto headquarters of the Cannes Film Festival's A-list, a 30-minute drive from the Croisette but a world away from it.
Suites & dining
Rooms split between the 19th-century main house and the Eden-Roc pavilion above the sea; the cabanas carved into the rocks are booked years ahead for festival season. The Eden-Roc restaurant and its terrace grill run on long Riviera lunches; the bar's Bellini rivalry with Venice is taken seriously.
The celebrity connection
The amfAR gala — the biggest charity night of the Cannes festival — happens on the hotel's lawns, which is how one property ends up hosting Leonardo DiCaprio, Rihanna, Cate Blanchett and whoever else headlines the Croisette in a single week. Elizabeth Taylor, the Kennedys and Marc Chagall were earlier regulars; Madonna, George and Amal Clooney and the Beckhams are the modern roll call.
Location
165-167 boulevard J. F. Kennedy, Antibes
Worth knowing
- ★The hotel famously accepted only cash until 2006.
- ★Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night" opens on this hotel's beach, thinly disguised.
- ★The amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala is held on the hotel grounds nearly every Cannes.
- ★The Eden-Roc seawater pool was dynamited out of the cliff in 1914.
By GetCelebrity Editorial
Nowhere converts money into mythology more efficiently. Out of festival season the du Cap is actually the calmer, better buy — the gardens and the rock pool are the same, minus the yacht traffic. In May it is less a hotel than a fortress with room service, and that is exactly what its guests are paying for.
The verdict: the definitive Riviera five-star. Come for lunch at Eden-Roc if a room is out of reach — the terrace is the single best celebrity-spotting seat in Europe during Cannes.
Questions & answers
Why do Cannes stars stay at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc?+
It is 30 minutes from the Croisette but completely sealed off — nine hectares of gardens on the tip of Cap d'Antibes. During the festival it becomes the A-list's de facto headquarters, and the amfAR gala is held on its lawns.
What is the Eden-Roc pool?+
A seawater pool dynamited into the cliff face in 1914 — the most photographed swimming pool in Europe, flanked by cabanas that are booked years ahead for festival season.
What is the hotel's literary claim to fame?+
F. Scott Fitzgerald modelled the hotel in "Tender Is the Night" on it; he and Zelda were fixtures between the wars. The hotel also famously accepted only cash until 2006.
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