The Sunday Times - UK (2022-05-22)

6 May 22, 2022The Sunday Times

Travel Côte d'Azur

Martinez connection allows

us to enjoy a private tour of

its vineyard and winemaking

facilities by the delightful

Frère Marie Pâques, an

inhabitant for 35 years. If

Cruise, Roberts, Paltrow et al

desire ultimate exclusivity

they could enrol on one of the

island’s retreats, with five daily

prayer sessions kicking off at

4am and compulsory dish-

washing and bed-making.

For me, however, it’s time

to return to the mainland glitz

with the team from Dessange,

who do most festival hair and

make-up, waiting to prepare

me for my close-up: a

photoshoot under the

Martinez sign (OK, Vogue may

not be interested but it should

get about six Insta likes),

followed by a farewell dinner

at La Palme d’Or. “Madame is

ready for the red carpet,” the

hairdresser beams.

I wouldn’t go that far, but if

you can’t fantasise in Cannes,

where can you?

Julia Llewellyn Smith was a

guest of Hotel Martinez. Prices

for the penthouse apartments

are available upon request and

bookable by the general

manager. Room-only doubles

from £255 in low season and

£1,193 in high season (hotel-

martinez.com)

OTHER STYLISH

CÔTE D’AZUR STAYS

HOTEL DU CAP-EDEN-ROC

This 150-year-old former private

mansion in Antibes has hosted

everyone from Madonna to

F Scott Fitzgerald, who

immortalised it as Hotel des

Étrangers in Tender Is the Night.

Winston Churchill, Charles de

Gaulle, Ernest Hemingway and

Orson Welles were guests. More

recently the Clooneys, Steven

Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio

have enjoyed its heated infinity

pool carved out of the bedrock.

The hotel is the venue for the film

festival’s most star-studded event,

the amfAR fundraising auction for

Aids research.

Details B&B doubles from £572

(oetkercollection.com)

HOTEL BARRIÈRE LE MAJESTIC

Built in classic art deco style in

the 1920s, Hotel Barrière’s

imposing lobby is lined with

120 black-and-white portraits of

movie stars, many of whom have

stayed here, including Robert

De Niro and Jane Fonda, and

dominated by vast chandeliers

made of hundreds of pieces of

Limoges porcelain. Facing the

Palais des Festivals, the hotel has

five restaurants and a private

cinema featuring velvet wingback

chairs and sofas, while its La Plage

Le Majestic beach club flaunts the

largest jetty on the Croisette.

Details B&B doubles from £264

(hotelsbarriere.com)

FIVE SEAS HOTEL

Far more boutique than its rivals,

the Five Seas has just 45 rooms

and is located one road back from

the beach, where VIP spaces for

guests are reserved on nearby

Plage du Festival at a cost of

£25 per day. A golf buggy service

around Cannes is provided and

there’s a cool rooftop infinity

pool, left, restaurant and bar with

nightly DJ sets. All rooms come

with a complimentary minibar and

library of films to borrow. Naomi

Campbell and Colin Firth are

among the stars who’ve stayed.

Details B&B doubles from £190

(fiveseashotel.com)

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installing bike lanes with the

plan soon to ban cars entirely

(“Good luck with that when

the Saudis want to visit Gucci,”

one local snorts). The seaside

is now glorious, its width

doubled thanks to pristine

golden sand imported from

Fréjus down the coast.

Wander the freshly jet-

washed cobbled streets of the

medieval old town, or browse

Forville market, where groups

gossip over a plate of oysters

and a coupe de champagne

— a relative bargain at £13 per

head — and you could only be

in the south of France.

The terrace of the Isabelle Huppert penthouse,

on the seventh floor of the Hotel Martinez

CANNES

FRANCE

Antibes

Nice

12 miles

Hotel

Martinez

Hotel du

Cap-Eden-Roc

Hotel Barrière le Majestic

Five

Seas

Hotel

1 mile

And when the bling

overwhelms, a 15-minute ferry

ride from the old port takes

you to les Îles de Lérins, the

nearby island group. You can’t

stay the night on Île Sainte-

Marguerite, but you can picnic

under eucalyptus and pine

and swim in thrillingly clear

waters. On Île Saint-Honorat

a small band of Cistercian

monks has occupied one of

France’s most serene pieces

of real estate for 1,500 years.

With its Caribbean-style

beaches, 1,000-year-old olive

trees and 19th-century abbey,

on the open market this would

probably cost the equivalent

of the GDP of Azerbaijan. Our

MICHEL FIGUET; JADE QUERE