The South of France, located along the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, is a hotspot for travellers seeking its elegance and timeless charm. With its stunning blue waters and scenic vineyards, the region offers a variety of stunning hotels that define luxury.

From the vibrant streets of Nice to the quaint towns throughout Provence, these selected hotels provide a glimpse into the lavish lifestyle of the French Riviera.

Whether you're in search of a luxurious retreat or a charming boutique hotel, the South of France caters to every traveller's desire. Embark on a journey with us as we explore the highest standard of hospitality and comfort found in the best hotels in the South of France.

Let's enter the world of the French Riviera...

Best Hotels in The South Of France

Cap d'Antibes Beach Hotel

The hotel boasts a Cap d'Antibes address, so you might see Beyoncé at breakfast, and your neighbour could be Jay Z (or Bernie Madoff, who formerly had a property nearby). Furthermore, in socialist France, where the coastline is publicly owned, it is very hard to find a hotel with toes in the sand. This is what makes the smooth beach here so special, especially now that its club with infinity pool has been restored.

Every guest is greeted by general manager Franck Farneti and led to their accommodation via tropical-plant-lined arcades. Every imaginable area - private balconies, public breakfast patios - absorbs the Cap d'Antibes environment, which offends clouds stuck in the Alpes-Maritime hills beyond. A prime example is the creative yet informal foyer, where guests can enjoy a drink of San Pellegrino while the Mediterranean twinkles invitingly beyond the full-length lobby windows. Naturally, accommodations exude suntans and champagne buckets rather than buttoned-up business class, and they include sweep-away-sand tiled floors and recliners for a post-beach siesta.

Staff members are helpful and attentive. You do not park your car at the Cap d'Antibes Beach Hotel; instead, it is unloaded and whisked away by the hotel's valet. The view from the seaside infinity pool includes superyachts bobbing offshore. You're in luck if you don't mind foregoing a business centre with fax machine in favour of outdoor massages by the lapping Mediterranean.

Sybille de Margerie styled the 15 premium rooms (she also did the Mandarin Oriental in Paris). Top-tier suites have wall paintings, chromotherapy showers, and whirlpool baths. All room types include individual terraces and adequate storage space, and they are all within a 30-second walk of every hotel amenity, including the lobby and the beach. Sarich & Goujon, the architects who renovated Nice's grand dame Hotel Negresco, designed six rooms and suites.

Nicolas Rondelli, born in Nice, serves Michelin-starred dinners after learning his profession at the French Riviera's fine dining restaurants. Restaurant Les Pêcheurs is formal, perhaps a little too much so. If you have four hours to spare for a gastronomic journey, Rondelli's hallmark €125 (£105) and €150 (£126) dinners include creative things such as asparagus baked in ceramic clay from Vallauris, a local pottery town favoured by Picasso. Le Cap beach restaurant mixes informality with reasonable rates. Consider tuna tataki rolls (€30/£25) and Josper oven-grilled lemongrass gambas (€32/£27).

Breakfast is a good, if not overly generous, selection of expensive yoghurts, Bayonne ham, Corsican cheese, shelled almonds and enough crispy patisseries to last you till lunch.

Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel

There are few places more exclusive than the Cap-Ferrat peninsula. This renowned hotel, located on a clifftop overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, is set on 17 acres of manicured grounds. Villa Sospir is a seven-minute walk away, and Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and Villa Kerylos are both within a 10-minute drive.

Four Seasons has returned the Grand-Hôtel to the top of the French Riviera hotel rankings. Since its inception in 1908, it has been a popular hangout for celebrities and royalty, but it has never looked better. A tiled driveway leads to a beautiful white façade with an iron latticework entranceway bordered by topiary balls, setting the tone for luxury from the start.

The lobby's double-height ceilings, chandeliers, and marble floors let in plenty of light. Everywhere, the tone is white; it must be a difficult task to maintain the sofas that clean. There is no queue at the reception desk here; check-in is done seamlessly as guests lounge on lobby sofas with a hot towel and welcome drink in hand. The beach club is accessible via a funicular that lowers the hillside past umbrella trees to a clifftop infinity pool. You can relax on a beach lounger draped in a trademark striped beach blanket or head down to the pontoon for a swim in the sea.

For the utmost in solitude, you may even reserve your own beach pavilion. There is also a spa where you can enjoy open-air treatments and outdoor exercise courses. The Grand-Hôtel is one of the few places in the world where you may find yourself staying in a one-bedroom suite larger than your own home. All accommodations, including Superior rooms, are generously sized. If possible, upgrade to a room with a view of the water.

Tones are light throughout, with white panelled walls and bed linen complemented by soft blue, green, or beige furnishings. The bathrooms, with Hermès bath items and white marble bathtubs, are stunning.

Yoric Tièche is one of the Riviera's top Michelin-starred chefs. He somehow manages to create culinary cuisine that doesn't make you feel bloated. Top of the dining crop is Le Cap, whose famous roasted Brittany blue lobster tail is paired with Cantaloupe melon and bell pepper. The wine selection includes over 600 wines from across France.

La Véranda offers more informal eating, with Tièche's take on classic Mediterranean meals. In good weather, both of these restaurants serve meals on a shaded balcony with views over the gardens to the beach. Club Dauphin is our fave lunch location. Take the dramatic funicular to this poolside restaurant, which serves light meals like salads, sandwiches, burgers, and pasta.

Breakfast is served buffet-style, with tables piled high with hot foods, fresh fruit, and pastries. Acai-berry mousse and truffled scrambled eggs are two delightful breakfast treats (prepared fresh to order as a bonus).

Hôtel La Pérouse

This central hotel on Castle Hill, which straddles the old town and the port sector, provides the ideal Nice position. The famous oceanfront Promenade des Anglais is only a 30-second walk away, as is the Cours Saleya marketplace, which features cafés, restaurants, and stores.

This recently rebuilt 1930s hotel looks better than ever, with a décor that blends maritime elements with the Golden Age of the French Riviera. Hand-painted frescoes, mother-of-pearl wall tiles, and enamelled lava-stone tabletops adorned with Jean Cocteau-inspired artwork are among the stylish features. It also manages to maintain a domestic atmosphere. Guests are greeted in a pleasantly informal reception foyer and sat on rattan chairs and a sofa that curls near the floor-to-ceiling window with coastal views.

La Pérouse outperforms its four-star rating in terms of facilities. The pool area is the ideal spot to unwind, with the soothing sound of trickling water and a view of a cacti-dotted cliff wall. Take a sauna or go up to the rooftop to enjoy the hot tub and the Mediterranean scenery.

The maze of lifts (and staircases) leading to some bedrooms is perplexing, but oddly fitting for the hotel's name, which is inspired by the eponymous French marine adventurer. Older guests should be mindful of the steps to access community facilities such as the restaurant and pool area. The service is swift and polite.

Its 53 bedrooms and suites have been elegantly reupholstered in sandy tones. The seashore theme continues in the details, including coral lights from Palermo and shell-shaped wardrobe knobs. Most rooms have balconies with wonderful Mediterranean views, while junior suites have two vistas.

The Mediterranean Suite features a rooftop balcony and hot tub. Standard amenities include hypoallergenic beds, televisions, and minibars, with Nespresso machines available in suites. Fragonard, a perfume company in Grasse, produces toiletries perfumed with bergamot. Even at night, chocolate delights are delivered to your room.

Le Patio restaurant, nestled among century-old lemon trees and lush jasmine plants, is a Mediterranean feast for the senses. Friedman and Versace, the interior designers, enlisted the help of a team of local artisans to finish the look, which included a turquoise bar with shell marquetry and a second bar with marine-themed reliefs. Chef Damien Andrews prepares a meal based on locally sourced and seasonal ingredients.

The handmade lemon-infused olive oil from Menton's St Michel oil mill exemplifies meticulous attention to detail. Signature meals include thyme-roasted stone fish with celery mousseline, pattypan squash, and glassworts, as well as focaccia French toast with Peymeinade goat cheese. Breakfast here is a substantial buffet with fresh pastries, eggs, salads, and hot and cold meats.

Cheval Blanc St-Tropez

The hotel is right on the water's edge, with a small beach between it and the sea, and it's as close to perfect as you can get, with shops, restaurants, and the quaint, wooded Place des Lices just a 10-minute walk away. There is also a wide and magnificent terrace under the shadow of pine trees. Nice Airport is a 90-minute drive away.

Architect François Vieillecroze, a St Tropez native, knew exactly how to preserve the originality of this property while lowering the amount of rooms and assuring a modern and stylish construction.

Jean-Michel Wilmotte was in charge of the interiors, which rely on Roger Capron's local pottery and ceramic art, giving it a Saint Tropezienne flavour, while also incorporating modern art from Carlos Cruz-Dias and pictures from Sophie Zenon. The entire space is tiny in feel, dressed in marine blue and white, and exudes exquisite elegance with a breezy Mediterranean vibe.

As you would expect with a stable like this, the service is extremely professional; there are 150 staff members for 30 bedrooms. There includes a fitness centre, a hairdresser, and a Guerlain Spa that offers bespoke and trademark treatments centred on anti-aging and high-tech equipment.

A spa therapist comes to the beach at regular intervals to massage sunscreen onto people's faces. The white sand beach of Bouillabaisse in front of the hotel has 60 loungers, and there is an infinity pool just to the side. Watersports can be provided.

Rooms have Gioponti lighting, sanded oak doors, wooden screens, and rugs in muted off-white with blue velvet embossed images from a book of Roger Capron's illustrations, and the rooms are charmingly uplifting in Riveira blue and white. Bathrobes designed for women are reminiscent of Dior's first tulip dresses, while men's bathrobes are inspired by their first short overcoats.

Marble bathrooms have large tubs, inset screens, and rain showers with bespoke Riveira Chic LVMH-brand goods, including Leonor Greyl shampoos and conditioners. All rooms are equipped with Nespresso machines and Pascal Hamour teas. Most accommodations feature terraces or balconies that overlook the Mediterranean.

La Vague d'Or, Chef Arnaud Donckele's three Michelin-starred restaurant, draws crowds with dishes like turbot cooked in a salt, paste seaweed, leaves, and lime peel or langoustines with chestnut honey and rosemary from the Massif des Maures on his tasting menus Timeless, The Land, The Sea, and Epicurean Adventure.

Lunch among the pine trees includes Provençal delights such rock fish soup with saffron, traditional Niçoise salad, and frito misto. Breakfast is a true feast, with a trolley of warm bread served to your table, along with your choice of eggs, local hams, cheeses and farm yoghurts, as well as fresh fruits.

Carlton Cannes

The hotel's Belle Époque façade spans a whole city block along the beachside promenade La Croisette. You can walk out the door and into upscale shops and restaurants in two minutes. The Palais des Festivals and the Old Port are both within a 10-minute walk, while the Pointe Croisette and Cannes train station are about 15 minutes away.

Interior designer Tristan Auer and architect Richard Lavelle have collaborated to re-imagine this Belle Époque hotel with two additional accommodation wings. A light palette dominates the high-ceilinged foyer, where the remodelling process revealed old marble columns and frescoes.

Terracotta powder, which was used on the world's first red clay courts at the Carlton, appears throughout the hotel, from the reception desk to the bathroom finishes. Formerly a vehicle park, the inside courtyard has been attractively landscaped with 22,000 plants and flowers, as well as peristyle alcoves.

Boxing takes the stage at Le C Club fitness centre, where clients can also enjoy personalised fitness plans and cutting-edge machines for bodybuilding and cardio conditioning. The spa offers a variety of pampering treatments, including cosmetics applications, body massages, and facials, all utilising unique beauty products from across the world.

There's an infinity pool, the largest in Cannes, encircled with handcrafted cabanas and chairs. Meanwhile, the Carlton Beach Club continues to thrive with its watersports and enticing pontoon that extends into Cannes Bay. The attentive restaurant and reception personnel are eager to go the extra mile to offer outstanding service.

The 332 bedrooms and suites exude understated elegance, with cream furnishings accented by black cabinetry and rattan-style details. The comfortable Standard and bigger Superior rooms provide a choice of garden or city views, but it's worth choosing the charming inside garden view. Upgrade to a Premium room to get a sea view.

The bathrooms are outfitted with five-star amenities such as Dyson hairdryers, bathrobes, slippers, and high-end products, including Acqua di Parma. The addition of two newer wings made accommodation for 37 luxury suites for extended stays, as well as a 10,765 square foot penthouse with a private hot tub.

The Carlton Beach Club is hard to beat, with its signature yellow-and-white striped menus and brioche lobster rolls. Rüya, a newcomer with Anatolian flavours and sharing dishes, will tempt you. Bar 58 serves cocktails, including their distinctive rum-based Hemingway 58, as well as finger food, while the light-infused Camelia tea room offers 30 tea kinds and healthful snacks.

Another option is the Riviera restaurant, which offers people-watching views of the promenade while serving Mediterranean brasserie cuisine. Breakfast is also served here, with a generous buffet of fresh pastries, fruits, and cooked alternatives.

Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc

This remote house, nestled in the pine trees on the southern edge of Cap d'Antibes, provides the most idyllic location of any old-school Riviera palace hotel. The untamed Lerins Islands face the hotel, while consumerist Cannes is concealed behind the next bay. Arty Antibes is a 10-minute drive away, with Nice airport and Cannes within 25 minutes. Guests can even come by boat, movie-star style, and walk from the teak pier to a stunningly vintage pool carved into the rocks.

The Cap is designed for modest pleasures, from the 22-acre pine grove to the whimsical trapeze dangling over the sea. Le Cap became a hotel in the 1880s and rose to prominence with the Cote d'Azur. The spirit embodies Scott Fitzgerald's languid, old-school beauty in Tender is the Night, which was inspired by this 'rock of paradise'. The central château has been adored by the Windsors, Kennedys, Churchills, and innumerable movie stars.

A catwalk of an alley sweeps down to the sea and remains the location to party during the Cannes Film Festival. Marble passageways expose some of the most beautiful floral displays on the entire Riviera.

The saltwater infinity pool was dynamited out of basalt rock above the bay in 1914 and is cut into the cliff's edge. The nautical pavilion is reminiscent of an Art Deco cruise ship, with two restaurant terraces overlooking the sea. It's a paparazzi-free zone where celebrities can pretend to be normal people.

A catwalk of an alley sweeps down to the sea and remains the location to party during the Cannes Film Festival. Marble passageways expose some of the most beautiful floral displays on the entire Riviera.

The saltwater infinity pool was dynamited out of basalt rock above the bay in 1914 and is cut into the cliff's edge. The nautical pavilion is reminiscent of an Art Deco cruise ship, with two restaurant terraces overlooking the sea. It's a paparazzi-free zone where celebrities can pretend to be normal people.

Service is energetic and supremely confident, with the lovely staff at comfortable with monarchs, rock stars, and reprobates alike. Your wish is their command (assuming your credit card can handle it). Just ask for Pilates, personal training, tennis lessons from a top coach, or hair and make-up by a celebrity stylist.

The fragrant parkland is all yours, from the wisteria-covered pergola to the Aleppo pines, cypresses, cedars, and carobs. Marc Chagall used to sketch in the charming cabanas that still overlook the rocky rivers. Spa Eden-Roc, nestled amid rose gardens, has a gazebo for massages, unless you want a La Prairie caviar facial in a spa cabana.

The spa also provides unusual body treatments using Bamford botanicals. The new water sports centre can arrange jet skiing, snorkelling, and boat trips to the islands. Otherwise, join the starlets at the saltwater infinity pool.

The rooms, adorned with antiques, are relaxing but not slavishly retro, and may have park views and a private terrace. The golden mirrors and chandeliers are tempered by the beach backdrop. Overall, it's difficult to choose between the chateau, pavilion, and villas. The historic chateau's rooms are opulently vintage. Choose a luxurious villa for peace in the pines, complete with pool and butler service.

The coastal Eden Roc Pavilion is the nautical alternative, especially if you want Sharon Stone's hideaway, which has a rooftop jacuzzi and views of the island. French windows offer views of the beautiful surroundings and the yacht-spangled bay.

Glistening white marble bathrooms in all bedrooms have separate showers and tubs, as well as Bamford and Sisley bath products.

Dine on wraparound terraces that overlook the bay, islands, the Esterel Hills. Eden Roc Grill means a feast of octopus salad, steaks, huge prawns, and a Niçoise salad, all served by personnel dressed in sailor outfits. Eden Roc Restaurant believes in a crowd-pleasing lunch buffet, yet it feels more sophisticated at night. Try the seabass and basil entrée, as well as courgette risotto, bouillabaisse, lamb leg, and delicious fruit pastries.

The faddish remodel of the Bellini Bar jars somewhat in the house, but its magnificent terrace remains, and the peachy Bellini cocktail is still the greatest on the Riviera. Eden Roc Pavilion, with its rooftop Champagne Bar designed for sunset bubbles and sushi on the rocks, is better suited to the contemporary mood.

Wake up to a breakfast buffet at the beachfront Grill or à la carte in the beautiful Bellini dining room. Even at the buffet, waiters rush to carry your plates piled high with pastries, cheeses, omelettes, and Nutella pancakes.

La Réserve Ramatuelle

La Réserve is surrounded by the sea and the wild flowers and shrubs of Provence, quiet except for the sound of cicadas, and has an easily accessible beach underneath it.

Pampelonne Beach, made famous by Brigitte Bardot in the 1950s, is only a 10-minute drive away and remains the place to see and be seen on the Riveira, with several stylish beach restaurants, including La Réserve à la Plage, a Philippe Stark-designed outpost of La Réserve Ramatuelle. St. Tropez is a 10-minute drive away, while Nice Airport is around a 90-minute trip.

Interiors are pleasingly simple and easily cool, with mellow tones of white, champagne, and ochre, as well as enormous expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass that bring the beautiful Mediterranean inside. The structure is low-lying, allowing its clean lines and mineral tones to blend seamlessly with the natural surroundings. The overall atmosphere is intimate and filled with characteristic Provencal warmth and brightness.

Service is impeccable across this impressive hotel, which has outposts in Paris and Geneva, the staff is both professional and charming. There is a spacious and superb spa, which includes an indoor pool and 11 treatment rooms. This includes the highly regarded Swiss Nescens Bootcamper experiences and Mind and Body Nescens vacations, as well as anti-aging cosmeceutical therapies, osteopathy, and Crème de la Mer cosmetic treatments. The hotel also offers their guests a shuttle service to St. Tropez and Pampelonne Beach.

All eight rooms and 19 suites are stylish, spacious, and open onto wide private terraces with sun loungers and sea views. White-on-white bathrooms have a tub pressed up against the window for a bath with a view, as well as a separate rain shower, all stocked with La Réserve's wonderfully fragranced products. There are Nespresso machines and teas available.

There are 14 serviced villas beneath the property, ranging in size from three to six bedrooms. These are ideal for family vacations, with their own swimming pool, extensive gardens, and access to all of the hotel's facilities, including private chefs and butler service on request.


The Michelin-starred La Voile restaurant, led by Chef Eric Canino, serves flawlessly balanced nutritious and flavorful dishes, with many vegetables sourced from his own garden at La Réserve and local fisherman. For a taste of Provence, try the artichokes with herb dressing and crispy Corsican bacon or the roasted langoustine with lemon zest, citrus fruit, and aloe vera marmalade before a main course of red mullet with roasted, mashed tomato, green lemon, and onion tart pissaladière.

On the rooftop, delicious Japanese sushi and gyozas are served beneath a starry sky. La Réserve à la Plage on nearby Pampelonne Beach delivers zingy, fresh ceviche and tartare to split before a grilled catch of the day, all under swinging straw lamps in Philippe Stark's coolly designed beach club. Breakfast includes homemade, gluten-free bread, fresh fruit, and a selection of egg dishes to order.

Château Saint-Martin & Spa

A wonderful sensation of remoteness is the hotel's calling card, but civilization is closer than it appears. Set high in the hills above Vence, this is an isolated location, but a chopper from the hotel helipad could transport a Formula One fan to Monaco in 10 minutes. This peaceful retreat is a 10-minute drive from the artistic village of St Paul, and even closer to the more authentic Vence. Nice, Cannes, and Antibes are all within a 40-minute drive, with Cap d'Antibes an hour away, promising the Plage Keller beach club or lunch at the movie-star sister hotel, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.

This towering fortress originated as a Knights Templar castle in 1150 and still has parts of its Crusader walls and a chapel that is used for ceremonies. A renovation has removed any unpleasantness while retaining some of the original castle's attractive austerity. The stately, Gobelins tapestry-lined main bar remains a polite gentlemen's club, but the rest of the castle, particularly the country-chic suites and gourmet restaurant, exudes a contemporary vibe.

The chapel and surroundings are adorned with remarkable conceptual art that, while impressive, cannot match with nature. The plutocratic owners, the Oetkers, purchased the property only for the view, without ever checking the rest of it. The midsummer terrace's view of the hills and distant coastlines makes it easy to see why. Wandering through the 34-acre estate to the show-stopping pool indicates that the Chateau's greatest luxury is its environment, which exudes space and peace.

The polite but highly independent staff works well together, but they understand that your privacy is vital. Even if the hotel is full, the grounds are large enough to go lost in. First, follow the contemporary art route from the chapel to the terraces, which are ornamented with Bernar Venet works, a sequence of looping arcs. The planted terraces lead the eye down to the sun-trap infinity pool, which is hidden by the hills and surrounded by new poolside cabanas.

The newly branded La Prairie spa, carved into the cliff, provides caviar massages as well as honey-and-lavender treatments made with Bamford botanicals. Romantics can have a massage with roses from Vence in a jasmine-draped gazebo. Everything is taken care of, from yoga to personal training. There's even an upscale boutique that wouldn't seem out of place in Cannes. This is the countryside without compromises.

Spacious, light-filled rooms provide verdant views of the olive and cypress-studded backcountry and the coast beyond. The scenery is ideal for throwing open French windows and relaxing on your terrace with a bottle of Whispering Angel rosé in hand. The sole major selection is between rooms in the Chateau and Provencal-style villas in the hills above, which can include kitchens and a private chef. Honeymooners may choose a duplex suite in the mediaeval tower, while literary types may prefer a book-lined bolthole.

Le Saint-Martin offers exquisite meals without the fuss. Even though this elegantly refurbished restaurant is decorated with Matisse artwork, most customers will be drawn to the panoramic terrace and views of Nice. Southern wines are popular, and suave sommelier Gérard Tournier also provides individual wine tastings in the dark vaults or the turret's oak-lined tasting room. Michelin-starred chef Jean-Luc Lefrancois creates light, deceptively simple dishes brimming with Provencal aromas.

The patio buffet breakfast includes cereal breads and local fig jam, as well as pancakes, eggs Benedict, and gruyere omelettes that are all created to order. In the summer, L'Oliveraie opens for casual eating, serving grills, barbecues, and wood-fired pizzas in the olive grove.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the South of France is a true symbol of what elegance and refinement mean whilst away.

From beautiful coastlines and coastal cities to picturesque countryside, each hotel provides a distinct blend of luxury, comfort, and charm.

Our favourite is and top pick for the best hotel in the South of France has got to be Cheval Blanc St-Tropez. The mix of sun and beautiful coast lints, along with its greatest hotels, truly embody the pinnacle of hospitality.

So whether you are relaxing in the Mediterranean sun or discovering the region's rich history and culture, you'll be sure to get an amazing experience that symbolises French sophistication.