FRENCH RIVIERA RENAISSANCE

The ‘Côte d’Azur’ is considered the most beautiful part of France and its second most popular tourist destination, after Paris. In 1990, I was captivated as my first art-inspired flight to the Riviera descended into Nice-Côte d’Azur airport, the snow-capped Alps, the mega-yacht-strewn Mediterranean, the pool-studded landscape, and the long curve of beach along the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice. I’d found my happy place! I still frequent Bonnard, Chagall, Matisse, and Picasso museums a dozen trips later. Beyond the topography and food, what lures me back is the French art de vivre: the gorgeous produce at the marché; the exquisite shop windows; the extraordinary flowers, inside and out; and the food—whether meals are served on the sand, the terrace, or the street.

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Each May, the Cannes Film Festival attracts celebrities to the famous, red carpet-covered steps at The Palais des Festivals. Tourists attracted to this lively and lovely, walkable city pose for pictures there all year long. Visit the nearby church, Notre Dame-de-Bon-Voyage. A few nights at one of the elegant hotels on Boulevard de la Croisette—the city’s vast, tree-lined waterfront promenade—lined with designer boutiques and grand palace hotels facing private beach clubs. Others stay on or near the less-costly Rue d’Antibes, which runs parallel and is connected by tiny, café-studded streets. Most flock to the Vieux (Old) Port, the Hotel de Ville, c. 1876, and the weekend Marché Brocante (flea market). The daily market, Marché Forville, is located footsteps away, on the medieval, café-lined hillside, in Le Suquet, the former fishing village, where Le Maschou serves a simple fixed-price grilled meal that features an impressive panier (basket) of beautifully-presented, fresh, raw, vegetables.

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Carlton Cannes A Regent Hotel The Carlton Cannes, the first Grande Dame hotel to début on La Croisette in 1913, has just reopened after a more than four-year restoration—and the dramatic results are divine. Architect Richard Lavelle retained the iconic twin domes and interior curvilinear staircases; he transformed a parking lot into a 215,000 square foot, landscaped interior garden with an infinity pool, cabanas, and a light-filled entry to a lower level. Lavelle added two extensions with 37 residences and created a new Le C-Club Fitness & Spa (with a full-size boxing ring and Dr. Burgener products). French designer Tristan Auer stripped eight layers of paint off columns in the vaulted lobby to reveal original marble and added Venini chandeliers. The contemporary décor extends to airy seafront rooms colored in neutral shades and white. We lunched elegantly, facing the sea, at Riviera Restaurant, where cream-colored balustrades separate the terrace from La Croisette.

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Monaco was a struggling agricultural principality in 1863 when The Monte Carlo Société de Bains de Mer (SBM) was created to lure wealthy gamblers. Architects transformed an olive and lemon groove-studded plateau above the sea into the Belle Époque-style Casino de Monte Carlo and the lavish Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo. Since 1879, when the Garnier-designed Opera de Monte-Carlo opened, Monaco has been the social center; it continues to lure international visitors to its cultural and sporting events—including the Grand Prix de Monaco—and its famous sights: the Prince’s Palace and the Oceanographic Museum. Along with multiple restaurants and hotels, SBM operates one of the world’s most impressive spas: the four-level, 75,000-square foot Thermes Marins Monte Carlo specializes in thalasso, or sea water therapies, and is linked to both Hôtel de Paris and Hôtel Hermitage, via an underground corridor. At l’Hirondelle, adjacent to the grand indoor pool, healthful lunch is served indoors and on the terrace; here, guests receive meals under silver cloches (domes), which are lifted in unison whether clad in bathrobes or business dress.

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Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo Guests enter under its distinctive porte cochère to enter its recently-updated lobby, which retains its high, arched ceilings, grand chandeliers, and a marble colonnade. The four-year, $280 million facelift completed in 2019 made high-tech improvements and added a 7,200-square-foot, tree-studded inner garden. A statue of King Louis XV welcomes guests outside Le Louis XV Alain Ducasse, where Chef Ducasse earned his first Michelin three-star award, the first ever granted to a hotel-restaurant. This year, Michelin presented the new Head Chef, Emmanuel Pilont three stars, and Restaurant Manager Claire Sonnet with a prestigious Service Award. Across the lobby, Le Bar Americain serves light fare facing the casino and offers live music; on the 8th floor, Le Grill, a Michelin-one-star restaurant, overlooks the entire port.

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Antibes, mid-way between Nice and Cannes, dates to the 5th century B.C. when the Greeks called it: Antipolis. The star-shaped Fort Carré once provided protection and overlooks the modern, yacht-filled Port Vauban marina. Along the cobblestone streets in the Vieille Ville (Old Town), the daily market, Marché Provencal, offers superb produce and artisanal products across from the Cathedral Nôtre-Dame and the Musée Picasso. In 1946, Picasso lived in the 12th century, sand-colored Château Grimaldi built atop a Roman fort for six months and donated his prolific output—23 paintings and 44 drawings—to the municipality. Today, the seafront museum also displays his ceramics and art gifted by his second wife, Jacqueline Roque Picasso.

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Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc The fabled Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a Napoleon III-style palace hotel, has lured the elite to this 22-acre, Aleppo pine-studded park since the 1870s. In 2022, massive renovations and redecoration upgraded the chateau. From here, a walking path leads to a waterfront pavilion housing seaside rooms, the rooftop Eden-Roc Lounge, and two restaurants: the more casual Eden-Roc Grill, adjacent to the pool deck and, above it, the gastronomic Eden-Roc Restaurant. The dining terraces overlook the extraordinary infinity seawater pool hollowed out of basalt rocks, circus-like trapezes high above the sea, and a dock for watercraft and the Mediterranean. In April 2023, the new Dior Spa Eden-Roc debuted within a stand-alone building adjacent to a 100-year-old rose garden dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II. The spa features pale woods, marble, distinctly Dior signature Toile du Jouy fabrics, all-onyx hydrotherapy, and treatment rooms. Services also occur in the Garden Gazebo and two luxe cabanas near the sea.

Don’t leave Atlanta without having an elegant Southern-influenced dinner at South City Kitchen in Buckhead (their fried green tomatoes are the stuff of legend). We also loved Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours, Deborah VanTrece’s Midtown eatery that melds a sophisticated layer onto classic soul food dishes. One bite of the herb-crusted pork loin, and we’re sure you’ll be a fan, too.

These Atlanta ideas will keep you busy for a long weekend; add in hitting the nightclubs, music venues, sports events, art galleries, and shopping spots. You can easily spend a week discovering all the things that make this famous Southern city tick.

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Outdoor cafés face mega-yachts docked portside in this petit, pastel-colored, fairy-tale village. The port is also home to the minuscule, Musée de l’Annonciade, a former fishermen’s chapel, where its white, arched walls are adorned with paintings by Braque, Dufy, Matisse, and Signac. Narrow, cobblestone streets lined with tiny shops climb the hillside from the picturesque harbor to the quiet, shaded, café-ringed Place des Lices, where pétanque (a bocci-like game) players gather except on Tuesday and Saturday mornings when an outstanding market transforms the square. Sunlovers drive past vineyards towards east-facing Ramatuelle, to the long, world-famous, golden-sand stretches of Pampelonne and Tahiti beaches and chic day-to-late-night scenes at fashionable Nikki Beach and Club 55.

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Château de la Messardière is just ten minutes distant from Saint Tropez, the gated entry to Château de la Messardière invites guests into the 25-acre cypress and pine-pepper-shaded, perfectly-manicured, citrus-scented grounds of the exclusive resort hotel. There are 103 rooms and suites, many recently redecorated, plus a three-bedroom villa with a private pool. Lunch guests view the expanse and scenic setting with vistas extending to the Gulf of Saint-Tropez and Pampelonne Bay. The Sunday buffet had multiple tables filled with platters of enticing food, from fresh shrimp, langoustine, and lobster to magnificent desserts. In addition to tennis, yoga, biking, and swimming, there’s a well-being refuge: Spa by Valmont. Buggies transport guests to the outdoor gym, tennis courts, and the kid’s club, where a pool, cinema, pirate ship, farm, and separate dining facilities occupy a private 2.5-acre site; a shuttle brings guests to and from the Jardin Tropézina beach and Saint Tropez.

For more information on the French Riviera, visit atoutfranceusa.com