Photo credits: Grand‑Hôtel du Cap‑Ferrat Instagram.
In August 2025, the Grand‑Hôtel du Cap‑Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel, continues to operate as one of the most exclusive and enduring institutions on the French Riviera. Perched on the edge of the Saint‑Jean‑Cap‑Ferrat peninsula between Nice and Monaco, the hotel occupies a prime coastal position surrounded by seven hectares of manicured gardens and pine forest. First opened in 1908 and managed by Four Seasons since 2015, the hotel is rated “Palace” by the French government, the country’s highest hotel classification.
The Grand-Hôtel comprises 76 accommodations, including 49 guest rooms, 24 suites, and three private villas. Among them, the flagship Villa Rose-Pierre—once reserved for royalty and heads of state—features a private pool, tennis court, and panoramic views over the Mediterranean. Several rooms and suites are equipped with heated plunge pools and shaded terraces beneath Aleppo pines. The property was fully renovated in 2009 under architect Pierre-Yves Rochon, blending its original Belle Époque architecture with updated interiors (Four Seasons Press Kit).
A central feature of the hotel’s identity is Club Dauphin, its 33-meter heated seawater infinity pool suspended above the coastline. Originally constructed in 1939, it remains one of the most recognizable swimming pools in Europe. Guests reach it via a small glass funicular that descends through pine groves to a wide sun terrace dotted with white parasols. The pool is supervised by lifeguards, and private cabanas can be booked for the day (via.travel).
Dining is centered around Le Cap, the hotel’s one-Michelin-star restaurant led by Executive Chef Yoric Tièche. The kitchen offers seasonal Mediterranean cuisine, emphasizing Provençal produce and seafood. Menus rotate with the harvest from the on-site gardens, and wine service draws from a cellar of over 1,200 labels—including vintage selections of Château d’Yquem (1854–2003) and Château Lafite Rothschild (1799–2003). Indoor dining is offered in a formal setting with white linen service, while terrace seating allows for open-air views of the Mediterranean (Michelin Guide).
More casual options include La Véranda, offering all-day Mediterranean and Italian-inspired cuisine, and Club Dauphin, where the poolside grill serves grilled fish, fresh pastas, and regional wines. Afternoon tea and cocktails are served throughout the garden terraces or inside the historic Rotunda.
Wellness facilities include a spa with five treatment rooms, a couple’s suite, indoor counter-current pool, sauna, steam room, and outdoor pavilions facing the sea. Treatments use Dr Burgener Switzerland and Biologique Recherche protocols. A fitness center, yoga deck, and jogging paths through the gardens round out the wellness offering (Four Seasons).
In April 2024, the Grand-Hôtel was awarded three Michelin Keys, part of the Michelin Guide’s new hotel rating system launched in France earlier that year. The distinction recognizes outstanding hotels for quality of service, design, location, and sense of place—placing the Cap-Ferrat property among an elite group nationwide (Michelin Key News).
Once a retreat for guests such as Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Taylor, and Charlie Chaplin, the hotel today serves a global clientele seeking privacy and consistency. Unlike flashier properties along the Côte d’Azur, the Grand-Hôtel retains a tone of deliberate understatement. There are no nightclubs or casinos, and the lobby is quiet by design. The luxury here is infrastructural: a cooled linen napkin before lunch, a shaded chaise at the edge of the pool, or breakfast delivered to a private garden with no signature required.