Some of the stories they tell about La Réserve de Beaulieu Hotel and Spa are just too good not to share. There was the British writer who, inspired by the hotel’s tranquility and sea views, checked in for several months every year to crank out his next novel. And the Italian actor who once treated a well-known industrialist and an international film star to an impromptu strip tease. And the American newspaper heir who ran away to Paris, fell in love with La Réserve and Beaulieu-sur-Mer, and spent large chunks of his fortune throwing wild parties and promoting tourism along the Côte d’Azur. (That one is true.)
Tucked into a sheltered curve of the Mediterranean coast between Nice and Monaco, La Réserve de Beaulieu is proud of its pivotal role in establishing the French Riviera as a destination for royalty, celebrities and other well-heeled travelers during the Belle Epoque. Today, La Réserve de Beaulieu Hotel and Spa continues to attract new generations of discerning guests, famous and otherwise, with its breathtaking location, impeccable amenities, mythic history, and a certain twinkle in its eye. “The Côte d’Azur means different things to different people,” says Patrick Debuire, La Réserve de Beaulieu’s assistant manager. “Whatever our guests are seeking, we want them to find it here.”
The Côte d’Azur means different things to different people. Whatever our guests are seeking, we want them to find it here.
La Réserve de Beaulieu lives by the old-school principle that anything worth doing is worth doing well. The hotel’s classic beauty is kept polished to a high sheen, from the earth-toned marble floors in the reception areas to the brilliant blue tiles that line the seaside pool. All guest rooms, suites and villas enjoy views of the sea and of the manicured interior garden. La Réserve de Beaulieu’s two main restaurants are supernovas in their respective domains: the Michelin-starred Restaurant des Rois, with celebrated signature dishes like sea bass flambé and frozen Menton lemon mousse, and the Table de la Réserve, whose market-to-table menus are making it the hot bistro of the moment.
But for all its refinement, La Réserve de Beaulieu is also a place where guests feel free to be themselves—as Mr. Debuire puts it, “live and let live.” That applies to celebrities in search of discretion as well as to guests who wish to come down for breakfast in their bathrobes. Guests who can tear themselves away from the Maria Galland spa or a good book by the pool will find that staying at La Réserve de Beaulieu gets them insider treatment at places of local history that the tourists seldom see, like La Mère Germaine in Villefranche-sur-Mer, a waterfront restaurant beloved by American troops during World War II. To cap a perfect day, what could be better than raising a glass in the hotel’s Gordon Bennett Bar to its namesake, James Gordon Bennett Jr., the above-mentioned newspaper heir who embraced La Réserve de Beaulieu in his quest to live life to the fullest.