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This gorgeous, vast, creamy-white chateau is set within 10 hectares of immaculate, landscaped gardens and delicious-smelling pine forests on the tip of the Cap d'Antibes, halfway between Nice and Cannes. It has the feel of a members' club or a private estate, which it was, back in 1863. It was commissioned by a group of aristocrats including Russians Prince Soltykoff and Count Nicholas Stroganoff. It became a hotel in 1870 and was the model for the Hôtel des Etrangers in F Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the night. The chateau houses the marble-floored, Grecian-columned reception area and four floors of bedrooms accessed via a beautiful antique lift. All rooms are the epitome of grandeur. They are light, spacious and elegant and every one is individual. Many have French doors leading out onto little terraces. There are two additional wings, the most exclusive being the all-suite Eden-Roc in a secluded spot by the water's edge, reached via a long path bordered with palm trees. The hotel has a salt-water, infinity-edge swimming pool built into the cliff and a two-level dining terrace that looks over the Mediterranean Sea and serves exquisite food. The coast here is wild and rocky so there is no beach to speak of, but you can dive in to the sea from a jetty and the adventurous can drop into the water from a swing. The list of celebrities who have stayed here is a very long one. Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc has one unbending rule: it doesn't accept credit cards under any circumstances. Payment can only be made in cash or banker's draft, which is either antiquated or extraordinary, considering the cost of the place.
CONTACT
Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, boulevard Kennedy, Antibes (00 33 4 93 61 39 01; www.edenroc-hotel.fr). Open April to October only. Doubles from 360 euros
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