BELLE PLAGE

Destinations don’t get much more firmly established than Cannes, and it takes something big for a newcomer to break in. Fortunately, the Hotel Belle Plage isn’t afraid of thinking on a grand scale. It’s a thorough renovation of a Thirties classic, and it features more than a little bit of Sixties modernist influence on its way to becoming what might be the most defiantly 21st-century of the Riviera’s hotels, thanks to designer Raphael Navot and architects FAAR.

The Belle Plage’s 50 rooms and suites are eye-catchingly curvaceous, but soothing in their use of natural materials and soft South-of-France colors. It’s a vision of the future, perhaps, but a livable, touchable future, without any sci-fi hard edges — and the views out to sea over the treetops of Mistral Square are as calming as can be.

Restaurant Bella, headed by chef Eyal Shani, is a Mediterranean restaurant focused on Israeli flavors, while the rooftop bar serves everything from apéritifs to nightcaps with a spectacular view of the mountains and the sea. And it gets better: coming soon is a spa that promises to be the most lavish one in town, and will feature its own secondary restaurant.