Belles Rives

An Art Deco mansion by the sea where champagne flows freely and a green light blinks at the tip of a wooden jetty — you’ll only need one guess at the famous person who once lived here. In 1925, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald decamped to a waterfront villa on the Côte d’Azur, and between up-all-night parties and swims in the ocean, he wrote his final novel, Tender is the Night. The villa was expanded and turned into a luxury hotel in 1929.

Nearly a century later, Hôtel Belles Rives is a French Riviera classic that’s still run by the same family. They’ve made smart updates to the interiors, but the villa’s Twenties-era glamour remains very much intact, with stained-glass windows and gilded chandeliers, cool mosaic floors, richly frescoed walls, and blue and white-striped awnings fluttering in the breeze. On the main level, an opulent piano bar spills onto a terrace with candlelit tables facing the water. The restaurant, La Passagère, has its own terrace, too, arguably even lovelier than the dining room. It’s just a few steps down to the hotel’s private sandy beach and a spacious white canopy shading open-air tables, ideal for an al fresco lunch or a glass or two of rosé.

Many guest rooms and suites offer water views, too — deluxe rooms have balconies — though some look out over the gardens. The aesthetic upstairs is elegant but modern, inspired by the Jazz Age with decorative Hermès wallpaper, mirrored lamps, and sophisticated gold and silver accents. Each features a Nespresso machine and a pretty tiled bathroom stocked with Penhaligon’s products. Save for the suites, the accommodations aren’t terribly large; but in a setting as dreamy as this, with the promise of waterskiing and seaside cocktail-sipping outside, you’re unlikely to spend much time hanging around the room.