Unlike flashier spots such as Cannes and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Juan-les-Pins is a quiet escape on the Cote dAzur.
Nearly a century ago, when F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda holed up on the French Riviera in seaside Villa St. Louis, Fitzgerald wrote a letter saying that Antibes was the right place to rough it, an escape from the world.
Roughing it is a stretch crowned by a 16th-century fort shielding the historic streets from the sea, Antibes is one of the few fortified medieval towns that sits directly on the Mediterranean (most of the Rivieras eagles nest villages hover on hilltops high over the water).
Musat/Getty Images
Musat/Getty Images
Punctuated by pine treecovered coves and coastal villas, the rocky peninsula forming Cap d’Antibes and Juan-les-Pins has drawn other literary greats like Jules Verne, plus performers and painters like Jean Cocteau and Josephine Baker, who stayed with her pet cheetah at Fitzgeralds former home-turned-hotel, the five-starHotel Belles Rives one of the few spots on the Riviera that is still family owned and operated.
Locals come here on the weekends because it feels as comfortable as going to visit family, says fourth-generation owner Antoine Chauvin-Estene, whose heritage is intertwined with the hotels storied history.
Courtesy of Belles Rives Hotel
Cap d’Antibes and jet-set favoriteHotel du Cap-Eden-Rocmay be the star of Slim Aarons photos and annual galas, but Juan-les-Pins offers just the opposite an escape from the crowds swarming swanky cities on the Riviera like Cannes and Monaco.
Courtesy of Belles Rives Hotel
Part of the appeal is its predictability: the provencal market unfolds without fail each morning, stalls piled with pyramids of soaps and spices, and everyone gathers forun cafe(espresso) atLe Ruban Bleu.
Locals lunch on the patio ofLe Bistrot du Cure, near the lighthouse, dining on regional favorites likepan bagnat, a nicoise saladstuffed sandwich, andpissaladiere, an anchovy and olive-topped onion tart.
And each afternoon, a woman in a swim cap singing like a siren practices her backstroke in the bay while water skiers zig-zag in front of the hotels pontoon.
Courtesy of Belles Rives Hotel
As the sun starts setting, men in suit jackets and women clad in layers of linen recline in low-slung armchairs sipping champagne and classic cocktails at cigar loungeinspired Bar Fitzgerald, which shows off a fresh face this season after a major revamp.
At sibling spot down the street,Hotel Juanawas a haven for jazz stars like Duke Ellington and painters like Picasso, and it has modernized its 1930s facade with a vibrant new outdoor terrace bar and restaurant,Paseo, which nods to the hotels eclectic past through vintage-style, spritz-colored chairs and Chagall-inspired ceramics.
Courtesy of Hotel Juana
While living in Nice, wed skip the pebble-strewn beaches a few minutes walk away and hop the train down to Juan-les-Pins, posting up under crochet parasols atLa Petite Plage, which feels like as much of an escape as French Polynesia and is one of the rare beaches on the Riviera with Caribbean-like white sand.
Courtesy of Hotel Juana
Even as the mega yachts dock in the distance, Juan-les-Pins is protected from the glitz across the bay in Cannes.
Courtesy of Le Ruban Bleu
The fishermen from the 1930s may have moved on, but a few dozen of their traditional, handcrafted wooden boats, calledpointus, still bob in the Port de lOlivette.
This tiny harbor extending off a crescent-shaped cove in Cap dAntibes is a reminder of the slow-paced lifestyle the village has managed to maintain since the literary set first started summering here in the roaring ’20s.
Courtesy of Le Ruban Bleu
In the evenings, the nearby port lighthouse perhaps the inspiration for the light on the dock in The Great Gatsby still blinks its green warning signal, while the waves lapping against the sea wall below the balconies of Belles Rives are the only noise youll hear as youre drifting off to sleep.
