Best hotels in Cannes

The Riviera has plenty of grand hotels, but only one where the concierge can namedrop Grace Kelly's iconic kiss scene before the bellhop's finished with your bags. Opened in 1911 and still fronted by its two famous domes, the Carlton Cannes has changed a little since then, thanks to 750 French artisans who rebuilt it from the inside out. Behind the façade, they also added the one thing it had gone a century without: a Mediterranean garden and a pool you can swim lengths in. And La Croisette's shops, casino and film-festival red carpet are all just a stroll away.

Between Cannes and St Tropez, the corniche twists along the Esterel mountain range, where red volcanic rock drops straight into crystal clear water and the Île d'Or sits offshore. There's also an exceedingly lovely fishing village, Saint-Raphaël, and an even lovelier hotel: Les Roches Rouges. Taking its name from the red stone, it's a low modernist building of whitewash and polished concrete, marigold and ochre. Two swimming pools look onto the bay, one of them seawater and hewn out of the rocks at the water's edge. Kayaks and paddleboards are free to borrow, and a barefoot dinner for two on the pontoon can be arranged. This is where the Côte d'Azur drops its gloss and it's rather wonderful.