Who's Going
Art Lovers, Foodie Weekenders, Design Elite
Reason to Stay
Histroic Hotel, Gourmet Eatery, Art Scene
Hotel Type
Gastro-Hotel
What started in the 1920s as a lively cafe scene in Saint-Paul de Vence evolved into a 3-room family inn and eventual hub of future 20th Century art elite. 3 rooms. Its owner's interest in contemporary and abstract art resulted in artists of the day, including Miro, Braque, Chagall and Calder, bartering their works in exchange for a stay or a meal. Over the year, the property expanded to include a larger eatery, lounge and terrace with details like colourful ceramics by Fernand Leger for the terrace and a Jacques Couelle-designed fireplace with the hand imprints of the people who helped to build it. The art collection has grown years after years until today; where it's a guarded secret of art lovers touring the South of France. Today, tourists or your usual Provencal characters unfetter a visit to the property. Instead, a chic and arty lair exists among the terra-cotta villas that surround a lagoon style pool with low-flung loungers that sit under the red flittering elbows of a breathtaking Calder installation.
The Room
The Roux family continues to take care of Colombe d’Or with its thirteen rooms and twelve suites composed of putty plaster walls and intricate paintings and artisan antiques. A stay is usually predicated by a meal in the in-house eatery tucked under white umbrellas and offering a feast of coastal French cuisine for lunch and prix-fixe dinner. While the hotel is little more than a 3-star inn, a stay is one that isn’t soon forgotten as long one can get past the lack of traditional luxury amenities and instead enjoy impeccable service at one of the best art hotels in the world.
Preferred Room
Suite
Special Features
Art Collection, Foodie Scene
Amenities
Restaurant, Lounge, Bar, Pool
