France does not offer one France. It changes its light every few hundred kilometres: Paris under a pearl-grey sky, the Alps in hard morning sun, the Atlantic rolling in long and cold, Provence in the white heat of noon, and at the southern edge the Mediterranean, where the day is measured in the colour of the water. A country of many scenes, and a different way of living well in each of them.
Our French collection begins on that southern edge, on the Côte d'Azur, with two towns of very different temperament. Saint-Tropez is a village first and a legend second: a port since the fifteenth century, quays where boats moor within sight of the café tables, and the Place des Lices under its plane trees, where the market fills the square on Tuesdays and Saturdays and boules is still played in the shade. The light drew painters to Saint-Tropez, where Paul Signac arrived by boat in 1892. Cannes is a different frame: the Croisette drawn in a long curve along the sea, pines and palms in a row, the Palais des Festivals at its head, and a film festival that first opened in the town in 1946.
Every part of France has its own idea of a good afternoon.
This is where our French collection begins: a rooftop above a village, two grand addresses on the Croisette, and the Mediterranean close to each of them. From here, France opens in every direction.
Silver on a harbour at dawn, white on limestone at noon, warm on stone façades before dinner. We look at France the way a lens does, for the light before anything else.
In France a meal is a place to stay, not a stop: a café table on a quay, a bistro in a market town, a starred dining room on the Croisette, a long lunch that quietly decides the afternoon. For us, the table is part of the pleasure of discovering a place.
Mountains and Atlantic shores, capital and village, boulevard and harbour lane. Across France, the scene keeps changing. Saint-Tropez and Cannes, so close on the map and so different in character, are one small example. That range, region by region, is why France rewards more than one journey.
Handpicked by AiA Waves
Rooftop Pool
Saint-Tropez · French Riviera
Opened in 1931 near the port and Place des Lices, Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez pairs village life with interiors inspired by the sixties. Its 52 rooms and 38 suites, Spa by Clarins and Les Toits rooftop, with a pool, restaurant and bar overlooking the village and Mediterranean, give this address its distinctive character.
The rooftop gives this address its distinctive perspective: village roofs in the foreground, the Mediterranean beyond. With Les Toits restaurant and bar upstairs and the port nearby, it brings the pleasures of Saint-Tropez into one setting.
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La Croisette · Cannes
Opened in 1929, Hôtel Martinez brings Art Deco character to Cannes' Croisette. La Plage du Martinez, the Michelin-starred La Palme d'Or and the Carita spa at L'Oasis du Martinez give this seafront address its own combination of beach life, dining and wellbeing.
Art Deco, the Croisette and a restaurant inspired by cinema: these are the details that draw us to the Martinez. Its connection to Cannes' film world gives the setting another layer, alongside the simple appeal of the Mediterranean just across the boulevard.
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La Croisette · Cannes
Opened in 1926, Le Majestic stands on the Croisette opposite the Palais des Festivals. A heated outdoor pool, sea-view suites, Beefbar Cannes and the private beach at Ciro's Cannes bring together the city's film setting and its Mediterranean shoreline.
The setting is the draw: the Palais des Festivals opposite, the Croisette at the doorstep and Ciro's beach beside the sea. It is an address that brings Cannes' cinematic identity into focus, with its own pool and seafront dining to shape the day around.