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Is your ideal holiday on a beach in the sunshine? You will find some of the most beautiful beaches in the world in France, and we have picked 10 of the best beachfront hotels in France for you to choose from. If you yearn for days lazing under a brolly and dipping your toes into the sea or dream of walking through dunes and watching the kite surfers dance like ballerinas on the ocean… look no further. We have selected the perfect luxury beachfront hotel in France for you!
1. Villa La Tosca
Nestled in the tranquil bay of Arcachon, on the edge of the shore and backing onto lush pine forests, you will find the luxury Villa La Tosca, one of the best beach hotels around Bordeaux.
Located just 35km from Bordeaux-Merignac Airport and, more importantly, an hour’s drive from all the world-famous vineyards of Bordeaux, this luxury Villa is ideal for a weekend away. The Villa serves as both a boutique hotel (you can book just one room) or can be rented out in its entirety if you have enough family and friends to fill its 9 bedrooms.
Nearby, you will find Cap Ferret, a chic, laid-back seaside town that is popular with French VIPs and celebrities and great fun to explore on bikes. Piraillan & Le Canon, two charming oyster-farming villages on the western side of the bay known for their narrow lanes of brightly-painted cabanesm, are just moments away. You can also visit the l’Ile aux Oiseaux, Domain d’Certes by boat, or picnic on the magnificent Banc d’Arguin.
The Gironde enjoys an ideal climate with 2000 + hours of sunshine. Being mild in winter, with dashes of Indian summer in springtime and autumn, this is the perfect place to grab some sunshine, even when the summer is over. There is just the right amount of rainfall required for the Bordeaux vineyards to flourish and to ensure the countryside’s luxuriant greenery. Summers are hot and sunny but never overbearingly so.
The Villa itself is a mix of sumptuous and restored features. The rooms at Villa La Tosca are all beautifully and individually decorated. Highlights of the property are the beautiful interiors, stunning garden, and gorgeous eco-pool. At the end of the garden, you step through the gate and have direct access to a beautiful beach.
A locally sourced breakfast is served on a beautiful oak table in the hall or on the terrace each morning, which sets the tone for the whole day. Chefs come in and prepare your afternoon tea or an evening of fine dining on request. In the summer, meals and drinks can be enjoyed on the large deck. As you would expect, there is an extensive wine list at the Villa and features wines of the world-renowned Bordeaux Wine Region, such as Margaux, St Emilion, Pessac Leognan, and Medoc.
There are few more inspiring places to enjoy a tipple than on the terrace at Villa La Tosca while the sun dips behind the sea.
2. Hotel Royal Riviera
While the South of France isn’t known for magnificent beaches, there are some luxury hotels that offer their very own patch of sand and that are well worth making the effort to visit.
Hotel Royal Riviera, a member of Leading Hotels Of The World, sits on the Beaulieu-sur-Mer side of the glamorous St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula on Côte d’Azur in France.
As you arrive, you may recognize the Casino in Beaulieu as one of the locations for the 1988 film “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, where Beaulieu-sur-Mer was depicted in the film as Beaumont-sur-Mer. Today, this small town, situated conveniently around the corner from Nice, remains as elegant and stylish as it ever was.
I particularly love this location because of the little path that winds around the waterfront of the St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula. You can walk for miles, with the sea sloshing to one side of you and expensive mansions to the other, and you can access this path directly from the pool area of the Hotel Royal Riviera.
Hotel Royal Riviera has the most marvelous pool, which is the perfect depth for children to play in without drowning (perhaps a meter in-depth for at least half of the pool). Yet the pool also maintains a balance of sophistication, with comfy lounges that are regularly attended to by the pool staff for adults who want to laze under the warm French sunshine and perhaps enjoy a glass of wine whilst reading a book.
The hotel has superb tropical gardens full of scents and flowers that are more reminiscent of the Caribbean or Hawaii than Europe. It has rooms that sit behind a sunset-pink Belle Époque facade and offer stunning views across the pool to the sea beyond. Best of all, unlike most of the luxury hotels on the French Riviera, this one even has its own private beach.
The hotel ships the sand in each year to cover the more gritty natural beach beneath, so it is perfect and golden. There is also a watersports center near the beach if you want to indulge in a spot of jet-skiing.
You can’t use the beach in the winter, but the pool stays open all year round and is heated to 28°C so can be used even in the colder months.
Note: Standard Mountain View Rooms are not included in the Virtuoso inventory, and amenities are not applicable.
3. Monte Carlo Beach Hotel
Built-in the 1920s, this hotel sits on the Roquebrune-Cap-Martin peninsula, actually just outside the tax-free perimeter of Monaco and just beyond the Monte Carlo Bay hotel. Painted red and a pleasantly rounded shape, this hotel has an art deco feel and oozes Riviera glamour. Rooms look out over the sea and towards the Monte Carlo Bay hotel, and the hotel’s grounds house the impressive Monte Carlo Beach Club with luxurious cabanas surrounding an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Inside, the hotel bar is a sophisticated mix of white sofas, dark wood floors, and Mediterranean views. Elsa, the main restaurant, named after American socialite Elsa Maxwell, who oversaw the hotel’s launch in 1929, serves up creative dishes with both French and Italian influences.
Le Deck is an informal poolside café open for lunch each day. Ground floor rooms here are like your very own beach house with floor-to-ceiling windows that open to give direct access, down a couple of steps, out to the small beach, and along to the pool. Room 34 is recommended, this Junior Suite is situated at the far end of the row, so feels the most private. There is a complimentary shuttle that takes guests to Casino Square for Café De Paris and all the surrounding restaurants and shops.
The Monte Carlo Beach Hotel hosts the largest and best beach club in Monaco. It offers loungers on the edge of the sea and around the pool. The beach itself, much like the rest of the South Of France, is fairly small. Instead, lounge on the concrete boulders and peninsulas that jut out from the club and absorb the French sunshine.
4. Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort
This impressive Vegas-style luxury Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort has an immense cathedral-like foyer and sits on a peninsula, jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea. The Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort is a brilliant hotel for families as it boasts Europe’s only sandy-bottomed lagoon, which is surrounded by palms and tropical foliage and has loungers that dip their feet in the water.
This is truly the most impressive and largest pool I have experienced. Nothing beats cooling down in these waters, digging your feet into the sand at the bottom, or swimming through one of the many waterfalls.
The Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort doesn’t actually have a beach connected to the hotel. The lagoon pool IS the beach. If you want to swim in the sea, you can jump in off an exclusive Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort pontoon and swim in a cordoned-off safe area of the sea.
5. Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel
Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel is the best hotel on the French Riviera. Set in Belle Epoque splendor, in a building that dates back to the 1800s, this ultra-luxury hotel offers everything you would expect of the very best Four Seasons hotel, but with a sprinkle of French chic.
The Grand Hotel Cap Ferrat sits on the very tip of the Cap Ferrat peninsula, in the prime position amidst gated luxury villas. The hotel is accessed by large pearly gates. Behind the gates lies immaculate, tropical grounds framed by the deep blue sea.
The main building is a majestic white palace, and inside the foyer, you are welcomed into a realm of white marble and pillars. Above you, ornate high ceilings showcase the most beautiful chandeliers, a mix of crystal and silver Belle Epoque-style lanterns. Merino glass chandeliers decorate the adjoining bar, and the walls throughout the hotel are decorated with stunning artwork.
Rooms are either in the main historic building with views out to sea or back inland towards the pine woods or in a newer building that must have been modeled on the Thunderbirds house. The latter, more modern rooms, offer marvelous large balconies but lack the history.
Of course, you don’t come here for the rooms. You come here for the grounds, the restaurants, the views, the ambiance, and to immerse yourself in complete luxury. The gardens of Le Grand Hotel Cap Ferrat are a fragrant mix of pines, lush tropical bushes, cacti and apparently, the climate is so mild that even bananas grow here.
Beyond the gardens is Club Dauphane, the beach club, which is accessed by crossing a tiny road and taking a cable car down the cliff. For my son, this cable car is the absolute highlight, like a glass bubble that takes you down to the pool below (and back up and down and up and down if you are 6 and like pressing buttons!).
The Beach Club has a super restaurant, plenty of loungers, and a fabulous saltwater infinity pool which is great for your skin but less so for your eyes (bring your goggles if you like to splash). Of course, the staff here are as brilliant as everywhere else in the resort, offering complimentary iced lemon water and setting up loungers for you so that you can bask and absorb the views out to sea.
6. Tiara Miramar
Set along the coastline of the glittering Cote D’Azur in the South of France, the chic Tiara Miramar hotel sits in a rocky cove looking out upon the glittering Mediterranean.
Tiara Miramar is an ideal base, located on the coastline between Cannes (just 7 miles away) and St Tropez, as well as being under a 2-hour drive from Nice Airport. Enjoy the bustle of these iconic cities, but escape in the evening to a private cove on the edge of the pretty village of Theole-sur-Mer.
Tucked into the cliffs with 59 rooms, Tiara Miramar is a boutique hotel with a touch of the Middle East in its decor. Dark, ornate woods inside contrast beautifully with the lively colors outside.
From the main terrace, you can look down over the hotel’s infinity pool, jacuzzi, and tropical gardens, with sun loungers and cabanas dotted around. The hotel also has two restaurants, a spa, a pool, and its very own private beach. The beach is a private concrete peninsula, and pontoon stuffed with comfortable loungers and steps down to the azure blue sea.
There are various room categories to choose from, and many of the rooms interconnect, ideal for families. Classic rooms have hillside views, Superior rooms boast garden views from a private terrace. Deluxe rooms enjoy sea views and a balcony where you can enjoy uninterrupted views of the Cote d’Azur coastline. Junior suites (which we enjoyed and you can see in our photos in my full review of the Tiara Miramar) offer either garden or sea views and have a lounge and either terrace or balcony overlooking the garden or sea respectively.
The waterside MoYa restaurant, located near the hotel pool and private beach, is the perfect place to enjoy a delicious buffet breakfast by the sea. For dinner, choose one of the tables right by the waterside for views of the pinky-blue sky as the sunsets. The crashing waves are so close that sea spray infiltrates your hair and tickles your face!
7. Hyatt Regency Palais De La Mediterranée
F Scott Fitzgerald eulogized about the colors of the sea and the sky here on the Côte d’Azur where he stayed to write The Great Gatsby. When you visit, you will see why. The mimosa in full bloom in beautiful Place Garibaldi, the little red roofs of the villages around the Golfe Juan provide a stunning tapestry of color set against this vibrant palette of aquamarine and lapis tinted bay.
Hyatt Regency Palais De La Mediterranée has been at the center of life on the Promenade des Anglais, Baie des Anges for almost a century. Everyone who was anyone during France’s golden age of culture has stayed, played or performed here, from Edith Piaf to Yves Montand and Johnny Hallyday. Remodeled and reopened as a hotel in 2004, le Palais retains its Art Deco, classically inspired façade. Within the shell, though, there now exists a separate world of luxury befitting its prime location on the seafront and across the road from the famous Nice beach on the Côte d’Azur.
7. La Co(o)rniche, Pyla-sur-Mer
La Co(o)rniche is the Bay’s favorite meeting place for locals and visitors looking for a change of scene and a change of pace. The Bar is a friendly place to meet up with old friends or make new ones, where you can taste a fine selection of drinks along with plates of oysters, foie gras, or sushi. The terrace has a 180° breathtaking view of the Dune du Pilat, the highest sand dune in Europe, and the deep blue Atlantic Ocean.
9. Hotel du Palais, Biarritz
The Hotel du Palais is a luxury, historic seaside hotel. Situated on the seafront of Biarritz, the hotel is perched above sandy Grande Plage beach. It was initially built by Emperor Napoleon III as a summer retreat for Eugénie, his bride.
Even now, it remains regal and offers an indoor pool and a Guerlain spa. there is another outdoor pool bordered by a sophisticated terrace offering mesmerizing sea views. Surf, golf, sightsee, or beach. This iconic beachfront hotel does not disappoint.
10. Le Grand Hôtel Cabourg
The five-star Grand Hôtel in Cabourg can be found on the beach in this seaside resort. Known for offering a high-end gastronomic experience, this historic hotel dates from 1861. It was rebuilt in a Belle Epoque style at the beginning of the 20th century after completely burning down.
The incredible hallway offers high ceilings, a huge chandelier, and Epoque furnishings, which you can relax upon and while away the hours. In the evening, head to the hotel’s elegant bar and then eat and drink on the terrace, which is right on the beach.
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