Every May, the question lands in my inbox the same week. "What is new this year? What is open? Where are people going?" Here, with no pretence at exhaustivity and a great deal of opinion, is the list I give to my American clients before the season properly begins.
The summer of 2026 is, on the Riviera, an unusually rich one. After three years in which most of the news consisted of older houses being renovated into worse versions of themselves, a serious crop of new addresses is finally landing — and several long-trusted ones are reopening with the right people behind them. Below, in the order I would actually recommend them.
The hotels worth crossing the Atlantic for
Maybourne Riviera (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin). Now in its fourth season, and the only hotel between Cannes and Monaco that one of my New York principals has explicitly asked to be the default each trip. The cliff position, the view of the bay, the bar on the seventy-fourth-storey-feeling roof — the best room in Europe for an apéritif in mid-June. The Riccardo Giraudi steakhouse is the right call for dinner if you are with people who want to talk; the Mauro Colagreco room next door is the call if you want to be quiet.
Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc (Antibes). Not new — but the 2025 renovation of the Eden-Roc pavilion is the work of a serious team, the cabanas have been redone, and the morning service on the rocks remains, for me, the single most beautiful breakfast in France. Book the rooms in the main building, not the bungalows. The garden has never been better.
Lily of the Valley (La Croix-Valmer). The Tom Mylo property south of Saint-Tropez is now fully into its rhythm. The wellness side is the most credible on the coast — a real medical team, not a spa with a stethoscope. Send the friends who want to detox; send the others to Cap d'Antibes.
Airelles Saint-Tropez — Château de la Messardière. The Airelles operation is now the most polished in the village. Take the suites with the Pampelonne view, breakfast on the terrace, and let the concierge — who is genuinely excellent — handle the rest of the day. The pool is the most discreet luxury on the coast.
The new tables
Loulou Ramatuelle. Still the lunch. Still the table. Now in its sixth season and somehow improving — the kitchen has settled, the rosé list is better than it was, and the new sommelier (ex Le Cinq, Paris) is the right person to ask. Book three weeks ahead in August.
Le Vagabondo (Saint-Tropez port). The new opening of the spring — Italian, small, intentionally undecorated. The owner is the same family that runs a quiet place we all love in Portofino. The carbonara is unimproved on; the tiramisù is the best in the village. Forty seats. Reserve.
Pampelonne Beach Hotel (the room formerly known as Tahiti Beach). Reopened under new management with a kitchen that, in May, was already noticeably more serious than its neighbours. Not yet certain it will hold up through August — the Riviera test — but worth the visit early in the season.
Casa Tua Saint-Tropez (set to open mid-July). The Miami townhouse club's first European outpost. Members-first; bookable for non-members on weekday lunch. If it lands at the level of the Miami room, it will reshape the village.
What to politely avoid
Three properties are getting flogged on Instagram this spring that, I should say plainly, are not what they were two years ago. I will not name them. You can write to me. The short version: the management changed; the kitchen turned over; the rooms are tired; the price is the same. Send them to the new things instead.
A short word on the off-route
The most interesting opening of the year is not on the coast at all. It is a small ten-room inn the Pélissier family has opened in the back hills of the Var, above Tourtour, with a chef who came down from the Maison Pic for the season. Four tables. Hand-written menu. No website. If you are coming for a full week and you want one perfect evening, write and I will arrange it.
A note for the readers from Manhattan, Aspen and Palm Beach
The Riviera, this summer, is busier than it has been since 2019 and more expensive than it has ever been. The good news is that the spread is wider than it looks — the difference between the best lunch on the coast and an average one is, increasingly, the difference between the right address and the wrong one.
That is, in fact, the entire point of this letter. Pick the right ones. Skip the rest. The season is short.
— Camille Vedy
