The majestic Le Palais de la Méditerranée (The Palace of the Mediterranean), overlooks the electric blue sea for which it is named. Given the hotel's name, location and expensive and beautiful rooms, the guests tend to feel princely when they gaze out from the Palais' lush, poolside courtyard, through the building's historic façade--a towering colonnade--and across Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais, the chaotic highway and pedestrian walkway that separates the hotel from Nice's rocky, beautiful beaches.
In charge is Christophe Aldunate, who appears to be in his early 30s but does not discuss his age, and has reason to feel princely, too. He says he is the youngest hotel general manager in France, and his sharp, courteous staff--with an average age of 32--keeps what he calls his "city resort" feeling extremely upscale, urbane and welcoming.
The Palais opened this year in January under the ownership of the Taittinger family, a famous name in champagnes. The family owns 900 hotels and decided to make the Palais a hotel and casino when they purchased the land in 2000.
A casino that opened in 1929 used to stand on the Palais' site. It was closed in 1978 when the owner's daughter disappeared. In 1989, France's culture minister classified the building's facade as a landmark, sparing it from the demolition of the rest of the building in 1990. A black hole stood on the Promenade for ten years as the area suffered from a reputation for crime.
The Taittinger family and the hotel's management have started from scratch and developed a gem. The casino is discreet--it's open only at night, and you can't see it from the hotel entrance--and the luxurious rooms should be equally attractive to executives traveling on business and upscale tourists.
The third-floor courtyard and pool are particularly nice. Many rooms have balconies, and the courtyard sits next to an attractive bar and a great restaurant, Le Padouk--both of which are inviting and warm, with walls that are painted red. Le Padouk's Mediterranean and French fare, on which the chefs place an emphasis on local seafood, often comes out the kitchen door having just been sprinkled with a pinch of fleur de sel ("flower of salt"), the prized French seasoning hand-harvested in the Atlantic in summer, and the most powerful salt you'll ever taste--not for amateurs. Aldunate calls it his restaurant's secret weapon.
The chef spends an hour each day at a local market buying from local fishers. This emphasis on hand-picked, carefully selected items with local flavor extends into the rooms, which are gorgeously furnished and appointed and extremely large for those of an urban hotel.
All rooms have Wi-Fi Internet access and flat-screen televisions. All executive rooms and suites have DVD players, free DSL Internet hookups and Italian espresso machines.
Aldunate said in an interview that he is still having a hard time determining what sort of clientele the Palais attracts, but that the goal is to have a 50/50 split between business and resort travelers (it is now about 60/40). Nice overflows with attractions, including the water, several world-class art museums, architecture that chronicles French history and Nice's previous tenure as an Italian city ("Nizza") and proximity to Monaco and the rest of the French Riviera. Skiing is 40 minutes away. Rates start at €220 euros ($294).
For more information, call 00 33 4 92147700.
Forbes Fact
The city of Nice was founded by the Greeks, who called it "Nike," or Victory. Thanks to its mild weather and copious amounts of sunshine (the city has an average of 300 sunny days a year) it has attracted a fair number of writers and artists over the years. Alexander Dumas, Friedrich Nietzsche, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, George Sand, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse have all made their homes in or around Nice at one time.