Wellness & Spa Retreats on the Côte d'Azur
The Riviera has always been a place to restore — the sea air, the light, the slow Mediterranean pace. With the right villa and the right people brought to it, an entire wellness retreat can unfold without you leaving the grounds.
How to build a wellness stay on the coast. To arrange one, see our wellness & spa concierge.
The villa as retreat
The foundation is the house. Many of the finest amenity-rich villas include a spa suite — a hammam, a sauna, a treatment room, a proper gym, an indoor pool. With these in place, the villa becomes a private wellness sanctuary, available only to you.
The programme, brought to you
Practitioners come to the villa — a yoga session on the terrace at dawn, a massage after the beach, a personal trainer, a nutritionist shaping the week’s menus alongside your private chef. The programme is built entirely around your goals and your pace.
The setting does the rest
A swim in the morning sea, a walk on a coastal path, an afternoon of stillness above the Mediterranean — the Riviera itself is half the therapy. A concierge assembles the practitioners and the rhythm; the coast supplies the calm.
Begin with a villa suited to the purpose — see the collection or our guide to the quietest cape, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Private Aviation to the French Riviera: Airports & Etiquette
For many guests the Riviera holiday begins in the air. How you arrive — which airport, which terminal, the transfer at the other end — shapes the first hours of the stay, and the details are worth knowing.
A practical guide. To arrange the journey, see our private aviation concierge.
Nice: the gateway
Nice Côte d’Azur is the principal point of arrival, with a dedicated business-aviation terminal away from the main concourse — a discreet, swift passage from aircraft to car. It is the natural choice for almost every private arrival on the coast.
The helicopter to Monaco
From Nice, the seven-minute helicopter transfer to Monaco is the established way to complete the journey — over the coast rather than through its traffic. Helicopters also serve the resorts and certain villas with helipad access.
The smaller fields
Cannes–Mandelieu handles smaller aircraft close to Cannes, useful for those staying on the western coast. For larger jets, Nice remains the hub, with onward helicopter or chauffeured transfer.
Arriving as one journey
The seamless arrival is a coordinated one — the aircraft, the terminal, the helicopter or the car, and the villa ready on arrival. A private concierge manages the chain end to end. To plan the stay itself, see the villa collection.
Art & Culture on the Riviera: Foundations, Museums & Private Access
The French Riviera is not only a playground; it is one of the great cradles of modern art. The light that draws you to the coast drew Matisse, Picasso and Chagall before you — and their legacy is everywhere, if you know where to look.
A guide to the coast’s cultural heart. To arrange private access, see our art & culture concierge.
The foundations
The Fondation Maeght, above Saint-Paul-de-Vence, is among the finest private art foundations in Europe — Giacometti in the courtyard, Miró in the gardens, exhibitions of real ambition. It is the essential pilgrimage, best made early or, where possible, privately.
The masters’ museums
Nice holds the Matisse and Chagall museums; Antibes, the Picasso museum in the Château Grimaldi, where the artist worked in 1946; Vence, the Matisse chapel. Each is modest in scale and profound in effect — and each sits within easy reach of a villa on the coast.
Beyond the crowds
The deepest cultural experiences are the private ones — an out-of-hours visit, a curator-led tour, access to a collection not usually open. A concierge with cultural relationships can arrange what the public calendar cannot.
Pair a cultural day with the right base — see our guides to Cap d’Antibes and the wider French Riviera.
Cannes Film Festival: How the Elite Experience It
The Cannes Film Festival the world sees is the red carpet. The festival the insiders know is the fortnight around it — the private dinners, the yacht gatherings, the access that never appears on any programme.
For two weeks each May, the small city becomes the most concentrated gathering of cinema, business and glamour on earth. The screenings are accreditation-only and the parties invitation-only, which means the festival rewards preparation and relationships above all. This is how it is experienced at the highest level. To arrange it, see our guide to the Cannes Film Festival in luxury.
The fortnight, not the night
The official screenings are the festival’s heart, but its social life runs for two weeks across the Croisette and the bay — premieres and after-parties, brand activations, gala dinners for causes such as amfAR, and the legendary gatherings held on yachts moored off the Palais. The art is in being in the right place each evening, which is a matter of access and timing rather than tickets. No two festivals are the same, and the calendar is half-secret until you are inside it.
The base
Where you stay sets the tone of the whole fortnight. A villa in the hills of La Californie offers privacy, staff and a retreat from the crowds; a yacht in the bay becomes both a venue for hosting and an escape from the crush. Many of the most seasoned guests use both — see our guide to renting a villa for the festival.
Getting about
During the festival the Croisette is closed and the traffic immense; movement becomes its own challenge. A chauffeur who knows the back routes, a tender from a yacht, or simply a base within walking distance of the Palais can be the difference between making an engagement and missing it. For those arriving from afar, a private flight into Nice or Cannes–Mandelieu sets the right tone from the start.
Access, arranged
Invitations, security, transfers through closed streets, tables at the restaurants that vanish months ahead — the festival rewards those who arrive prepared. A private concierge with genuine festival relationships turns a chaotic, oversubscribed fortnight into one that feels, from the inside, entirely composed.
The finest festival arrangements are made months ahead. Begin privately.
Why Hire a Private Chef for Your Riviera Villa
Of all the ways to elevate a villa stay, none transforms it more completely than a private chef. The meals become the rhythm of the day, the terrace becomes the best table on the coast, and not once do you think about a reservation.
The market, then the table
A good private chef begins at the market — the morning’s fish, the first of the season’s produce, the cheese from a particular stall. What follows is cooking shaped by the day and by you: breakfast at your hour, a light lunch by the pool, a considered dinner as the light goes. The villa’s kitchen becomes the engine of the holiday.
Built entirely around you
The deepest luxury is that everything bends to your preferences — the cuisine, the timing, the formality, the dietary needs. A children’s supper early, a tasting menu for guests later, a barbecue on the beach the next day. No restaurant can match that, and no detail is too small.
Effortless, invisible
The chef handles the whole of it — planning, shopping, cooking, service and the clean-up — so the kitchen is always pristine and your only task is to arrive at the table. For larger gatherings, the chef works alongside the rest of the household staff arranged through your concierge.
Tell us how you like to eat, and we will find the chef to match.
A private chef pairs naturally with the right house — see our villa collection and our guide to amenity-rich villas.
The Monaco Grand Prix: A Guide to Watching in Style
The Monaco Grand Prix is the rare event that lives up to its myth — Formula 1 threading the streets of the Principality, the harbour glittering with yachts, the whole of Monaco given over to the race. How you watch it makes all the difference.
Run each year in late May, the race is unlike any other on the calendar: no purpose-built circuit, but the very streets of Monaco — past the Casino, down to the harbour, through the tunnel — lined three days deep with the most glamorous crowd in sport. Here are the ways in, and how to choose. To arrange the weekend, see our Monaco Grand Prix hospitality.
- Terrace or apartment above the circuit — comfort, hospitality, the cars below.
- Yacht in Port Hercule — the harbour grandstand, and a venue in one.
- Grandstand & paddock — closest to the sport itself.
- Book a year ahead — the best of all three sell out early.
A terrace above the circuit
The terraces and private apartments overlooking the track are among the most coveted seats in sport — the cars threading the barriers below, a glass of Champagne in hand, fine catering and air-conditioned comfort at your back. Those above the harbour chicane and the swimming-pool section offer the most dramatic views. They deliver the race in style and shelter, and they are reserved far ahead.
A yacht in the harbour
For many, the definitive Grand Prix is watched from a yacht in Port Hercule, the circuit wrapping the harbour and the flotilla of superyachts forming a spectacle of its own. It combines the race with the freedom to entertain across the whole weekend — see our dedicated guide to chartering a yacht for the Grand Prix.
The grandstands and the paddock
Grandstand seats — at the start-finish straight or above the harbour — paired with paddock access bring you closest to the sport itself: the teams, the cars, the noise. It is the choice of the true enthusiast, and the access that money alone cannot always secure without the right relationships.
Beyond the racing
The Grand Prix is also a weekend of parties and dinners that fill every hour around the track. A Monaco concierge assembles the pieces — tickets, access, transfers through the closed streets, and the right tables and invitations — into a single seamless weekend, so you experience the spectacle and none of the logistics.
Where to stay
Base yourself in the Principality, in a Monaco residence, or on nearby Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat for a calmer retreat twenty minutes away. For more of the Principality, see our guide to Monaco beyond the casino.