The Nauve Hotel & Garden $$

| 2024 Hot List
Despite being a Bourbon, Henri IV of France preferred cognac. He maintained that his kingdom’s most beautiful river was the Charente, which passes through the city. Therefore, La Nauve Hotel & Jardin, which has a particularly magnificent location on the river’s banks, would undoubtedly be approved by the excellent monarch. Surrounded by a dozen emerald green acres that can only grow better with time, this dazzlingly white 19th-century neoclassical home is bordered by two outbuildings of comparable vintage. Although the garden is already stunning, the climbing plants that are taking over the trellises beside the water lily pond promise even more beauty. A large portion of the garden was rebuilt and replanted during the hotel’s construction.perspectives with every inch that grows. The furnishings are pleasantly eclectic, and there are presently twelve rooms, four in the smaller of the two outbuildings and eight in the main home. Despite the huge quantities of shining marble and the mesmeric, grand-scale Venetian chandeliers in the foyer, there’s an interesting suggestion of the Alps throughout the property. The quantity of wood—not only in the flooring and ceilings, but also in the beautiful inlaid headboards, doors, and wardrobes—is an unexpected treat. Luminous onyx panels, metal accents set into the parquet, and occasionally carved birds sitting in the rafters are further exquisite features. Anthony Carballo, formerly of Le Meurice and Shangri-La Paris, is the manager of La Nauve’s two restaurants, the indoor-outdoor Brasserie des Flâneurs and the elegant Notes.

Cannes’s Hôtel Martinez

$$$ | 2021, 2022, and 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards

An enormous castle hotel located in the center of La Croisette, Cannes’s seaside avenue with incredibly upscale hotels and shops, may seem daunting. Yes, Pierre-Yves Rochon’s Art Deco design, which features delicate blues and whites and was also responsible for the Savoy in London and the Hotel George V in Paris, is as elegant as they come. Two of Europe’s largest penthouses are located on the seventh story, so you may see celebrities or directors getting out of a Bentley in front of the building before being escorted away by immaculately attired personnel. There are two restaurants (one of which may boast of being the only one), a first-rate spa, and a garden for lounging by the pool.