Fodor's Expert Review Hôtel du Cap–Eden Roc

Open since 1870, this extravagantly expensive hotel reminiscent of The Great Gatsby era continues to be the mainstay for A-Listers and those with deep pockets, and for good reason: 22 acres of immaculate gardens bordered by a rocky shoreline caters to the world's fantasy of a subtropical idyll on the French Riviera. The Villa Soleil joined forces with the neighboring Eden Roc tearoom in 1914 and expanded its luxuries to include a swimming pool blasted into seaside bedrock. After the Great War, two stylish American intellectuals—Sara and Gerald Murphy—rented the entire complex and invited all their friends, a stellar lot ranging from the Windsors to Rudolph Valentino and Marlene Dietrich. Their most frequent guests were Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who used it as the model for Hôtel des Etrangers in his Tender Is the Night. Large, sun-drenched rooms are thickly carpeted and furnished with antiques in the main Second Empire mansion; the waterside Pavillon Eden Roc wing is more modern and enjoys sheer-horizon views. Everyone dresses formally for dinner in the Eden-Roc restaurant, the Champagne Lounge, and La Rotonde piano bar, the most historic corner of the pavilion with vistas as gentle as the evening musical accompaniments (all of which use biodegradable straws). To celebrate its 150 years, the hotel opened the private Villa Sainte-Anne with a private infinity pool.