Built from 1905 for the developers of the Cap-Ferrat peninsula, the hotel opened in 1908 with 150 rooms and set the tone for a resort that became one of the French Riviera’s most exclusive addresses.
At a glance
Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat stands in a park on the Cap-Ferrat peninsula, between Nice and Monaco. The architect Henri Martinet built it from 1905 for Bloch and Peretmère, the developers behind the Cap-Ferrat subdivision, and it opened in 1908 with 150 rooms fitted with then-modern amenities: central heating, electricity, private bathrooms and a lift. Listed in the region’s official architectural heritage inventory, it has been managed by Four Seasons since 2015.
History
Construction began in 1905 as part of a wider plan to turn the wooded Cap-Ferrat peninsula into a resort for European high society. Martinet’s hotel opened in 1908, and within a year a loggia dining room and a glazed rotunda with a painted ceiling were added to the ground floor. Further work followed through the twentieth century — alterations in 1919 and 1939, and beach cabins added in 1949 by the architect André Deperi.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts took over management on 8 May 2015, renaming it Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel. A two-phase extension completed in 2007–2009, designed by the architect Luc Svetchine, added sixteen rooms, eight suites with private plunge pools, and a spa and fitness centre with an indoor pool.
What you see
The hotel’s two original wings meet at an open angle within seven hectares of gardens, a layout Martinet designed to give as many rooms as possible a view over the bay. The 1909 ground-floor rotunda, glazed and topped with a painted ceiling, remains one of the building’s signature interior spaces.
The Belle Époque core is now flanked by Svetchine’s early-2000s extension, built to match the original’s proportions while adding contemporary suites and spa facilities — a layering of a century of additions around Martinet’s 1908 plan.
Key facts
- Built: from 1905, inaugurated 1908
- Architect: Henri Martinet, for developers Bloch and Peretmère
- Later work: rotunda and loggia dining room 1909; beach cabins 1949 (arch. André Deperi); extension 2007–2009 (arch. Luc Svetchine)
- Heritage status: listed in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional architectural heritage inventory
- Location: Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, on the Cap-Ferrat peninsula between Nice and Monaco
- Today: managed by Four Seasons since 8 May 2015
Practical information & getting there
The hotel sits within its own gardens on the Cap-Ferrat peninsula, about 20 minutes by car from Nice Côte d’Azur Airport and a similar distance from Monaco.
Sources & resources
- Inventaire Général du Patrimoine Culturel (official regional heritage inventory, Ministère de la Culture) — record IA06000908, pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/IA06000908
- English Wikipedia — “Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat”
- Historic Hotels of the World — “Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel (1908)”
- Official site: fourseasons.com/capferrat
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