Hotel of the Week: The South of France’s Most Coveted Destination Adds a Spectacular New Villa

Tucked into a vast, immaculately groomed park with vault-like security and impenetrable privacy on the Cap d’Antibes, the sumptuous 111-room Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc has long reigned as the penultimate hotel in the South of France. Not only is the seaside setting exquisite, but the gracious manners and easygoing charm of the staff are the nec plus ultra of Gallic hospitality. 

Now the hotel has opened a second private villa with the same delightful service for those who want even more privacy than stay at the hotel itself. The Villa la Guettière is just five minutes down the road from the main building and occupies almost two acres of some of the most coveted real-estate in the world with sweeping views of the Mediterranean, a private bocce court, and a heated kidney-shaped saltwater infinity pool, among many other luxurious bespoke features. 

What impresses most of all about this lovely six-bedroom house with a separate three-bedroom guest house (all bedrooms come with private baths and many have private terraces), is that despite its carefully studied, casually elegant interiors, it still feels like a private home. This is always the goal of the Comtesse Bergit Gräfin Douglas, part of the Oetker family, which owns both the hotel and villa as part of their Oetker hotel group. 

Working with MM Design Frankfurt, she decorates all of the group’s properties with a consistent scheme of natural materials, custom-made furniture, and a soft-hued palette. At the villa, she’s taken her inspiration from the villa’s Riviera setting, working in tones of taupe, lavender, coral, olive, willow, and sea foam. 

Renowned architect Luc Sventchine oversaw the renovation of the original Provençal-style villa, which was built in the 1970s. The main structure and guest house retain a lot of their gentle retro charm, but the property has been completely modernized and updated with contemporary hotel-like amenities, including a spa with a sauna and hammam, a fitness suite, an extensive wine cellar that can be used for private tastings, and a cozy 12-seat cinema.

Much like the resort’s other private accommodation—the Villa Saint-Anne, which is almost adjacent to the hotel—Villa La Guettière comes with a private chef, butlers, housekeeping, and security, all coordinated by the concierge team at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, so that a barbecue supper in the pool house for 12 or a sit-down dinner of Provençal delicacies, locally landed fish, and the best wines from the South of France for 20 is just a phone call away. And needless to say, guests of the villa have access to all of the facilities at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, including the tennis courts, Dior spa, seaside pool and swimming deck, and restaurants.