Hotel of the Week: A Cap d’Antibes Hideaway Channels the Refined Aesthetic of the French Riviera
The reborn Villa Miraé, a Relais & Chateaux property, lures guests with its calming coastal palette, lush gardens, and high-design finishes
It’s hard to compete with the breathtaking views that surround the Cap d’Antibes, a scenic stretch in the South of France where jetsetters laze about on fashionable chaises surrounding the turquoise blue swimming pools of famed resorts like the Hôtel du Cap-Eden Roc. Instead, designers like Maison Numéro 20 founder Oscar Lucien Ono know its better to embrace the French Riviera landscape, channeling it’s warm palette and refined aesthetic into interiors for transportive hotels that immerse guests in one of the most beloved travel destinations on the planet.
Ono’s newest project—a top-to-bottom rethink of the former Impérial Garoupe—immerses guests into the sights, scents, and flavors of the region. Now open as Villa Miraé, a Relais & Chateaux property, the 35-room hotel celebrates the heady floral aromas of the garden, the warmth of the summer sun, and the cooling mist emanating off the nearby ocean.
Artful elements are presented right from the entrance, where a mural of lush botanicals by Friul Mosaic backs a welcoming reception area that features a Lelièvre rug, woven Popus armchairs, and Nobilis-upholstered banquettes beneath a glowing gilded ceiling.
The calming coastal palette of cream, blues, and greens enhanced with golden accents carries into the hotel bar and breakfast area, an Edenic setting for morning meals. Here, Antonin Lamotte painted canvases embroidered with wild grass motifs, ceramic Maison Paradis sconces, and wrought-iron furnishing from Tectona conjure a heavenly setting beneath a canopy of olive trees.
Three-Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco oversees the menu at Villa Miraé’s two dining venues. Fine dining restaurant Amarines takes its cues from the sea with a wave inspired fresco, sea urchin-shaped lights, and a hand-painted ceiling conceived by Maison Numéro 20 with an abstract pattern that nods to marine-life. Meanwhile, terrace restaurant Miraé pays homage to the sun, serving dishes culled from the French and Italian Rivieras like burrata from Puglia, Mediterranean fish with artichokes, zucchini, tomato, capers, and olives, and an elderflower crème brûlée.
“What moves me is creating places that tell a story,” says Ono. “Where one feels the imprint of the hand, the passage of time, and the presence of beauty.”