What is the secret of the French Riviera that compels unanimity when it comes to “Art de vivre”, elegance and glamour?

It is first and foremost a history of anteriority with the opening in 1869 of the railway and luxury trains such as the Saint-Petersburg-Vienna- Cannes-Nice train. The English and the Russians discover Cannes and Nice, the former in the wake of Lord Brougham and John Taylor and the later following the sovereigns of the Russian empire while the rest of the world seizes Monaco. A little later, the Americans will find themselves at home in Antibes. Sovereigns of Europe and billionaires from the whole world adopt the region, build luxury hotels and beautiful residences in order to better enjoy the climate and panorama. At that time, the artists attracted by the bright lighting install their easels. Today, many museums pay homage to these precursors.

Later on dream properties and luxurious hotels burgeon, the Carlton in Cannes, the “Hotel du Cap” in Antibes, the Ruhl, the Westminster, the West-End and the Negresco in Nice, the “Hotel de Paris” and the Hermitage in Monaco, sumptuous casinos and splendid opera-houses, among which those of Charles Garnier built in Monaco in 1878, the oceanographic museum in Monaco dating back to 1910. Absolute must see, as well as the villa of the baroness Beatrice de Rothschild, born Ephrussi, built in Saint-Jean- Cap-Ferrat in 1905, which shelters royal collections and splendid gardens, without forgetting the Kérylos villa, in Beaulieu-sur-mer, dating from the same period, a Theodore Reinach dream, a distinguished Hellenist. This mastered “Art de vivre” attracted the regular suppliers of the royal houses, of the aristocracy, of the hyped actresses and of the great love-ladies. Within one century the poor littoral region had become the terrestrial paradise of the great people of this world. The Riviera, den of iniquity, where to learn anew the freedom and the pleasures of the great sun? Since then, the most amazing festivals and the most insane extravaganzas take place…

The First World War put an end to the ideals of a generation of Americans, who repudiated the virtues of the puritan motherland. A great number came to Paris and on the Coast to follow their dreams, in a perpetual village fair-like environment. Within a few years, the Americans reverse the tendency and summer becomes the queen of all seasons. In Cannes, restaurants, cabarets and dance halls open to jazz rhythms. The Sporting Club of the “Rue des Belges” (Street of the Belgians) is inaugurated in 1926 and the same year the Majestic opens its doors, followed by the Martinez in 1928 and the Miramar in 1929 as well as the Palm Beach, the rallying place for Americans in the Coast. At that time, the ocean liner Vulcania connects for the first time New York to Cannes with 1,000 passengers on board.

The Riviera continues to attract customers with strong purchasing power, for leisure level as well as for business. Privileged Destination par excellence in the world, each year, the Riviera enriches its offerings with new luxury hotels, shops and gastronomical places, extravagant beaches for the day and clubs for the night. The players are always honored in the casinos, the yachting enthusiasts find a quality welcome with sophisticated harbors, the golf players are, since a long time, in conquered grounds and music lovers appreciate the quality of the two operas and three philharmonic orchestras which productions are exported abroad.

The choice of supreme luxury can also be for art because the region proposes the most beautiful museums devoted to those who contributed to the renown of the Riviera: with Picasso in Antibes and Vallauris to Léger in Biot, with Chagall in Nice to Matisse in Nice and Vence, with Cocteau in Villefranche-sur-mer, the breathtaking Maeght foundation in Saint-Paul and the post-impressionists museum in the Annonciade in Saint-Tropez, the castle of Cagnes-sur-mer are as many refuges for the art lovers, who appreciate discovering villages of artists, ceramists in Vallauris, glassmakers in Biot. And to prolong the arts, many festivals, come summer, unroll their luxurious offering from Menton for music to Cannes for cinema, with dance in Monaco and Cannes, jazz in Juan and Nice, the musical hours in Biot, the “génération virtuoses” (virtuosos’ generation), “musiques au coeur” (music in the heart) and sacred art in Antibes, operas in Nice and Monte Carlo. And the “Joie de vivre” - as Picasso said - can go on: the sun of the Riviera revolves around the axis of luxury!