Inside The New Dior Spa at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc

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The Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France is among those rare properties with such an unassailable reputation for beauty and elegance that dropping its name in conversation is enough to elicit a gasp. Surely, there is no one who does not dream of visiting this majestic Grand Dame of the Cote d’Azur; or who, having experience its magic, does not long to return.

The legendary hideaway, perched atop a rocky outcropping at the southern tip of Cap d’Antibes where the vista in every direction is a thousand shades of blue, is celebrating its 150^thanniversary this year—and what a century and a half it has been. Since it was first conceived as an artists’ retreat by the publisher of Le Figaro in 1870, Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc has welcomed virtually every star in the firmament, whether literary, artistic, cinematic, political, or otherwise, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marlene Dietrich, Pablo Picasso, Elizabeth Taylor (plus every single one of her husbands), the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, and the Kennedy clan. In the 1960s and 70s, its gleaming white terraces were a playground for the bronzed jet-set, as chronicled by Slim Aarons, and it has long served as a bolthole for A-listers dodging the cameras of the Cannes Croisette.

Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc is timelessly, refreshingly resistant to change, yet this month marks the debut of perhaps the only addition that could make a place this perfect even more so: An onsite Dior spa. Tucked away on the edge of the hotel’s sprawling grounds, studded with blooming pittosporum hedges emitting the scent of orange blossom, fragrant rosemary bushes, and towering Aleppo pines, just behind a 100-year-old rose garden dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, the Dior Spa Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc is a haven of serenity. The space—outfitted in blond woods, marble, and plush white furnishings—encompasses four treatment rooms, each bedecked in Dior’s signature Toile du Jouy patterned fabric, a private cabana for couples’ treatments, and an idyllic outdoor relaxation space where one can sip a rosewater elixir while admiring a wall of Dior toile tiles.

But which indulgence will you choose? The custom Hydrafacial treatment, which is a new exclusive protocol for Dior spas, exfoliates and replenishes skin using Dior’s PHA-and-niacinamide-powered Floral Peeling Lotion; four “Dioriginels Rituals” take their inspiration from the Riviera’s rocks, sea, gardens, and sun (during the two-hour Enfleurage Corporel Ritual, for example, one’s body is slathered with shea butter infused with flowers); and the Riviera Solar Glow treatment uses the new Dior Solar range to repair any UV damage one might have acquired while basking by the Eden-Roc’s iconic cliffside pool. Taking a cue from Christian Dior’s love of flowers (his own rose-bestrewn residence, Chateau de la Colle Noire, is just a few miles away from Antibes), there are also six holistic wellness “bouquets,” featuring a personalized suite of services that can be tailored over the course of a few days to enhance everything from immunity to hormonal balance.

Just as Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc excels in quiet (yet decidedly unfussy) luxury, in which one’s every need is anticipated and unobtrusively fulfilled, each detail in the Dior Spa is considered—even the delectable miniature pastry you are given to nibble on post-treatment, paired with a beverage that is scented, ever-so-faintly, with orange flower water. And because scent is so inextricably intertwined with memory, consider this: the spa’s small boutique showcases Collection Privée Christian Dior perfumes, including the exquisitely evocative Eden-Roc fragrance and the soon-to-launch rose-and-fig-inflected Dior Diorriviera eau de parfum, inspired by a visit Dior perfumer Francis Kurkdjian made to the gardens at Chateau de la Colle Noire. Why not pick one up to spritz on your wrists at some other time, in some other place, when you wish to be transported back to Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc once more?

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