Book This: French Riviera
A super chic seaside hotel steeped in 1930s glamour, and the novel about expat Bright Young Things living in Nice to read while you're there
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WHAT TO READ: The Rock Pool by Cyril Connolly
Critic/bon vivant/passionate observer of life Cyril Connolly's only novel chronicles the adventures of an aspiring writer in search of F. Scott Fitzgerald's chic Riviera lifestyle, but who discovers instead a small French artists' colony that's altogether darker and more callous. A satire on Britain's upper class pretensions and aspirations (think Tender is the Night meets Saltburn) Connolly writes with strong undertones of sexuality. Take this passage: "Dry again?" said the Crab to the Rock-Pool. "So would you be," replied the Rock-Pool, if you had to satisfy, twice a day, the insatiable sea." Characters are always always sleeping off hangovers in dark airless rooms and the feeling tends to stay with you — you'll want to make sure you stay hydrated while reading it. His descriptions of expat fringe communities echo the 1930s when the South of France attracted hordes of creative types like Somerset Maugham, Thomas Mann, and Ernest Hemingway. Connolly was a brilliant epigrammatic writer whose later book, The Unquiet Grave — a collection of musings and aphorisms in diary form — garnered him widespread acclaim, and a few indelible zingers here pop up in this early work too, like this one: "Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising."
WHERE TO STAY: Hotel Belle Plage, Cannes
Built in the 1930s as a seaside hotel for aesthetically minded travelers like the bohemian characters out of The Rock Pool, the Belle Plage has recently been glamorously tucked and refreshed for the 21st century. With geometric curves nodding to its Art Deco past and a focus on local time-honored materials like wood, plaster, and terrazzo, it radiates an airy elegance that feels both timeless and modern. Boasting a great location in the charming Suquet neighborhood (it's just a short stroll to the beach or to Nice's trendiest thoroughfares), a rooftop bar with stunning views of the entire bay, and classic rooms starting at less than $200, we think this design-focused Mediterranean gem is worth checking into.
For more exclusive travel content with a focus on design and craft, explore In Hand.
Written by Lisa Borgnes Giramonti and Meghan McEwen, IN HAND is part travelogue and part travel ethos — exploring the intersection of design, craft and travel; celebrating people, places and objects.