Traditional luxury at the Carlton Hotel, Cannes

The Carlton: a façade to remember

Cannes is a city of grand hotels, and they don’t come any grander than the Carlton, whose vast white façade, towering above the famous Croisette, is one of the city’s signature sights.

The hotel was built between 1909 and 1913, much of the money supplied by a Russian aristocrat who wanted to create a Côte d’Azur resort for his wealthy countrymen. Given the popularity of the place now with Russian visitors he had more foresight than he perhaps realised.

The hotel’s 343 rooms include 39 suites, each named after an actor who has a link with Cannes and its film festival. The grandest of these are on the seventh floor and include the Grace Kelly, the Cary Grant and the Sean Connery.

The hotel is redolent with the sort of old-world opulence that is synonymous with one of France’s palatial hotels.

Marble pillars, ornate ceilings and wrought iron balustrades hint at the glamour of former days and the architectural shorthand of a great château.

In the restaurants, brown-waistcoated waiters are impressively attentive without being omnipresent and show a certain, hard to define, ability to judge clients and the type of service that is right for each individual.

The best buffet in the world?

The Carlton’s two restaurants necessitate a certain depth of pocket, but the hotel’s regular culinary highlights also offer a certain element of accessibility for many.

Friday’s lobster and champagne menu, served in the Carlton Restaurant, is a perennial favourite with locals and visitors alike. Priced at €65 per person, this comprises lobster-based starter and main course plus dessert in addition to two glasses of champagne.

Culinary highlight of the week, however, is probably Sunday’s family brunch. Venue for this is the hotel’s Grand Salon – an Edwardian extravaganza of a place, all marble pillars, ornate ceilings and opulent chandeliers.

For the price of €65 per person, patrons can indulge it what might just be the world’s finest all-you-can eat buffet.

The whole central section of the ballroom is given over to a mouth-watering array of delicacies; from freshly harvested fruits de mer, to smoked salmon, to pates, to hams, to roasted meat and fish.

And that’s before you turn your attention to the wide selection of desserts and cheeses.

Wine is included in the price and it comes as no surprise to learn that patrons regularly pull up their chairs for the full duration of the feast – midday to 3pm.

As might be expected of a building that can trace its history back almost 100 years, the Carlton has many a story associated with it.

A hint of pink

During the film festival in May, this is the most prestigious place to stay, with today’s stars following in the footsteps of greats of yesteryear.

In 1958 it was at the Carlton that Grace Kelly first met Prince Rainier of Monaco and it was here that the actress (and Cary Grant, among others) filmed parts of the Alfred Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief.

Another tale relates to the distinctive domes that mark out the Carlton from its neighbours. These are said to have been inspired by the Spanish performer and general good-time girl,

Agustina Otero Iglesias (aka La Belle Otero). 

Otero was a famous figure in society circles in the days before World War I, reputedly counting among her lovers King Albert I of Monaco, King Edward VII of England and King Alexander I of Serbia. The Carlton's domes, so the story goes, were an homage to her breasts.

The Carlton Hotel

58 La Croisette

Cannes

France

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