VERA Favourite · Partner
Bar Fitzgerald
Art Deco, a piano and the Fitzgeralds' sunset view
VERA Favourite · Partner
Bar Fitzgerald
Art Deco, a piano and the Fitzgeralds' sunset view
In the villa where F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald spent a Riviera summer, the Hôtel Belles Rives keeps a piano bar in the style of a 1930s ocean liner, with a terrace facing the Estérel and the Lérins Islands.
Why VERA picked it
Because some rooms carry their history lightly and beautifully. Original parquet, black marble and a pianist at night – and one of the finest sunset views on the coast.
The house of Tender Is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda fell for the Cap d'Antibes in 1925, staying with their friends Gerald and Sara Murphy. A few months later they settled into Villa Saint-Louis on the shore, and there Fitzgerald began the early chapters of Tender Is the Night. In 1929 Boma Estène and his wife Simone bought the villa and turned it into the Hôtel Belles Rives, built right on the water's edge. The Estène-Chauvin family still runs it today.
An ocean liner on the shore
The bar is designed on the lines of a 1930s ocean liner and belongs to Europe's circle of Historic and Heritage Cafés. Its curved counter is dressed in black marble, and the oak parquet and windows are the originals from when the building went up. Crystal chandeliers hang overhead, and a restored original fresco unfolds as a stylised map of the French Riviera.
Through the day
- Afternoon tea, served with the care of a Parisian palace.
- Signature cocktails into the night.
- Pianists in the late evening.
- A relaxed dining menu, lighter than the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant, La Passagère.
The view
The terrace looks over the Mediterranean towards the Estérel hills and the Lérins Islands, and it is at its most memorable as the sun goes down.
Good to know
| Where | 33 Boulevard Édouard Baudoin, 06160 Antibes – Juan-les-PinsJuan-les-Pins, Belles RivesApple MapsGoogle Maps | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening hours |
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| Phone | +33 4 93 61 02 79 | ||||||||||||||
| info@bellesrives.com | |||||||||||||||
| Website | bellesrives.com | ||||||||||||||
| @bellesrives | |||||||||||||||
| Worth knowing | Open every day from 3pm to 11pm. Both the bar and its terrace are accessible to people with reduced mobility. |
Sources: bellesrives.com – The Fitzgerald Bar page (1930s liner design, Historic and Heritage Cafés, black marble counter, original parquet and windows, fresco, afternoon tea, pianists, daily 15:00–23:00, accessibility) · bellesrives.com – home page (Estène-Chauvin family since 1929, La Passagère Michelin-starred, view, phone, email) · bellesrives.com – History and identity (Fitzgeralds 1925, Villa Saint-Louis, Tender Is the Night, Boma and Simone Estène 1929) · bellesrives.com – Contact (address)
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