Six hectares of landscaped gardens unfurl like a green carpet as far as the
Mediterranean coastline to Beach Club, a private playground for guests of Le
Beauvallon.
Space and tranquillity set the hotel apart and the exclusivity of the
residential enclave that is Beauvallon, is highly valued by those who
want complete privacy away from the limelight, and yet all the excitement of the
Cote D'Azur is but a mere heartbeat away.
HistoryLe Beauvallon nestles in the shade of mimosa trees and grandfather
umbrella pines in a beautiful valley from where the hotel derives its name.
In 1911, utterly seduced by the beauty of this unspoilt area, Monsieur Emile
Bernheim, a reputed Parisian businessman, asked his friend, the architect
Flegenheimer, to build a palace hotel similar to those being built further along
the coast in Cannes and Nice. Construction of what is now Le Beauvallon was
completed in 1913.
In 1914, however, with the outbreak of the First World War, in an act
of patriotism, Monsieur Bernheim offered his newly finished hotel to the French
Red Cross as a hospital for convalescing soldiers.
After the war and some renovation work including the building of a 9 hole
golf course, the hotel finally opened for business. This marked the beginning of
the Golden Era for the hotel when anyone who was anyone came to stay at the
hotel, which at the time was known as the
Golf Hotel de Beauvallon.
Popular plays and works were written on the balconies and the rumour still
lingers that Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel "Tender is the Night"
was conceived at Le Beauvallon. A more established fact is that after the
huge success of his work "Toi et Moi", playwright Paul Géraldy
made his room on the fourth floor of the hotel the base from which he wrote many
other works.
During the course of the Second World War, Le Beauvallon was again
used as a military hospital then occupied by the French, Italian and German
troops until the arrival of the US troops shortly after the 15 August landings
in 1944.
Extensive repairs enabled the prestigious Golf Hotel de Beauvallon to
find its pre-war splendour and once again the Great and the Glamorous flocked to
holiday at the hotel. Lady Churchill, Michèle Morgan, the Grand Duchess of
Luxemburg, Senator Edward Kennedy and his family, all the post-war greats were
here.
Le Beauvallon is - an idyllic and unique spot where time really
does seem to stand still.