There aren’t many places in the world where killer design meets anticipatory service in a location that makes you hot under the collar. Hotel 3.14 Cannes is one of them – a small, dazzling boutique hotel located steps away from Cannes’ star-studded Promenade de la Croisette, with a rooftop terrace and private garden where some of the city’s most exclusive events have taken place.
I arrive on a crisp December morning and rub my eyes as I walk into the colourful lobby. In the centre of the room, a garden gnome sits on the top of a Murano fountain, a journeyman who welcomes travellers to the refreshingly quirky hotel. This sets the tone of what’s to follow.
I complete the check-in formalities in the comfort of The Library, a colourful 24-hour space with a collection of books on art and design, and a selection of dishes from chef Mario d’Orio available around the clock.
But it is the suite that really sets this hotel apart. Up on the third floor, rooms are designed around the theme of “Oceania – distant islands”.
The hotel’s modest façade belies the enormous space within the suite, which greets you with a vast living area that ends with a gorgeous set of French windows looking out down the road to the Croisette and the Cote d’Azur beyond. A neutral palette of sandy creams and dark woods is immediately reminiscent of tranquil beaches and calm coral reefs, the windows filling the room with natural light.
A four-seater dining room table made of heavy dark wood occupies the left-hand side of the room, while the remaining space is home to a chaise lounge, wicker table and baskets, and an enormous wicker cocoon-like chair that’s perfect for indolent afternoon naps. Raffia curtains frame the views of the sea.
In the bedroom, white drapes hang from the bed frame and the sand-coloured headboard, further enhancing the open, breezy atmosphere. The open bathroom has a wooden floor, creating a wet space separated from the bedroom by a hydrotherapy bathtub complete with colour-changing underwater lights and Jacuzzi jets.
The individually designed rooms were created by designer Karine Ellena-Partouche and her sister Alexandra Ellen, with themes reflecting each of the continents. Daughters of a pilot, the sisters created the hotel in celebration of the destinations that made an impression on them while they were growing up, they say.
If the idea was to create a destination within a destination for overseas visitors to Cannes, they certainly succeeded. Returning from a conference at the Palais des Festivals, a short walk down the road often dotted with celebrities and VIPs, I step out of one glamorous fantasyland and into another.
THE IMPORTANT BIT
Suite: Prestige Suite – Oceania
What: Hôtel 3.14 Cannes
Where: 5, rue François Einesy,
06400 Cannes
Price: suite from EUR 499
(US $648) per night
www.314cannes.com
