Hotel Royal Riviera

We took advantage of an Expedia deal to grab some late sun and booked the hotel for the October half term, with a view to exploring the Riviera. As a young couple we understood that it would be a popular destination for families but as my girlfriend is a primary teacher, we have no problem with this as it's our only option to book during term breaks. What we didn't expect to find was the hotel pool area was very small for a 5* and became completely dominated by two large families (4 young children each), making it almost unusable for the rest of the guests. The hotel itself also provided little alternatives in terms of leisure, with the private beach not serviced during the off season and the spa and gym facilities seeming disappointingly limited for a hotel of its size. When coupled with the hotel still charging peak prices for its catering (75 euros each for a buffet breakfast!) it meant we were almost using this wonderful accommodation as an extremely expensive hostel as we explored Nice and Monaco for most of our stay (both 30+ mins by public transport). The staff were very friendly and accommodating but additional erroneous charges on our bill for breakfast and minibar items left a bit of a sour taste on what was otherwise a fantastic holiday in a lovely part of the world.

The hotel is ok, definitely not 5 star. The property itself is nice enough. We enjoyed their beach club, even more than Paloma Beach Club which is supposedly THE spot and was recommended by the hotel. It’s next to the water sport place so you can rent jet skis, etc. The hotel pool is full of babies in diapers. We were grossed out. The room was small but expected in France, and nice enough to get a good night rest. The hotel location is great. We did the Saint Jean Cap Ferrat hike and it was easy to start from the hotel. I highly recommend it, and you pass by a cute area where you can grab breakfast before you go. On the other side of the hotel is Beaulieu Sur Met which is cute with great restaurants (highly recommend Aristee!) So the bad: (1) concierge service is clearly getting a kick back. Awful recommendations. (2) the hotel restaurant is INSANELY expensive (50 EUR for a bad continental breakfast?! And a burger?!) — do not eat there. Great restaurants close by, (3) transportation from the hotel is slow and pricey Overall, I would never stay at this hotel again. For a splurge, I would stay at the Four Seasons or another close by town.