Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo

Built between 1890 and 1896 to a design by Jean Marquet, the Hermitage opened as the hotel for guests who found the Hôtel de Paris too loud, and it still reads that way. The lift and the corridors give onto the Jardin d'Hiver, a glazed rotunda whose cupola carries Gustave Eiffel's signature, and the salons keep their stucco and their Carrara marble. There are 278 rooms and suites, the best of them turned to the sea and the Rock, several with terraces over the port. The hotel belongs to the Société des Bains de Mer, so a guest walks under cover to the Thermes Marins spa, to the Casino and to the Hôtel de Paris next door, without once stepping outside.

The table

The reason to book now is the food. In 2025 Yannick Alléno took over the restaurants here, and by the 2026 Michelin guide he held three stars across two rooms under one roof. L'Abysse Monte-Carlo, his Japanese counter built around sushi and French sauce work, holds two. Pavyllon, the counter restaurant that opens onto a terrace above the sea, holds one. For a hotel that had drifted towards the purely grand, it is a sharp return to form at the table.

Why it's in VANE

Monaco gives VANE two palaces now, and they make an honest pair. The Métropole is the independent outsider; the Hermitage is the insider, wired into the Société des Bains de Mer and the whole machinery of Monte-Carlo. Come for the Alléno kitchens and the seawater spa, take a room high on the sea side, and the Belle Époque does the rest. Off-season, when the terraces along the coast close, the covered route between hotel, spa and casino is the point.