It doesn’t take much to fall in love with the French Riviera. Unbelievably turquoise waters, over 300 days of sunshine per year, charming medieval towns and sweeping vistas make it a magical place. Smack dab in the middle of it all is Nice. While not the most exclusive of the Riviera’s enclaves, it’s one of Europe’s original “resort cities” and a marvelous combination of beauty, authenticity and history.
The Palais de la Mediterranée has long been a landmark on the Nice waterfront. Originally built in 1929, it epitomized the 1930s glamor of the Riviera as a hotel, casino, theatre, bar and restaurant. The original hotel closed in the 1970s, and most of the interior was demolished when it was renovated over a decade later. However, the columned façade still remains and is now a historic monument that fronts Nice’s Hyatt Regency, one of the more unique Hyatt-branded properties that I’ve ever been to.
Hyatt Regency Nice Bottom Line Review
Amongst Hyatt’s properties in Europe, the Palais de la Mediteranée is one that’s often mentioned among folks’ favorites, and deservedly so. Set right on the Promenade des Anglais with a famous Art Deco façade, this might be my favorite Hyatt Regency ever. The location couldn’t be better, the service and elite treatment are superb and there’s marvelous views over the turquoise water of the French Riviera. It’s certainly not cheap, but we loved our stay here. Thumbs Up
- Price: The hotel is a Hyatt Category 7 and costs 25K/30K/35K points per night depending on whether it’s at off-peak, standard or peak pricing. We were there at the tail-end of peak season in early-September and paid 35K points per night. Cash rates were ~€675 ($710) per night for a standard room and over €850 per night for a sea view.
- Value: Like much of the Riviera, the price varies tremendously between high and low seasons. In winter, you might be able to find a room for ~€200 per night, but in high season, that shoots up to ~€500-600 (or €800 for sea view). Our value for the average redemption of Hyatt points is 1.7 cents each, so even at 35K per night, it’s a good deal in high season. On the other hand, 25K in during the slow times can sometimes be suboptimal deal when compared to the cash rates.
- Location: The hotel is located right on the Nice’s famous Promenade des Anglais behind the Plage de Carras (one of the many beaches along the waterfront). It’s about a 10-minute walk to Old Nice. The airport is ~10 min. away by car or an easy ~30-minute trip via public transit.
- Room: We booked a standard room with one king and were proactively upgraded to a spacious, ~484sq ft ocean view deluxe room with a marvelous view of the pool area, historic façade and the sea beyond. The size of both the room and bathroom were terrific, and the ocean view balcony was a delightful place to watch the sunset from before going for dinner. For the second half of our stay, we applied a Suite Upgrade Award and were moved to an ~1100sq ft Prestige Sea View Suite. The suite was massive and came with a walk-in closet, dining room that would seat at least six people and a massive balcony that overlooked the pool area with partial ocean views. The room’s most appealing feature was the oceanfront living room that offered a picture-perfect, floor-to-ceiling window with an unobstructed view of the Mediterranean.
- Parking: Valet parking is €40/24 hours during low season and €50/24 hours between mid-May and September. There is self-parking available via an attached public parking garage as well, but it seemed like those who tried to use it sometimes had problems find space over the weekend.
- Resort/Destination Fee: None.
- Internet: Very good throughout most of the property.
- Service: Excellent. The front desk that we interacted with always addressed us by name after we checked-in. The airline lost my luggage on the flight from Spain, and the concierge team was very proactive when trying to recover it and communicate with me about what they found. Housekeeping and bell staff were terrific. In typical French fashion, the restaurant coffee service wasn’t always the fastest.
- Turndown service: Nightly.
- Dining:
-
Le 3e Restaurant Terrace: Primary hotel restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, both inside and outdoors. Of course, the ocean view terrace is the prime real estate. This is where the elite breakfast is served. Open daily for lunch from 12-2:30pm and for dinner from 7-10pm. There is also an all-day menu that is served between 11:30am and 11:30pm.
- Le 3e Bar: Bar/lounge located at the rear of the terrace that serves food all day. Both drinks and an all-day menu can be had between 11:30am and 11:30pm.
-
- Spa: Incredibly, there isn’t an in-house spa, but they’re able to arrange some treatments on-property. There is a steam room and sauna that is open for all guests.
- Fitness Room: There’s a fitness center on the 3rd floor level beside the indoor portion of the pool that has a smattering of machines, an area for yoga/stretching, a steam room and a sauna. Oh, and a ping-pong table.
- Hyatt Globalist Benefits:
- Room Upgrade: We booked a standard room with one king and were proactively upgraded to a lovely ~454sq ft, ocean view king room. For the portion of our stay that we applied a suite upgrade to, we received a double upgrade to a premium, 1100sq ft Prestige Sea View suite.
- Free Breakfast: Served on the ocean view terrace. Coffee, espresso drinks and other beverages were made-to-order and delivered via table service. The breakfast buffet was quite extensive, with both cold and hot dishes. There was a sizeable of egg dishes that could be ordered as well, from two different stations (one indoors, one outside). The eggs benedict was delicious.
- Club Lounge: None.
- Late Checkout: We were automatically given a 4pm checkout.
- Welcome Amenity: A bottle of local wine and a bag of regional crackers. We were actually given the same amenity for a second time when we switched rooms.
- Would I stay again? Absolutely. It’s a lovely property with a palpably historic feel, a great location and ocean views galore.
Pros
- Marvelous water vistas from the ocean view rooms.
- Standard rooms are quite spacious.
- Superb location on the Promenade des Anglais, within walking distance of just about anything you want to visit in Nice.
- Breakfast on the oceanfront terrace is delightful.
- Very good elite recognition and seem to do everything they can to upgrade Globalists.
Cons
- Regardless of whether you use cash or points, it’s expensive.
- I would imagine that there’s a significant difference in feel between rooms with a sea view and those without (and the prices reflect it).
- For those who so desire, there’s no in-house spa (and the fitness area is fairly lackluster).
Image Gallery
Hyatt Regency Nice Prestige Sea View Suite
Hyatt Regency Nice King Deluxe Sea View Room
Hyatt Regency Nice Restaurant and Bar
Hyatt Regency Pool and Fitness Area
Hyatt Regency Nice Public Areas
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Stayed here last summer for 4 nights and wish I’d just stayed a night or two. Had come from Hotel Martinez, which was probably my first mistake as that was near perfection. The rooms are severely dated, room view was of the pillar that overlooks the sea, noise level from the band that plays downstairs nightly was annoying and their breakfast was subpar. Not at all what I envisioned or what I thought the photos represented. (also a Hyatt Globalist).
This is a 4 star hotel at best with a 5 star location. I’d skip this and go to Cannes or stay elsewhere.
This hotel can also be booked through AmEx Fine Hotels and Resorts with Globalist-like benefits (free breakfast, possible upgrade, late checkout, 85 euros property credit and $200 FHR statement credit). For an one-night booking in February (during Carnival), the AmEx Travel Portal had the same price as a refundable rate on the Hyatt Web site ($239). A few week in advance, it would be possible to book a standard room for as low as $180 directly with Hyatt.
If you do not forget to add your Hyatt membership number to FHR booking, you will earn elite nights! I also earned 2x Hyatt points with an ongoing promotion.
The King Deluxe room has such a wonderful sea view so we chose to have breakfast in the room/on the balcony for the duration of our stay.
Yeah, I was going to say, we went there in February and price was as per above. Four nights plus a suite upgrade made it seem like a bargain. Found a boulangerie a couple of blocks in that put everything out at half price after 7pm — we were living large!
Great review. How many days do you recommend we should stay in Nice?
There are some ideas to consider:
I liked taking trains and trams in Nice, but our only attempt to use a bus was very disappointing – after boarding the bus #15 on Cap Ferrat, we were sitting there for 25 minutes at the same stop before giving up, walking out, having a dinner at “Le Saint Jean” restaurant instead and taking Bolt to the hotel)
Not related to your question, but the weather was good most of the time (as expected in February). Carnival crowds and road closures required creative routing through the city. There was a significant presence of armed police and military patrols, even a few Coast Guard boats during parades.
I went a few years back and stayed 2 nights in this Hyatt and 2 nights at Hotel Martinez in Cannes. The city of Nice was interesting (though relatively small), a third night wouldve been nice. I dont feel the need to get back to Cannes necessarily (any of a half dozen beach towns in the area would provide a similiar experience with less pretention), although the Hotel Martinez was fantastic.
Thanks Tim, very timely, as we’re staying there in September (a sea view room when the calendar opened was ~$405 / night, so we decided to pay cash rather than use points). Your review makes me look forward to our stay even more!