Nice's Newest Hotel Was Once a 17th-century Convent — Now It's Home to Roman Baths, Farm-to-table Restaurants, and One of the City's Best Bars

Hôtel du Couvent in Nice's Old Town was supposed to be my victory lap after a week of road-tripping between Provençal resorts boasting 18-hole golf courses and wine cellars. Instead, it was more of a record scratch.

First tip-off: My GPS tapping out at the pedestrian zone's edge. At this hotel, your journey starts where Google Maps ends — right where Nice gets too old for cars. A phone call to reception (a step I'd overlooked) summoned a golf cart and a ride through streets that would give a Vespa claustrophobia. As we wove through, Nice's usual Mediterranean buzz faded to white noise. The pastel facades and wrought-iron balconies felt more like a film set than real life.

Then we pulled up at the foot of Colline du Château, and there it was: the Couvent de la Visitation Sainte-Claire, circa 1604, looking decidedly un-hotel-like. Arrival was a clever bit of theater, separating you from both modern Nice and your own reality with surgical precision. Golf courses and vineyards suddenly felt very... last week.

Hotelier Valéry Grégo's vision for Hôtel du Couvent isn't so much restoration as divine reinterpretation. The Perseus Properties founder has assembled a design world dream team: his brother Louis-Antoine on architecture, design firm Festen for interiors, with Studio Mumbai and Studio Méditerranée handling the exterior work. It's a $100 million wager, reconciling 17th-century bones with 21st-century demands.

"Beauty through utility," Grégo said, a phrase that could easily be dismissed as fluff if it weren't so deftly executed throughout the 88 rooms. "We're celebrating the European spirit of the Grand Tour by reclaiming a sense of culture and landscape." The design doesn't preach — it converts with the quiet persistence of a Gregorian chant.

The welcome ritual is deceptively simple: a warm madeleine and an espresso that recalibrated my caffeine standards. Within hours, the hotel's nooks and crannies proved just as magnetic as Nice itself. Over two days, I slipped into a quasi-monastic routine: breakfast under orange trees with pastries from house-milled ancient grains, alternating between Roman-inspired baths and the contemplative silence of my suite. The hotel's hidden acre of garden, home to more than 300 plant species, offers a light seemingly engineered for introspection — or perhaps that's just Grégo's sleight of hand.

Hôtel du Couvent pulls off a rare feat: It's both a refuge from Nice and a portal to it. I could have burrowed in for a week without venturing out or used it as a springboard to the Côte d'Azur. Either way, FOMO never crossed my mind. Grégo's aim to transform guests from tourists to "neighbors" is ambitious — but he might just be onto something.

"People hunger for inspiration and wonder," he posits, outlining his ethos, "but they're increasingly conscious of their impact." It's a canny market assessment, prompting the hotel to blur the visitor-local divide with surgical precision. The effect is so subtle yet potent that you might find yourself contemplating vows, albeit temporary, to extend your stay.

Here’s my unvarnished take on what might be the ultimate urban sanctuary.

The Rooms

The rooms at Hôtel du Couvent are a study in controlled design. Spread across four buildings, the 88 spaces range from monastic "cells" to suites carved from former communal areas.

Festen's Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay, fresh off projects like Portofino's Splendido Mare, didn't fall into the overdesign trap; they let the building's 400-year history do the heavy lifting. Limestone corridors and original cell doors set the stage; natural linens and soft lighting fill in the blanks. The rooms feel austere and indulgent, while Italian flea market finds rub shoulders with bespoke pieces crafted with an ecclesiastical bent.

Blink and you'll miss the corridor frescoes by a Notre Dame restoration artist. Perfumer Azzi Glass's delightful lavender-based amenities are there if you want them, invisible if you don't. The result? Effortless minimalism with a backbone, sophistication without the jazz hands.

Food and Drink

In its exquisite simplicity, Hôtel du Couvent's food pays homage to the space's former tenants.  The on-site boulangerie, a holdover from the nuns' tenure, churns out morning pastries using flour milled in-house from ancient grains. This commitment to tradition and locality extends throughout the property's dining venues. La Guingette offers a laid-back lunch scene that elevates pool-side dining without pretension — the fritto misto a la Provençale and salade niçoise are standouts.

For a more hometown vibe, Le Bistrot des Serruriers at street level is the spot to share a table (and probably a bottle) with Nice locals. But it's Chef Thomas Vételé's Le Restaurant du Couvent that's the real showstopper. Here, hyper-local dishes like barbajuan share menu space with more ambitious fare such as marjoram oil-marinated bonito.

Vételé isn't one to rest on his laurels, though. He's cultivating an on-site herb garden and making clever use of the property's citrus trees — the gnocchi with preserved lemon is exhibit A. Come nightfall, the cloister-turned-bar is the place to be. Sommelier Agata Szucka doesn't miss a beat, whether you're in the mood for a reimagined Negroni or a spot-on local rosé pairing for your pissaladière. All in all, this is elevated cuisine without the altitude sickness.

Activities and Experiences

Hôtel du Couvent is a full-blown urban retreat. The 66-foot lap pool, a summer showpiece, offers a rare pocket of calm suspended above Nice's bustle. Complemented by a year-round exercise studio and a spa channeling Roman bath traditions (more on that below), even weekend stays double as a wellness getaway. But the hotel's real trick is how it marries city convenience with pastoral charm.

It's doubled down on nature-centric activities, with plans for a Saturday farmers market that'll transform the courtyard into a microcosm of Provençal life open to the public. The culinary program goes beyond mere consumption — you can roll up your sleeves for cooking classes and bread-making workshops. For the wellness crowd, Gregory Unrein, a pharmacist-turned-herbalist, concocts remedies that would make the former resident nuns nod in approval with his apothecary sessions. Excursions to Avit Ghibaudo's farm in Touët-sur-Var are also offered, in addition to painting and ceramics workshops led by local talent for the artistically inclined.

The Spa

Les Thermes du Couvent is an underground complex that takes its cues from Roman bath ruins in Cimiez's hills, but it's no relic. Curated by baths manager Alice Peyret, the Roman bath circuit is the main draw. This three-hour sequence moves you from the tepidarium's gentle warmth to the caldarium's intensity before jolting you into the frigidarium's chill.

The facial menu is where things get interesting. The hotel's signature treatment was developed by beauty curator Muse & Heroine, and De Mamiel and Activist products feature prominently. But the real standout is the Manual Deep Lift Facial — a technique exclusive to the hotel, courtesy of Parisian facialist, Melinda Bognar. For the adventurous, there's a body exfoliation using a modern take on the strigil, an ancient Roman tool that is essentially a fancy skin scraper.

Family-friendly Offerings

Hôtel du Couvent doesn't let its sophisticated air get in the way of catering to families. It's got the basics covered with connecting rooms and essential kid gear, and the kids club, though not cheap at 150 euros a day, is less about babysitting and more about mini-immersions into the hotel's ethos — think herb workshops, flower arranging, and baking lessons.

Accessibility and Sustainability

Eco-minded without the self-congratulation, accessibility without the retrofitted feel. Elevators serve all floors, and rooms meet ADA standards. A lift to the garden level opens up a long, step-free route to outdoor restaurant La Guingette. Here, landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and designer James Basson have eschewed manicured perfection for a more eclectic, edible landscape. The pool, however, remains step-access only. As for sustainability, it's more action than talk. Plastic is a rarity, and most of what you eat comes from either the on-site garden or Ghibaudo's farm in Touët-sur-Var.

Location

Hôtel du Couvent sits smack in Nice's Old Town, where streets are narrow and buildings look perpetually sunburned. The beach is 15 minutes on foot, but that's not the point. You're here for the neighborhood: bistros serving Niçoise fare with an Italian accent, the Cours Saleya market's lavender-obsessed stalls, and easy access to the Matisse and Chagall museums. Want a view? Hike up to Château de Nice. It's a calf-burner, but it delivers.

How to Get the Most Value Out of Your Stay

The hotel is part of Marriott's Bonvoy's Luxury Collection, allowing guests to earn and redeem coveted points. The hotel offers several packages worth considering, like a well-being experience at Les Thermes du Couvent and a family offer of a 50 percent discount on a second room for children.