The birth of a timeless place
Set back from the hustle and bustle of the Place du Casino, Monte-Carlo Beach soon proved to be more than just a hotel: its beach, Olympic-size swimming pool and spa made it a complex focused on sea bathing, relaxation and water sports. The Monte-Carlo Beach façade, with its terra cotta-colored curves and sober styling, contrasts sharply with the Beaux-Arts-style buildings on Place du Casino.
The Monte Carlo Beach symbolizes the cultural change of the 1920s, reflecting the advent of the summer season. Customers no longer shunned the sun. The Société des Bains de Mer closely followed this “cultural revolution” and undertook the construction of a beach, a swimming pool and a “waterfront” hotel. The launch was entrusted to Elsa Maxwell, whose culture, imported from the USA, was in vogue. A famous columnist, writer and socialite, Elsa Maxwell is a PR woman before her time.
In 1928, the opening of the Monte-Carlo Beach was marked by a memorable inauguration party, hosted by Elsa Maxwell, and reported in all the society columns. The Monte-Carlo Beach became
the new meeting place for the artistic, musical and cultural elite.
In 1929, the work was completed by Roger Séassal, and the hotel was designed in the pure Art Deco style of Californian villas. The Monte-Carlo Beach’s curved geometry hugs the coastline and places it in the shade of the pine forest. The sobriety of the façade makes it a place of
intimate charm and discreet, elegant luxury.
For its 80th anniversary, the Monte-Carlo Beach is getting a facelift and entrusting its decoration to India Madhavi, who reinterprets the hotel as an “ode to the Mediterranean”. In addition, the pine forest invites itself onto the beach.
A new plant environment, imagined and designed by landscape architect Jean Mus, now lulls guests into a seaside promenade.
Even today, Monte Carlo Beach is a Monegasque institution frequented by the elite and wealthy tourists.
Unique and timeless, Le Monte-Carlo Beach Relais & Châteaux perpetuates the elegance of the Riviera and the art of entertaining of the Société des Bains de Mer.
Entirely redesigned by architect-designer India Madhavi, Le Monte-Carlo Beach is an ode to the Mediterranean. The furniture was largely designed by India Madhavi: “For the Monte-Carlo Beach, I imagined a romance, a timeless sentimental story, nourished by the imagery of the Riviera and the spirit of the great era of the 1930s, in order to revive this mythical place with modernity and elegance
” India Madhavi.
The 40 rooms and suites are harmonious, yet all different. The sea and the light invite themselves in, creating a feeling of space and lightness.
The Monte-Carlo Beach’s elegant rooms and suites are also surprising. High-tech meets poetry and charm.
How can we fail to fall in love with these graceful murals? Created by Aurore de la Morinerie, these reminiscences of Matisse respond lightly to the style of the rooms, all stripes, diamonds and colors.
The management of the Monte-Carlo SBM Group wanted one of the most renowned designer-architects to restore the Monte-Carlo Beach to its former elegance. Trained as an architect, scenographer and
designer, India Mahdavi never stops revealing places and extracting their uniqueness.
Monte-Carlo Beach Club
As the sun rises, so does the desire to relax and enjoy lunch on the terrace. All the more reason to take advantage of the Beach Club’s heavenly setting, with its Olympic-size seawater pool heated to 24°. In this dream setting, the private beach, with its chic striped canvas cabanas, is waiting to welcome you. No need to look elsewhere: the Beach Club takes care of everything for maximum relaxation. Let yourself be tempted by the vitamin-packed or relaxing
water activities for juniors and adults. For swimming, water scooters and jet skis, water skiing, wakeboarding, parasailing and flyfish, the Monte Carlo Beach Club is your choice. This year, flyboarding is also available exclusively. Children are king here, and can take part in Club Marmorata activities for ages 3 to 8 in July and August. Supervised by professionals, they take part in daily themed activities and can also enjoy lunch and snacks. Teenagers have access to arcade games, table tennis and a volleyball court.
Paolo Sari at Monte-Carlo Beach, first star in 2014
Born in Venice in a house in Castello, the “sestier” (neighborhood) behind the Danieli, forty-something Paolo Sari lived his entire childhood in the aromas of his mamma’s “cucina italiana”: dried pasta in the laundry, hand-rolled gnocchi, bolognese turned with
constancy, and vegetable risotti from the Rialto market – a gourmet education that leaves its mark on the memory. He travels the world and the most exclusive restaurants to impose his traditional cuisine. Few Italian chefs have been able to expand their repertoire so extensively: cooking is a skill, an art that develops in front of the stove. It was at the island’s San Clemente that the general management of the Monte Carlo Beach discovered Paolo Sari’s tasty, simplistic and highly accomplished preparations. He was won over and hired by Monte-Carlo Beach in 2012. Eighteen months later, the chef at Elsa (in memory of Elsa Maxwell, the famous American columnist), SBM’s Relais & Châteaux restaurant, was awarded his first star – there are only three starred Italian chefs in France. Not many. It’s the elite of cucina italiana.
At the helm of the restaurant bathed in azure light, Paolo Sari imposes an absolute rule: 100% organic for everything that goes into the kitchen, even the pepper and the white and rosé champagne. For this Venetian with a vast cultural background, the motto “mens sana in corpore sano” – a healthy mind in a healthy body – will guide his daily culinary practice, starting with the rigorous selection of food products, vegetables, fruit and herbs supplied by farmers and peasants from neighboring villages such as Saint-Jeannet, which Sari visits, grows and learns about the small harvests delivered by local cooperatives of culinary craftsmen.
So he can offer a “Bio Sama” plate of carrots, zucchinis, cebettes and garden herbs moistened with olive oil and perfumed with Camargue salt, as well as raw and cooked artichokes, ratatouille 2014, mini fennels, peas in a delicious velouté with
squash flowers, beans and new mountain potatoes, a rarity on the Côte d’Azur.
When it comes to fish and shellfish, he chooses the local catch of twenty-four
fishermen in the bay and beyond, towards the Gulf of Genoa, who inform him of the night’s “harvest”. The short circuit and the direct contact between the producer, the fisherman and Paolo, the interpreter of the raw material, live on, such as this filet of Saint-Pierre, a great Mediterranean fish, processed in the meunière style, accompanied by a bouquetière of vegetables, and the sea bass with green citrus fruits, sautéed
warm vegetables, tomato coulis, garnished with colors and textures. Polenta with rice flour, free-range rabbit and lamb chops with homemade bacon round out the plates at Elsa, the Principality’s leading table. “I wanted to change the culture of shopping,” explains Paolo, standing facing the Big Blue, munching on capers from Pantelleria. “I want to know everything about the origins of the deliveries, the meats from the abattoir, where the cuttlefish is caught, where the sage, grey shallots and new garlic come from. There can be no real cooking without transparency and
regularity.” In fact, in his twenty-course menu, this rigorous chef has reconciled gourmet pleasure with the supreme requirement of health. Feeding the men and women who are the happy customers of the Monte-Carlo
Beach imposes a strong ethic on the Côte d’Azur chef, a merchant of happiness on a human scale. There’s no doubt that Paolo Sari, never absent from his post at the heart of the Monte-Carlo Beach, has not finished seducing us with his reasoned creativity: tradition and modernity linked by an extraordinary talent.
Elsa
Restaurant Gastronomique 1 Etoile au Guide Michelin certifié 100% Bio par le label Ecocert de niveau
In homage to the writer Elsa Maxwell, the Elsa restaurant sublimates the products of the Riviera garden and pays homage to the seasons. Recently awarded a Michelin star, this restaurant reflects a refined
cuisine that guarantees the quality of its products. Michelin-starred Chef Paolo Sari has selected the best local producers, also Ecocert-certified, to concoct a menu that is at once gourmet, healthy and light, 100% organic, and which evolves with the seasons.
Elsa is the first gourmet restaurant in the PACA region to be certified organic, by Ecocert, the European leader in organic certification.
Practical information:
A la carte prices from €115 (excluding drinks)
Tasting menu from €98 (excluding drinks)
Open daily from March 6, 2014 to October 26, 2014 inclusive
Reservation number 00377 98 06 50 05
Le Deck
A prestigious brasserie located beside the legendary Monte-Carlo Beach Olympic swimming pool, Le Deck is the place to go for a healthy, relaxed lunch. Inspired by nature, the Chef offers a tasty, gourmet seasonal menu, inviting guests to discover an exceptional brunch.
Practical information:
Price from €25
Brunch price €70
Open daily from April 19, 2014 to October 19, 2014 inclusive
Reservation number 00377 98 06 51 00
La Vigie
Sheltered by the pine forest and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, La Vigie restaurant invites guests to sample local produce and discover the catch of the day. Grilled rock fish and lobster are enhanced by seasonal vegetables.
Practical information:
Lunch buffet at discretion: €55
Dinner Menu-Carte from €75
Reservation number 00377 98 06 52 52
Sea Lounge
With its neo-baroque decor, the Sea Lounge is Monaco’s must-see summer before-party. With its 2 alternating resident DJs, the Sea Lounge heralds a summer season of festive evenings.
The Sea Lounge Monte-Carlo opens its doors on Friday May 14 for a new season, offering its customers the trendiest cocktails and the hippest music. A summer of sea, sun and
fun.
Monte Carlo Beach Spa
A journey to the heart of well-being: the Monte Carlo Beach Spa. In this place of absolute relaxation, set in a privileged area next to the Olympic-size swimming pool, the objective is simple and can be summed up in a few words: Just cares for you! To this end, it is equipped with a hammam and three indoor cabins, two of which are dedicated to massages and La Prairie and Ymalia beauty treatments (Ecocertified products), for body and face. Thermes Marins Monte-Carlo’s expertise is on display here, with tailor-made massages using 100% organic Argan oil, traditional treatments based on Moroccan techniques such as the Tiout-scented hammam treatment, and exceptional treatments for your face: radiance pure gold for radiant skin, caviar firming care, ultra-pointed cellular care or marine care. The range of treatments is rounded out by body protocols that will leave you feeling totally revitalized.
To complete this wellness experience, the spa’s highly qualified teams also take care of the beauty of your hands and feet, and offer waxing and make-up services.
Monte Carlo Beach Relais & Châteaux
Avenue Princesse Grace – 06190 Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
France
Reservations: +377 98 06 25 25
[email protected] – www.monte-carlo-beach.com
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