HOTEL METROPOL
MONTE CARLO, MONACO
The butter-colored stucco terrace of the Hotel Metropole's Restaurant joel Robuchon overlooks Avenue des Spelugues as it curves sharply toward the Place du Casino and the port of Monte Carlo. Few locations provide a finer view of the action during' the Monaco Grand Prix, and no hotel in the principality offers a better base for race fans and other Monte Carlo habitues.
Built in 1889 on land acquired from Pope Leo XIII, the Hotel Metropole hosted Monte Carlo's most illustrious visitors in the ensuing decades. But the property had slipped in status by 1980, when Lebanese businessman Nabil Boustany acquired and refurbished the hotel, which he rechristened the Metropole Palace. His lavish renovation, however, did not suit the tastes of his sons, Fadi and Majid, who inherited control of the property in 2000.
The Boustany brothers reinvented the Metropole once again, this time with the help of interior designer Jacques Garcia. Designer of Paris' Hotel Costes and Geneva's La Reserve, Garcia recast the hotel as a chic Mediterranean palazzo with exotic
wood floors, fabric-covered walls, C6rdoba leather doors, and a touch of Lebanese stonework.The first floor, which formerly consisted of a single Baroquestyle grand entrance, now is partitioned into four rooms, including the Restaurant joel Robuchon and the Princes' Living Room, where an ornate crystal chandelier (one of the few items remaining from the Metropole Palace) illuminates ceremonial portraits of Monaco's princes. Garcia also overhauled nearly all of the hotel's 146 guest rooms, but the piece de resistance is the Carre d'Or (or Golden Square) Suite. Decorated with Louis XVI-period furnishings, the 1,300-square-foot penthouse-level accommodation opens onto a massive terrace with 180-degree views of Monte Carlo.
The Metropole completed its renovation just in time for the 2006 Grand Prix, with the opening of a new spa. Still, lunch on the Restaurant Joel Robuchon terrace, Just one story above the action on Avenue des Spelugues, continues to be the preferred reservation during the race.
LOCATION
Off the Place du Casino in Monte Carlo.
ACCOMMODATIONS
The 146 rooms include six one-bedroom suites on the penthouse floor. The Carre d'Or Suite features a 1,184- square-foot private terrace
overlooking Monte Carlo and the Mediterranean.
FACILITIES
Do not be surprised if friends
staying elsewhere invite themselves over to lounge by the Metropole's seawater pool, which is a destination unto itself. The hotel's spa spans three levels, and the Villa facility has two meeting
areas and an open-air terrace with views of the Monte-Carlo
Casino's gardens.
DINING
Cocktails and afternoon tea under a glass roof at the Lobby Bar; cocktails and light Mediterranean
meals at the poolside Spa's
Restaurant and Bar; and more cocktails-followed by contemporary cuisine from a French master chef-on the stucco terrace at Restaurant
Joel Robuchon.
CONCIERGE
RECOMMENDS
Take off in an L-39 Albatros fighter jet from nearby Le Castellet Airport in France.
Following a safety course and review of flying techniques, pilots customize your flight plan, which can include flips.
RATES High-season rates begin at $485, with junior suites starting at $790 and suites at $1,650. The Carre d'Or
Suite is $8,000. |
