Hotel Splendid by Jamie Dunford Wood

This 'Splendid' hotel is an imposing structure across from the Palais du Festival and the yacht port, a few yards from the beginning of the beach and the Croisette, and close to the old town. It has one great advantage – it lacks a restaurant. This means that Hotel Splendid cannot attain four stars, with all that means for room rates in this part of central Cannes.

The facilities

As a three star boutique hotel it represents tremendous value, so long as you are prepared to put up with a few idiosyncrasies – oddly collected knick-knacks around the place, odd antiques in the rooms, a large collection of antique irons, and cheap local oil paintings on the walls.

The rooms

The boutique hotel has 62 bedrooms and two rooftop Mansard Suites. The standard rooms are small, with just one window, so ask for the larger ones with two, facing the sea, with small balconies. The best value of all are five rooms on the first floor – cheaper because the seaview is obscured by trees, but this muffles the road noise and in any case you have a view of the square and restaurants. They have large sit-out terraces, and little kitchenettes. It’s only a shame that the French windows are modern and no longer the originals. Service is personal and friendly and the place is family run.