Where to stay in Èze, from the castles on the rock to the guesthouses

Choosing where to stay in Èze is one of those decisions best made backwards. Don’t start with the price, start with the place, because this commune holds three quite different worlds. There’s the medieval rock, with its castles turned into hotels; there’s the shore at Èze-Bord-de-Mer; and there are the roads winding up the mountain. I’ve gone through what the village tourist office publishes, and here’s what I’d do.

Three places to stay, not one

Èze’s tourist office sorts its hotels by stars. Three five-stars, one four-star, one three-star and two unrated, plus three B&Bs and a self-catering residence. It also publishes a minimum and maximum price for each hotel, which many tourist offices don’t bother with, though without season dates, so I’d treat them as a guide.

Inside the village on the rock there are only two, the Château de la Chèvre d’Or on rue du Barri and Château Eza on rue de la Pise. Down by the sea, on avenue Raymond Poincaré, are Cap Estel and La Masa, a guesthouse that bills itself as a “bed & breakfast & beach”. The rest are on the roads around the commune, and the tourist office gives their addresses but not how far they are from the village, so I won’t guess at the minutes.

Is it worth staying inside the village?

For one night, I’d say yes. It’s the only way to see Èze’s lanes without the coach groups that arrive mid-morning, and to have dinner with the dark coastline below. I’d choose Château Eza, with 9 rooms and 5 suites and a published double of €400 to €650, over the Chèvre d’Or, which has 45 rooms and suites and starts at €808. Both have a starred table in the current Michelin Guide, two for the Chèvre d’Or and one for Château Eza, and if the budget won’t stretch to a room, dinner is another way to experience the village. I list them with the rest of the area in Michelin restaurants in Monaco and nearby.

Bear in mind that Château Eza closes for a few weeks in winter, between November and February, and that everything in the village is done on foot, with steps. With big suitcases, ask the hotel how best to arrive.

Cap Estel, luxury on the shore

This is a different take on Èze. Cap Estel has 4 rooms and 16 suites by the sea, opens from 12 April to 30 October and publishes the dearest double on the list, €1,175 to €1,870. Its restaurant, La Table du Cap Estel, holds a Michelin star. If the sea appeals more than the rock, it’s on the same seafront road as Èze-Bord-de-Mer station, with the village above you, a climb up the Nietzsche path or a bus ride away.

Staying in Èze without spending as much

The official list has more modest options too. La Villa d’Èze, on avenue de Verdun, publishes doubles from €90 to €140 and Arc en Ciel, on avenue du Jardin Exotique, from €125 to €150; at both, the tourist tax is 3% of the price per person per night. The three-star Èze Hermitage runs from €95 to €418 with breakfast included, and La Perle d’Èze rents studios from €100, with a three-night minimum in July and August.

Les Terrasses d’Èze, the only four-star, has 87 rooms, a spa and a restaurant and opens all year. Its range, €188 to €2,300, is so wide it tells me very little, and it leaves out the Grand Prix too. For those dates I have a guide to Monaco Grand Prix hotels.

Èze or Monaco for your base?

This is where plenty of visitors get the logistics wrong. Èze is 9 km from Monaco and 11 from Nice by road, and you get up there by bus, but I haven’t been able to check the line frequencies against the official timetables. If you’re staying outside the village without a car, evenings can get awkward. I set out all the bus, train and car options in how to get to Èze village.

My advice is simple. If you’re spending several days on the coast, stay in Monaco or Nice, where there’s far more choice, and do Èze as a half-day trip. Price the same dates against hotels in Monaco first. And if you fancy a treat, save one night for the rock.