The last time I was at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc was with my grandmother, who had been going every year since the late 70s. Sir John Major was the UK's PM, George Bush the elder was a few days away from losing the presidency, and the Maastricht Treaty officially gave birth to the EU. I have dreamed of coming back ever since. Then, the stars aligned the first week of May 2026, and I was finally able to. Hôtel du Cap is not bold and gold luxury; it is country club cool with the confidence of a place that knows half the world already wants to be there. The luxe features are in its tailored experience. It's leaving sunglasses on the desk and coming back to an Eden-Roc eyeglasses cloth folded below them. It's a dozen fresh white roses in the room on arrival. It's being seated at a table you said you loved for every meal, it's everyone knowing your name and room number from day one, and it's being offered your favorite mocktail while laying on your favorite pool lounger. About that pool..... The famed saltwater infinity, carved into the rock above the Mediterranean, is one of the most photographed hotel features in Europe. The truth is that the photography totally flattens its scale. Everything around feels like an extension of the rock and we want to be immersed in it. It wasn't warm enough to jump off the diving board into the ocean, but my niece did anyway. And by the second day my bathing suit was begging me not to have another tarte tropézienne, but again, I did anyway. I've never looked out to the sea at super yachts and felt sorry for the people on them, skipping over on a little tender to have lunch at the hotel, but not being allowed at the pool. Such unfulfilled lives they must lead, at least compared to mine at that moment. Thankfully, there will be many more moments to come. I am in love, and not another May will pass by without a weekend at Hôtel du Cap for me, forever and ever. Amen.