Hotel & restaurant · Saint-Paul-de-Vence

La Colombe d'Or

The inn where artists paid with pictures — Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Léger on the walls, a Calder over the pool, lunch on the terrace.

Neighbourhood
Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Open
Closed end of October, reopens for Christmas
Cuisine
Provençal
Dress code
Not published — smart in practice
Minimum
No table minimum — à la carte
Book a table Email concierge

Booking La Colombe d'Or — what to know

La Colombe d'Or is one of those rooms where the reservation book matters more than the menu — prime-time tables are allocated, not simply booked. Service runs TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT, SUN. Dress is smart casual. Expect a spend in the region of €250 for a proper table.

How we book it

Send your date, party size and an indicative budget on WhatsApp and we confirm directly with the venue — typically within the hour during the season. Nothing is committed until you approve; if your first choice is full we come back with the closest genuine alternative in Nice, never a downgrade dressed up.

Getting there & timing

Nice Côte d'Azur airport is minutes away, making this one of the easiest reservations on the Riviera to build an evening around. VIP transport — jets, helicopters and chauffeured cars — can be arranged around the booking for guests arriving from overseas.

About La Colombe d'Or

La Colombe d’Or opened in 1920 as a café-bar at the edge of Saint-Paul-de-Vence and has been run by the Roux family ever since. Its collection was not bought: through the 1950s the house fed and housed artists who could not pay, and they settled up with work. Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Miró, Chagall, Kandinsky, Léger, Calder, César and Arman all left something behind.

The result is a working hotel that happens to hold one of the most remarkable private collections on the Riviera. A Fernand Léger ceramic greets you in the courtyard, a Calder mobile turns over the pool, and paintings hang in the dining room where people are eating under them. It is not a museum and does not behave like one.

There are 13 rooms and 12 suites. The restaurant seats about 70 in the main dining room, 30 in the private room and 100 on the garden terrace, and the menu has stayed deliberately plain — the crudités and the cold table are the same order they were decades ago.

Good to know

  • Closed from the end of October, reopening for Christmas — check the date before you plan around it.
  • 13 rooms and 12 suites; pool, sauna, parking.
  • The terrace seats about 100, the dining room about 70, with a private room for 30.
  • Twenty minutes inland from Nice, thirty-five from Nice airport without traffic.
  • The collection is part of a working hotel, not an exhibition — there are no tours.

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La Colombe d'Or — questions

Can you book a table at La Colombe d'Or?
Yes. We arrange lunch and dinner for members, or as a one-off Single Access request at £350. The terrace in July and August is the hardest seat on the Riviera to get at short notice, so ask early.
What art is at La Colombe d'Or?
Works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Miró, Chagall, Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Calder, César and Arman, among others. A Léger ceramic is in the courtyard and a Calder mobile hangs over the pool. Most were given by the artists themselves in exchange for meals and rooms in the 1950s.
When is La Colombe d'Or closed?
It closes at the end of October and reopens for Christmas. Dates move slightly year to year, so confirm before booking travel around it.
How many rooms does La Colombe d'Or have?
Thirteen rooms and twelve suites, so twenty-five keys in total. It is small, and in season it books a long way ahead.