The Perfect Hideout
La Jabotte, a hotel good enough for a Master criminal.
When I decided to compile a ‘Places to stay’ section the Hotel La Jabotte was top of my list to visit. I loved the look of it after visiting their website and the rooms looked so pretty and colourful.
Wow! What a little gem of a hotel La Jabotte is. Hidden in a tiny backstreet opposite the Plage de la Salis, La Jabotte is like taking a trip into a secret world on the Cap.
The first surprise when you walk in is the beautiful courtyard at the back of the main building. A wonderfully quiet place with just the sounds of the birds and the occasional screeching of the Hotel Seagull. He acts as a bit of a wake up call in the mornings I am told.
Around the central garden area are the rooms. Each one is different and beautifully decorated with colourful wallpapers. Most also have their own little terrace onto the courtyard.
The place reminded me a bit of being somewhere in the Caribbean rather than Cap d’Antibes.
I can honestly say that this is where I would stay if I were visiting the Cap. I can’t believe that I have only just discovered it!
Owners Nathalie and Pierre live in the hotel all year round with their dog and four cats which is probably what gives this place such a homely feel. I felt instantly at home here that’s for sure.
As the couple have an obvious love for animals they also welcome guests with pets too, as long as they are friendly.
After meeting them both it became obvious that this hotel has their personalities stamped all over it.
If you are looking for something a bit different then I highly recommend staying at La Jabotte. I can guarantee that you will want to come back.
I asked Nathalie how she came to not only live in Cap d’Antibes but also to own La Jabotte.
Originally I am from Antibes so I grew up here, Pierre is from Marseille. We met at the Meridian in Juan les Pins where we were both working many years ago.
In 2007 we had the opportunity to buy a little hotel in Vence which we owned for just over 10 years. Before that I had worked at the hotel Josse for 7 years or so. While I was working there I met Yves and Claude, the owners of Hotel Jabotte. When I saw their hotel I instantly fell head over heels in love with it. ‘Coup de Coeur’ we call it in French.
Anyway several years later in maybe 2009 the owners of hotel Josse called me up and asked if I could possibly come and help them out for a week or so on reception. Of course I said yes.
It was during that week that Yves and Claude walked past and saw me sitting at the reception. They came in to say hello as we hadn’t seen each other since Pierre and I moved to Vence. During our conversation they mentioned that they were trying to find a buyer for La Jabotte. They wanted to move to the countryside. As soon as they told me I knew I wanted to buy it. I remember I didn’t tell Pierre about it for over a month. I knew if I told him he would drop everything and want to come here straight away too. He loved this place as much as I did. Eventually, after a few weeks, I told him and, just as I expected, he instantly wanted to find a way to buy it.
So you bought it straight away?
Unfortunately buying it wasn’t so easy. We couldn’t find any banks which would finance it. Although we owned the Vence hotel until it was sold we didn’t have the money to buy a second business. From here it’s actually a lovely story. Yves and Claude knew that we wanted it but that we were finding it difficult to raise the money so they offered to help us. Basically they lent us the money.
You see La Jabotte was their baby and they really wanted to sell to someone they knew would love it as much as they did. Basically they wanted Pierre and me to take it over because they liked us. They didn’t want strangers to come in and knock everything down and change it.
So they decided to offer to help make our dream a reality and finance it. I guess at the same time it helped make their dream of moving to the countryside come true too.
It wasn’t a quick process though, it took us about four years before we finally owned La Jabotte. We took it over in 2013.
In the beginning we still had both hotels to run so Pierre had to remain in Vence and I came here to La Jabotte. That was quite difficult for us but finally in 2018, we sold the hotel in Vence and Pierre was able to join me here on the Cap.
I think maybe it was destiny. It was purely by chance that I was at the hotel reception the day that Yves and Claude walked past. If I hadn’t been there we may never have known that La Jabotte was for sale and they certainly would never have thought that we might be interested in buying it.
I really believe that it was meant to be.
Have you changed many things since buying La Jabotte?
The 2 first years we refreshed everything, we put in air conditioning and bought new beds and created the new garden. Last year we started to re decorate the rooms completely. In 2018 we started with one part of the hotel, this winter we moved on to other rooms and next winter we will update the bathrooms. We are changing things little by little.
Who designed the beautiful themes of your rooms?
Actually I work with a fabulous local painter called Chloe for the rooms. I chose to work with Chloe because she was so inspired by the hotel and had many ideas which I loved.
We spent a long time looking for the wallpapers and the colours. Both of us agreed that we didn’t want grey and white, we wanted colour and lots of it. We now have bags of colour everywhere. It’s a lot of fun working together and I love the results.
Who gets all the little statues and bits and bobs which I see everywhere in the garden?
Ah that’s me, I look after the garden. I love Brocants and Vide Greniers so I pick things up everywhere. I really enjoy choosing colours and decorations and general bits and bobs for the hotel. We want it to be cosy here and to make the guests feel at home but at the same time not over do it.
What facilities does the hotel offer?
The hotel has a kayak which guests can borrow, bicycles and our lovely little Tuk Tuk. We offer tours around the Cap and Juan les Pins in it for our guests which is fun. We also use the Tuk Tuk to ferry our guests around, either into the old town or to the train station or wherever they want to go.
There is also a sauna which the guests can use free of charge during their stay. This is nice in the winter when it’s a little cooler.
For trips to the beach we provide free parasols, beach mats and towels for our guests to use. Guests can also purchase snacks and drinks throughout the day to enjoy in the garden.
Actually the story of the Tuk Tuk is another one of those ‘meant to be’ moments.
A few years ago I decided it would be nice to have a hotel Tuk Tuk so we started looking for one to buy. Unfortunately we couldn’t find one anywhere so had kind of given up on the idea. Then, while on holiday near Avignon, we saw one for sale on the internet. Amazingly it was just 10 km from our hotel. We arranged to go and see it and instantly decided to buy it. As with La Jabotte I think it was just meant to be, we were in the right place at the right time.
Is there anything you can tell me about the hotel which people might not know?
Oh Yes! I have a great story.
A famous local bank robber called Albert Spaggiari hid from the police in this building.
He is known for pulling off the casse du siècle ( crime of the century). In 1976 he robbed the bank vault of the Société Générale in Nice, breaking in via the underground sewer system during Bastille Day weekend.
With a team of accomplices they had spent two months digging an eight-metre-long (26 ft) tunnel from the sewer to the vault floor. Spaggiari had taken many precautions during this long dig while his men worked long hours continuously drilling. He told them not to drink coffee or alcohol, and to get at least ten hours of sleep every shift to avoid any danger to the mission.
How much did they steal?
I believe they stole an estimated 30–100 million francs worth of money, securities and valuables. It was the largest heist in the history of bank robberies to that date.
The robbery and Spaggiari are very well known here.
After the robbery, while on the run from the police, the owners of la Jabotte helped him. They hid him in their secret underground room. Spaggiari remained in that small room for a month or so. The room is just big enough for a small bed and a light. You can see the trap door which leads to it under an armchair in the entrance to our apartment.
Spaggiari was eventually captured a few months later but famously escaped.
During his case hearing, while the judge was distracted, Spaggiari jumped out of the window, landing safely on a parked car. He escaped on a waiting motorcycle. Some reports claimed that the owner of the car later received a 5,000-franc cheque in the mail for the damage to his roof.
Spaggiari was never found and remained a free man until his death. He died in Italy from throat cancer in 1989. The money he stole was never recovered.
It’s a great story!
I noticed you have a lot of musical instruments in the breakfast room, are you or Pierre musical?
No not at all. Neither of us play an instrument. Actually it started with the hotel we had in Vence. Every year Vence hosts Les Nuits du Sud music festival. The festival took place just in front of our hotel so that’s why we had musical instruments. They were there for decoration but also for the many local musicians to play.
When we finally sold the Vence hotel we put all the instruments here in the breakfast room for our guests to use.
Sometimes in the summer we have a friend who comes to play the guitar and sing but actually it’s the guests who use them the most. Every August we have a Japanese lady from the opera who comes here. When she visits we move the Piano into the garden and in the evenings she plays for the other guests. It’s lovely. We have many impromptu music sessions in the summer too, it’s never a planned thing which I love.
What do you think makes your hotel different to other hotels on the Cap?
I think it’s the homely feel and family atmosphere which makes us different. Although you can be private during your stay it’s also a very sociable place to be. We have the lovely garden which is a great space to relax or to socialise with the other guests if you want to. There is also the music which I mentioned before.
Our décor is also very unique. Everywhere you look there is colour even down to the new retro toilets from Griffon which we are putting into the rooms. Griffon is a French family owned company which has been around since 1886. They make these amazing classic French cisterns which come in a great selection of colours. You can even customise them with your own designs. I really love them so we are slowly putting them into all of our bathrooms.
How much does it cost to stay at La Jabotte?
We start at 84.00 euros per night in winter. In the summer the garden rooms start at 174.00 per night and 250.00 per night for the suite.
We also offer breakfast either in the garden or in the breakfast room and then snacks and refreshments throughout the day.
Hotel La Jabotte
13 Avenue Max Maurey, 06160 Antibes
Tel: 04 93 61 45 89