The 1932 Hotel & Spa Cap d'Antibes - MGallery Collection

The 1932 Hotel & Spa Cap d'Antibes - MGallery Collection suits divers who want a proper hotel base rather than a purpose-built dive lodge. You get air-conditioned rooms, a rooftop pool, a spa, a fitness room and two restaurants, with the coast and the town both close at hand. English and French are spoken by the hotel team, so you will be understood without having to mime the difference between a towel and a bathrobe after a long day out.

The mood is more French Riviera hotel than barefoot dive camp: terraces, sea views in selected rooms, a rooftop lounge and a spa carrying the CODAGE Paris name. It works particularly well for a couple who want diving in the day and a civilised evening afterwards, with enough nearby life to avoid feeling marooned at the property.

The hotel sits in Juan-les-Pins, on the edge of Cap d'Antibes in France, with the sea on the doorstep and Pinede Beach roughly 250 metres away on foot. Casino Beach is about 350 metres away, while the hotel places the nearest beach at around 150 metres. Sun loungers and parasols are available for beach time when you are not looking at the water through a mask.

Juan-les-Pins city centre is about 350 metres away, so dinner, a drink or a short wander does not require a taxi. Parc de la Pinède is roughly 200 metres away, and the Juan-les-Pins railway station is about half a mile away on foot. For a little more history, the Picasso Museum and Porte de l'Orme are around 1 mile away, with Chapelle de la Garoupe at about 0.8 miles.

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is around 10 miles away by road. By car, the A8 motorway exit 44, Antibes Centre, is about 3 miles from the hotel.

For two people, the straightforward choice is a classic or superior double room; the balcony versions give you somewhere to sit rather than treating the room as a place to store a suitcase and a damp towel. Upper-floor options add sea views in selected categories, and the beachfront junior suite brings the coast directly into the room choice. There is also a ground-floor junior suite with a terrace and private pool for a more self-contained stay.

If three people are sharing, choose one of the deluxe rooms with a sofa bed rather than trying to run a small expedition from a standard double. Two adjacent superior rooms are the sensible arrangement when separate sleeping space matters more than squeezing everyone into one room. The room cards below give the exact dimensions, beds and occupancy for each category; the useful distinction here is balcony, sea view, sofa bed or private pool.

Every room has air conditioning, a private bathroom with a bathtub, a flat-screen television with satellite channels, a minibar, a coffee machine and an electric kettle. Bathrobes and slippers are handy when the spa or the rooftop pool is calling. Soundproof rooms and soundproofing are available, which matters when your ideal evening involves an early night rather than a detailed study of the neighbouring room's television habits. Free WiFi covers the hotel.

There are two restaurants, with enough variety to keep the evening from becoming an automatic search for the nearest takeaway. Quinto Cielo serves Spanish and Italian food for lunch and dinner on a rooftop terrace, with fresh local produce in the kitchen and the sea as part of the setting. It is also the hotel's rooftop bar, specialising in cocktails and adding a DJ to the lounge-bar mix. Relaxed, yes; silent, not necessarily.

La Rotonde handles breakfast and dinner indoors in a light-filled setting, with Mediterranean cooking in the evening outside the season. Breakfast is continental, American and buffet-style, and can be taken in the dining area or on the terrace. That gives you a useful choice between a proper start and the quicker coffee-and-something-edible approach familiar to anyone preparing for a morning departure.

Room service is available, as are a snack bar, an on-site coffee house and breakfast in the room. A minibar is in the room, while wine and champagne, fruit and special diet menus are available as additional food-and-drink options. There is no stated continuous-snacking service, so plan on the restaurants or the snack bar rather than assuming food will appear at every hour.

The rooftop pool is heated and sits on the south-facing roof beside the Quinto Cielo lounge-bar. Add sun loungers, umbrellas and a sun terrace, and you have a workable landing place for the afternoon when the idea of another organised activity feels like poor judgement. Pool and beach towels are available too.

The Spa Codage Paris offers massages, facial treatments and a sauna. That is the useful kind of post-dive option: lie down, let somebody else deal with the knots, and avoid pretending that a second strenuous excursion is what the body ordered. The fitness room uses solid-wood workout equipment for those who prefer a gentle session or a more deliberate attempt to earn dinner.

When staying dry for the day, the hotel can arrange or propose excursions including boat outings, islands, waterfalls, markets and snorkelling. Walking tours are also available. The concierge can help with the practical side of the day, while Parc de la Pinède is close enough for a simple stroll rather than a full expedition.

Check-in starts at 15:30 and check-out runs until 12:00. You need photo identification and a credit card at check-in, and the hotel asks you to give your expected arrival time in advance. The front desk is open 24 hours, with express and private check-in and check-out, luggage storage and concierge service available when travel plans refuse to behave.

Private parking is available nearby, with valet parking and limited spaces; reservation is required. This is worth sorting before arrival if you are driving, rather than treating parking as an item to negotiate with a tired navigation app at the end of the journey. WiFi is free throughout the hotel, and daily housekeeping, laundry, dry cleaning and ironing services are available.

Children of all ages are welcome. Cots can be requested for younger children, while extra beds are not available; children aged 13 and over are charged as adults under the hotel's policy. Pets are allowed. The property also has wheelchair-accessible features, including an accessible bathroom layout and toilet grab rails.