Belle Époque hotel palaces and walled villa gardens line one boulevard climbing the hill, Rebecca's Monte Carlo hotel among them.
What Cimiez looks like
Boulevard de Cimiez climbs the hill in one wide curve, hotel palaces and private villas behind walled gardens on both sides. rises five storeys over relief stucco, vertical oriels and a run of domes topped with cupolas, a wrought iron crown pavilion over one wing.
A Roman arena sits in an open garden planted with olive trees below the boulevard, its amphitheatre's podium wall standing along nearly its whole perimeter in rubble stone and brick courses. Gravel paths and a grass terrace run around the ruins, pine and cypress screening the apartment blocks behind.
At the top of the hill, a Franciscan monastery looks over its own terraced garden. The garden holds orange, lemon and olive trees. Magnolias, cypress, oak and climbing roses grow among them. The cloister runs along one side. The monastery's own facade, with its slender steeples in troubadour style, dates from 1845.
The Musée Matisse occupies a villa painted in cheerful red tones with trompe l'oeil windows across its front, its own garden backing onto the Roman ruins. , farther down the boulevard, keeps its own 1.6 hectare garden behind a wall of its own.
Shot in Cimiez
Cimiez's hotels and gardens have drawn two very different productions. The Netflix film Rebecca shot its Monte Carlo hotel scenes at Le Régina in 2019, and the Netflix series Offline Love filmed in the monastery's gardens in 2025.
Rebecca
Le Régina. The production used the hotel's own lobby and restaurant as a Monte Carlo hotel, filming on Boulevard de Cimiez in 2019.
Rebecca, 2020
Le Régina
Played a Monte Carlo hotel, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1930s
For Rebecca, the production filmed its Monte Carlo hotel scenes at Le Régina, including the lobby and the restaurant where the two leads meet. The building's grand entrance on Boulevard de Cimiez, with its columned steps and ironwork balcony, appears in production photographs from the 2019 shoot. Street View
Offline Love, 2025
For the Netflix series Offline Love, a cast member records a scene in the Jardins de Cimiez, the monastery's garden with its centuries old olive trees. The Franciscan cloister and a sea view over the garden wall also appear in the scene. Street View
What Cimiez can double for
Monte Carlo in Monaco
Rebecca already used Le Régina's domed Belle Époque facade as a Monte Carlo hotel, and the scale and stucco ornament read the same way Monaco's own grand hotels around Casino Square do. Monaco's harbor, modern towers and the Grand Prix barriers are absent from Cimiez, so a wide shot has to stay tight on the hotel facade and garden rather than reaching for the sea. Try searching Belle Époque grand hotel now.
San Remo in Liguria, Italy
San Remo's Liberty style villas and grand hotels along the Corso Imperatrice share the same turn of the century stucco and domed rooflines as Cimiez's own boulevard. San Remo's own domes sit closer to the seafront, so a shot that includes open water would need to be framed out or doubled separately. Try searching Liberty style villas now.
Baden-Baden in Germany
Baden-Baden's Lichtentaler Allee is a garden promenade of grand hotels from the same turn of the century period as Boulevard de Cimiez, with comparable stucco facades behind iron fences. German signage, darker roof tiles and the River Oos running through the gardens would need dressing out or careful framing. Try searching garden promenade grand hotels now.
