Hi Hotel

Out-and-out design hotel bang in the heart of Nice, with rainbow rooms and a rooftop pool

Hi-Hotel is a hotbed of colour: pink glass at reception, purple and green resin floors and, up by the pool, orange leather cushions on designer white sun loungers. Light projections dance on a wall in the super-cool bar, while huge ferns and climbers bring greenery to the garden. The 38 rooms are equally wild; the more you pay, the wilder they get. Some have showers behind walls of bamboo, others have movie screens between bath and bed (you can watch from both sides). But it's not at all posey: you’re encouraged to pad about the hotel in your bathrobe, or to take your breakfast up in the pink lift to the roof terrace.

Morning, noon and night, the place is infused with music. Different rhythms and volumes, to suit the time of day, swirl over the seriously swanky rooftop pool, stream into the multi-coloured hammam, trickle into the massage suite, and hum quietly in the bar. At weekends the best DJs in France spin electronic tunes to the coolest of crowds - so don't forget your dancing shoes.

Highs

• The views from the 8th-floor roof terrace and small pool
• The relaxing courtyard garden
• The great staff, who go the extra mile
• Free wifi and internet access throughout the hotel
• 100% organic food in the help-yourself canteen
• Bikes to rent so you can cruise along the seafront
• The place to be seen in the Nice scene

Lows

• The simpler rooms don’t quite cut the mustard
• There’s not enough storage space
• Breakfast is good, dinner isn’t
• The decor will not be to everyone's taste
• Open plan bathrooms are best suited to intimate couples
• Off-street parking in the local car park can be purchased