Mama Shelter Nice opened this year on the Côte d’Azur in the artistic, epicurean city of Nice, France. The property features 102 rooms, a rooftop pool, a bar with a pizza counter, a restaurant, two workshops, two studios and a breakroom. This opening marks the 11th Mama Shelter in France and the brand’s 18th location worldwide.
© Mama Shelter Nice
Located in Nice’s Riquier district, Mama Shelter Nice is part of the brand’s strategy to open hotels in revitalized neighborhoods. Riquier is known for its cobbled streets, Baroque churches and lively markets. Guests can visit nearby museums dedicated to Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall or explore the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Close to the Old Port and the historic center, the hotel occupies three buildings, including an early 20th-century structure with a preserved façade.
The hotel has quickly become a popular destination for locals and visitors, sitting near the parks where locals play boules. It is easily accessible from Nice Côte d’Azur Airport and the central rail station via a direct tramline.
© Mama Shelter Nice
Architect Benjamin El Doghaïli, head of the Mama Shelter design studio, took inspiration from Nice’s artistic legacy, creating a hotel that blends with its surroundings and echoes the work of painters who lived in the city, from Matisse to Braque and Picasso.
In the lobby, hand-painted frescoes pay tribute to these artists, enhanced by large mirrors and a prominent hanging piece by artist Kate Mary. The rooms continue the white palette, with textured walls and ochre curtains that evoke the 19th-century façades of Nice.
© Mama Shelter Nice
Artist Laureline Galliot designed carpets that celebrate pointillism. Powder-pink tiles form a checkerboard in the bathrooms from floor to ceiling, and Mama’s signature cartoon masks appear on bedside lamps, a playful detail found across the brand’s hotels.
El Doghaïli’s palette favors bright, vibrant tones—saffron yellow, red ochre, ultramarine blue and Nice olive green—alongside impressionist-inspired hues. Collaborations with local artisans such as Lola Mercier and Beniloys bring seasonal arrangements of Mediterranean fruits, flowers and vegetables—lavender, sunflowers and wheat poppy—to the tops of columns, creating compositions reminiscent of Van Gogh still lifes.
At the heart of the restaurant, an olive-wood bar sits on terracotta flooring beneath suspended luminous sculptures that evoke festive streetlights. A flower-filled patio with a retractable glass roof connects the three buildings, while the rooftop provides a mosaic-floored swimming pool, wicker screens for shade, lounge chairs and a bar.
© Mama Shelter Nice
The ground-floor restaurant offers a spacious dining room with an open kitchen, slanted mirrors, cast-iron columns adorned with frescoes and long communal tables that create a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
The Mediterranean-inspired Mama Menu features sharing platters, salads and daily specials for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is served at a generous buffet blending savory and sweet options, and a popular Sunday brunch rounds out the weekend offering.
On the rooftop, meats, fish and vegetables are cooked on a Big Green Egg barbecue or grilled in a Josper charcoal oven to add smokiness. Pizza slices from the oven are displayed on a counter and served alongside a glass of rosé for a casual, sun-soaked dining experience.