The best five-star hotels in St Tropez
An expert guide to the top luxury hotels in St Tropez, including the best places to stay for stylish interiors, Provençal charm, private plunge pools, beach access, sumptuous spas and, of course, celeb spotting.
St Tropez can be a boisterous and bustling pace. Walk into the Pan Deï, though, and calm washes over you. It must be like this in the smaller palaces of India. The reception area, lounge and real reading library resemble what I imagine the home of a rich colonial dignitary to have been. In the rooms, much space and light set off the oriental antiques and treasures, the arched alcoves and four-posters. The elephants, carpets and carvings are complemented by great 19th-century portraits and Kama-Sutra colours. Outside, the garden and pool are exquisite, while beyond the pool-side loungers stand thatched gazebos.
• The best hotels in St Tropez
One of France’s most highly rated five-star hotels. The Sezz blossoms out from a large, centrepiece pool in a series of stylish bungalows and villas. Each is minimally decorated yet generously sized. All have private terraces; some boast personal plunge pools. It's sexy, swanky and smiley in equal measure. Pad barefoot to breakfast, boogie in the Dom Pérignon bar or play with the kids in the surrounding parkland - the hotel has something for everybody. There's also a Payot spa with outdoor massage area, yoga classes, a hammam and a steam room. Guests can hire the house limousine too.
The hotel combines a devotion to all things properly Provençal with a lightness and ingenuity of invention which real Provençal people themselves don’t always manage. Thus, the focal point of the lounge-lobby here is a real zinc bar where bonhomie is pretty much de rigueur. From there, you will note a cabinet-full of pastis jugs, a fine old French fireplace, a grand piano, black and white movie-star stills on the wall and an armchair like a minstrel’s hat. Beyond the back door, a terrace awaits for further aperitifs and, beyond that, a Provençal garden from central casting. A splendid pool extends amid huge palms, fig trees, lavender and other aromatic herbs.
• The best beach hotels in the Mediterranean
The most famous hotel in the world's most famous resort has, for half a century, been hosting both the fire-cracker festivities and discreet family holidays of the astoundingly rich, the truly celebrated – and normal people who have saved up a lot of money. A series of what look like fisherman's houses – all ochre and harmonious – unwind round the pool, and are themselves inundated with Med greenery. The cottages are, though, façade only. Behind all is unshowily sumptuous, explored by haphazard corridors, studded with art, and quietly flattering of one's sensibilities. Here's an elegant village within the village, casually subscribing to the highest standards.
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You'll find simple elegance, charming service and spacious rooms with views over the town or sea at La Ponche, tucked into one of the older, quieter districts of St Tropez, five minutes from the port and the central Place des Lices. Picasso and Sartre were once regulars at the bar. Though its memories include Juliet Greco, Brigitte Bardot, Romy Schneider and Jack Nicholson, these do not weigh the hotel down. It’s a higgeldy-piggeldy sort of building, so many rooms have unexpected terraces with views over the town or out to sea. Room number 8 was, incidentally, Romy Schneider’s favourite. And, whichever room you take, you are but yards from the little Ponche beach. You might very well wander out there in your dressing gown for a dip before breakfast.
