The best hotels in Saint-Tropez, from glossy spots to see and be seen to hillside retreats with an unexpected edge
Few places on earth prompt the same grade of hedonism as the hotels in Saint-Tropez. It is written into the once sleepy fishing village’s DNA, morphing from free-spirited bohemia into star-studded partying and then, more recently, hosting the global bling brigade. The glamorous chapter began in earnest when And God Created Woman was filmed on its pine-flanked shores, and Brigitte Bardot placed Saint-Tropez on the world map. The French New Wave Parisian Left Bank coterie had been leaving the pages of their books to bake in the French Riviera sun well before. And despite its 21st-century agenda of rampant revelry – the Champagne-popping-diamonds-and-stilettos-welcome – the village’s bohemian spirit and Riviera elegance live on. You just need to know where to find it.
Whether checking in for a coastal cleanse or a caviar-laced tasting menu, here are the best hotels in Saint-Tropez.
Editor's picks
Best for luxury: Lily of the Valley
Best boutique hotel: Hotel Byblos
Best beach location: Cheval Blanc
Best for families: Airelles Saint-Tropez, Château de la Messardière
Best for a girls' trip: Arev
hotelHotel Byblos
Perhaps you’ve heard of Hotel Byblos, the red herring among a sea of glossy hotels in Saint-Tropez, and the one that champions character, history and a unique aesthetic, no matter how many rounds of renovations it undergoes? Brigitte Bardot came to the opening party some decades ago, and Mick Jagger celebrated his honeymoon here in the ’70s. Today, it feels just as exclusive. Every one of the 80+ suites and bedrooms is unique, and there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to interiors. Contemporary design can be found in the Laura Gonzalez residences, and outlandish zigzags decorate the Missoni suite. But elsewhere, rooms are more traditional. Dark wooden furniture juxtaposes gleaming glass coffee tables, original architecture offsets stark white linens, and pared-back bathrooms feature glossy Sisely products. Outside, the pool and its bar are buzzing with guests sipping rosé and sampling chef Nicola Canuti’s Italian-inspired dishes, which he preps using home-grown ingredients from the hotel kitchen garden. Come golden hour, it’s the rooftop bar that you’ll want to be at. Views across the South of France don’t get much better than this, and the sky’s blaze of orange hues offsets the property’s rusty red visage in a way that’s pinch-me perfect and wholly transportive. Sarah Leigh Bannerman
Address: 20 Av. Paul Signac, 83990 Saint-Tropez, France
Price: From about £1,400 per night.
hotelAirelles Saint-Tropez, Château de la Messardière
There’s nothing quite like arriving at Château de la Messardière in a sky-blue Mini-Moke, the hotel’s beach shuttle – a front-row seat for the drama of this hilltop entrance. The mood is relaxed but humming – lively, yet peaceful. No throbbing bass, no DJ-led napkin-swirling revelry. Breakfast on the terrace is its own kind of theatre: the wildly generous buffet is the kind that ends up on everyone’s phone; meanwhile, guests order their third cappuccino and plan the day. Tennis and padel courts, a spa, an outdoor gym, a serious Kids Kingdom and a private beach club just below make it an antidote to urban burnout – yet the village is close enough to lure you into town, a Rolls-Royce shuttle ride away.
All the rooms – of different shapes, sizes and categories – have outdoor spaces. During one of my visits, the suite we stayed in came with a columned, covered terrace – sunbeds, dining table, and a wide Gulf view framed by umbrella pines – plus classic-luxe, gleaming taupe marble bathrooms with double vanities. Families can go bigger, with multi-bedroom options including signature tower rooms. Three restaurants are spread along La Messardière’s long panoramic terrace, so you can shift ambience (and cuisine) without ever leaving the view. La Table de la Messardière is the all-day anchor: relaxed, al fresco Provençal-style dining from breakfast through dinner. Palladio leans Italian and crowd-pleasing. Lanie Goodman
Address: 2 Route de Tahiti, 83990 Saint-Tropez, France
Price: From about £800 per night.
hotelCheval Blanc Saint-Tropez
Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez has two serious local brags that curiously seem to precede both its three Michelin-starred restaurant and lavishly restrained interiors: it has access to a beach (more a small patch of white sand) and is a hop, skip, or Bentley nano-second away from Saint-Tropez, unlike its Ramatuelle competitors. A tastefully contemporary expression of Riviera glamour, this Côte d’Azur maison comprises the original Pinede Chateau, extended and retuned inside for a less formal (but no less fabulous) set. This is where quiet luxury comes to play, to recline on creamy sun loungers following gourmet Truffle Croque-Madame lunches, or to inspect the hotel’s feast of modern art before a caviar and Champagne tasting menu, courtesy of Chef Arnaud Donckele. Rooms dressed in sumptuously simple blues and creams echo the views across a sequin bay to Saint-Maxime, therapists work Guerlain potions into weary shoulders in the spa, and impeccably dressed waiters glide across the pine-shaded terrace, topping up paper-thin glasses of Ruinart.
Address: Plage de la Bouillabaisse, 83990 Saint-Tropez, France
Price: From about £1,300 per night.
November StudiohotelLily of the Valley
Greenery climbs languidly over sandstone walls in this Phillipe Starck-designed hotel, which sits unobtrusively cut into enviable surrounds atop a hillside just outside of feted Saint-Tropez. The hotel has 38 rooms, six suites, an additional seven with pools, and four private villas – two of which are brand new and set to open in summer 2025. Phenomenal sea views compete for glitteriest attraction – the area’s glamorous history and a string of supercars in the driveway are tough opponents – but you’ll not be left lingering for long. Most guests check in for one of the hotel’s dedicated wellness programs, centred around fitness, weight loss and longevity, which start from four days in length up to two weeks-plus. Beautiful people head from the enviable spa, with its saunas and steam room, snow shower, cryotherapy chamber and slew of high-tech machines, to various well-equipped workout studios lining the stripey parasol-lined pool. A week here and you will have toned, stretched, steamed, frozen and sweated yourself anew – and, unusually for the Côte d’Azur, Lily of the Valley is open year-round, making body tune-ups possible whenever the need or urge arises. Rooms are spacious, with glorious sea or pool vistas through pleasingly aesthetic half-moon windows, marble bathrooms, huge beds and outdoor terraces from where to decompress post-Pilates. The menu at restaurant Vista, designed by Alain Ducasse alumnus Vincent Maillard, is impeccable – and the sweeping bohemian environs, all warm plaster pinks and seagrass finishes, are just as lovely. Should you be on the lighter calorie-controlled plan, you genuinely won't notice. This is self-care at the highest level, without a green juice in sight. Charley Ward
Address: Colline Saint-Michel, Boulevard Abel Faivre, Quartier de Gigaro, 83420 La Croix-Valmer, France
Price: From about £2,200 per night.
hotelHôtel Villa Marie
While this eclectic hotel has the South of France’s swankiest beach town in its moniker, it’s perched up on a hill in the verdant commune of Ramatuelle, whose rustic winding roads and sun-baked vineyards make it the furthest thing from sceney. Though you’re a quick drive from Saint-Tropez’s bumping beach clubs, Villa Marie truly feels like a private paradise, where bare feet and high heels are equally welcome, views of the area’s famous Pampelonne Bay are unmatched, and umbrella pines are nature’s parasols under a relentless (but highly welcome) sun. The hotel's Provençal-style suites have beautifully rustic bones and couldn’t possibly be a better fit for their environment: think stone, tiles, terracotta and painted woods complemented with market-sourced antique furniture and ceramics. All suites are designed with a ‘bathroom-boudoir’ concept; in ours, a wooden folding screen separates the bed and freestanding tub (flipping through a magazine in either with those French doors thrown open is a must) from a shower and washbasins. From our balcony, which we use mainly for drying bathing suits, afternoon coffee and some obligatory stargazing, we look out at holm oaks and cypress trees dotting the property’s lawn, and the last vineyard bordering a glimmering Pampelonne Bay. Tamara Southward
Address: 1100 Chemin de Val de Rian, 83350 Ramatuelle, France
Price: From about £750 per night.
hotelArev Saint-Tropez
Nearly 70 years after Vadim’s steamy groundbreaking film And God Created Woman, a hovering nostalgia for Bardot’s glam glory days in Saint-Tropez still persists, so why fight it? Hidden away on a quiet leafy street behind the humming Place des Lices, the 44-room boutique hotel AREV St Tropez — the first luxe lifestyle hotel in the newly launched AREV collection — was unabashedly named after the French word for “dream”. And dreamy it is – call it a vision of nautical-inspired style with yacht-like symmetry. Once you step beyond the low-slung Provençal cream and blue-shuttered façade, expect a ubiquitous theatrical tri-colour scheme — bold navy and white stripes and eye-popping reds, created by Madrid-based designer Luis Bustamante — which extends from the lobby to the deeply comfortable ultra-spacious rooms and suites with private terraces. Have a signature reinvented Bloody Mary at the retro Q bar, then tuck into delicious Mediterranean market-driven dishes – white asparagus with truffles, spaghetti with sea urchins and tuna, grilled saddle of lamb with Chanterelle mushrooms – at the indoor/outdoor restaurant, The Strand, named after St Tropez’s oldest eatery.
With an inviting turquoise pool, a fleet of bespoke high-tech electric bikes, a Technogym-equipped Fitness Centre, a Padel court, plus a pétanque court in the olive-tree-shaded mini-village square (with a scarlet food truck for apéro nibbles), there’s already lots to do besides draping yourself on a sunbed with a bottle of iced Champagne. Inveterate shoppers and night owls rejoice: the boutiques and nighttime hot spots in the village are a 10-minute stroll away, plus the e-Mehari beach buggy shuttles guests back and forth to the sandy stretch of Pampelonne for languorous lunches and a splash in the sea. Add to the mix AREV’s small but lovely spa, featuring an exclusive made-in-St-Tropez line of botanical beauty products and perfumes by ST Maison, used for treatments from sand scrubs to massages with sweet-smelling citrusy and floral essential oils. Lanie Goodman
Address: 8 Chem. des Vendanges, 83990 Saint-Tropez, France
Price: From about £550 per night.
Lou Pinet
Provençal-style villas seamlessly vibe with vintage Riviera glamour, leaving one feeling wonderfully décomplexé. They're envisioned by architect Charles Zana, who uses natural materials such as terracotta tiles, linen fabrics and handcrafted ceramics. Suites are designed with floor-to-ceiling French doors that open onto the verdant garden, packed with native flora like lavender, jasmine and citrus trees, and complement the interiors – an homage to the region's artistic heritage, inspired by masters from Matisse to Picasso. The theme here is unwinding, whether that's lounging by the pool, at the Tata Harper Spa or exploring by bicycle, on foot or in a chauffeured open-air mini-car. Take a long lunch at La Terrasse, or an indulgent supper at Beefbar under the guidance of Riccardo Giraudi. Sandra Denda
Address: 70 Chem. du Pinet, 83990 Saint-Tropez, France
Price: From about £450 per night.
droits d’auteurAirelles Saint-Tropez, Pan Deï Palais
India-meets-Saint Tropez. This mustard townhouse confounds guests with its shuttered exterior concealing a dark-wooded Raj-era scene inside. The boutique hotel is built on a love story – where a 19th-century British general fell in love with an Indian princess, who later took her grief and rich colour palette to Saint-Tropez. Old-world fans and four posters dressed in white linen curtains set an exotic tone, and while splashes of burnt orange, lime and crimson animate the rooms, the bass note is earthy and restrained. The theme spills out into a walled garden, where the pool (which could have been a Raj pond in a past life) is lined with white parasols and thick, cushioned loungers. Its central location in the old town (a seven-minute walk to the beach) is staggering given its overall feeling of serenity and calm.
Address: 52 Rue Gambetta, 83990 Saint-Tropez, France
Price: From about £320 per night.
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Grégoire GardetteLa Reserve
The antidote to the thrum of Saint-Tropez, the noise of summer in the South of France, La Reserve is fantastically handsome and private. You can’t even see it, hidden as it is by a blanket of umbrella pines, but it’s there, moments from the sea. Each of the dozen three-to-six-bedroom terracotta-roofed houses has a dedicated butler who looks after you better than a nanny, whipping up breakfast eggs to order, tidying bedrooms (and clothes) with OCD dedication, booking restaurant tables, organising the free shuttle to town and stocking the fridge. There are artful displays of ceramics and Assouline coffee-table books, but also brightly coloured pool toys and an endless stream of towels. Come in August and stay firmly put as the surrounding roads become gridlocked. (The hotel will whisk you wherever you need to go by boat – or ask if you can use the owner’s helipad). Come in May or October half term and while the business and bustle still goes on at Club 55 and along Pampelonne, the trickier-to-reach beaches of L’Escalet and Cap Taillat are blissfully quiet.
Address: Chemin de la Quessine, 83350 Ramatuelle, France
Price: From about £370 per night.
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How we choose the best hotels in Saint-Tropez
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We’re always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve. For more information on how we review hotels and restaurants, please look at our About Us page. This is our edit of the best hotels in Saint-Tropez.