GETAWAYS • Le Var
When Parisians in the know crave a seaside summertime escape in the South of France, they bypass jam-packed Saint Tropez and the mobbed, overbuilt Riviera for a necklace of quieter and much prettier water’s edge towns in Le Var. Notably, Hyeres, Sanary-sur-Mer, and palmy Le Lavandou, where the 42-room Les Roches — one of the most discreetly glamorous new hotels in France — opened in July after a complete overhaul of a 1930s hotel originally known as Les Roches Fleurie.
A longtime favorite of writers and artists, including everyone from Thomas Mann and Jean Cocteau to Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, this property seduces by being bang on the edge of the Mediterranean, or what the French call ‘pieds dans l’eau,’ (your feet in the water).
The property’s architect, Jean-Baptiste Pietri, highlighted the original modernist stylings of the hotel in his deft expansion of this intimate property and its public spaces. Upstairs, almost every room has the same spectacular views over the sweeping turquoise waters of Aiguebelle Bay, and those with deep balconies are perfect places to spend an afternoon reading, maybe punctuated with an occasional dip in the pool or the Med itself.
The streamlined décor of the rooms is inspired by the minimalist serenity of Japanese ryokans, cabins on the great ocean-liners of the ’30s and the Riviera itself, with oak parquet or terrazzo floors, blonde wood headboards, plump chairs and sofas and white, cream and taupe-painted walls and accents of petroleum blue. In homage to the post-Impressionist painters, including Signac and Seurat, who were inspired during stays at Le Lavandou, contemporary works by artists like Michelangelo Pistoletto, Ma Desheng, Loris Cecchini, Maki Ohkojima and Romain Barré, among others, are on display in the hotel’s public spaces.
Chef Anthony Gras, who holds a Michelin star at Les Barmes de l’Ours, Les Roches sister property in the Alps, serves a contemporary seafood menu at L’Oursin, the hotel’s gastronomic restaurant, which also features a wine list by sommelière Magali Delalex that showcases the best wines of the South of France, many of them natural or organic.
Other amenities include a bar, gym, and spa with an indoor pool. All safely tucked away from the crowds. –Alexander Lobrano
→ Les Roches (Le Lavandou) • 1 Avenue des Trois Dauphins • Rooms from 800 €.