Hotel de Paris Saint Tropez

Saint-Tropez

As a beach resort and a holiday residence for stars and members of high society, Saint-Tropez is one of the world’s most famous villages. Its renown began in the 1950s when film stars and intellectual VIPs chose this peaceful site and marina for their vacation, attracting the greatest names in new wave cinema, poetry and art including among others, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Françoise Sagan, Jacques Prévert and Pablo Picasso. All of Paris succumbed to the village’s Provencal charm, marking the ascension of “Saint-Trop“, as its habitués affectionately call it. However, there is more to Saint-Tropez than jet setters, yachts and ostentatious luxury.

The village remains a haven of peace in which the region’s typical way of life is still celebrated. Petanque, the French version of bocce, played under the shade of the trees on the Place des Lices, is an essential and timeless institution. To see and be seen is certainly one of the constant pastimes of “Saint-Trop“, although many visitors come here for the gentleness of life on the village’s terraces, the gastronomy of the famous local brasseries or to witness the festive and picturesque processions known as bravades.

Saint-Tropez however, would not be Saint-Tropez without the muse of the village, the eternal Brigitte Bardot, a legendary actress whose image is at the center of a hotel, which more than any other, participated in creating the myth of Saint-Tropez: the Hotel de Paris.

The myth and the future

The Hotel de Paris Saint-Tropez is located on the famous Place de la Gendarmerie, immortalized by the series of « gendarme » films starring French comic actor, Louis de Funès. Opened in 1931, the hotel was a starting point for the reputation of Saint-Tropez and the first refuge for the artists and intellectuals who created its legend. Clark Gable, Jean Cocteau and Coco Chanel are but a few celebrities who stayed here.

As the birthplace of the Saint-Tropez art de vivre, the hotel became the venue for high society and the jet set. It went through several different eras and adapted each time to the tastes of the day.

Claude Dray, a businessman determined to restore the hotel to its former glory, purchased the building and entrusted its renovation to architect, François Viellecroze and decorator, Sybille de Margerie, who supervised the rebirth of the hotel, which today offers its guests a larger and contemporary design hotel with clear lines, and the presence of contemporary art enhanced by generous spaces and based on five themes: the 1960s, the Mediterranean, water, women and Brigitte Bardot! Several paintings of the former film star are displayed throughout the hotel, and there are even original photographs and unique dedications in the Presidential Suite.

The hotel could not have chosen a better symbol, and it’s with pride that the Paris Saint-Tropez affirms itself as both new and old, making it the truly eternal grand hotel of the Côte d’Azur.

One of the most important highlights of the hotel is a swimming pool on the roof, visible from the lobby. This architectural achievement is extremely rare as there are only two of them in the world.