The Vibe: Bringing back the Bardot days.

The Area: On small pebbled La Ponche beach, in the town centre proper.

The DNA: Following an eight month renovation led by Milanese interior designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, Saint-Tropez’s smallest five-star hotel is ready to welcome guests old and new. La Ponche fuses the perfect mix of La Dolce Vita of the Southern Mediterranean with the French Riviera’s infamously luxe coastal town. The La Ponche restaurant and bar is helmed by Thomas Danigo, formerly of Laurent and Recruiter Sergeant. Here, Danigo produces Mediterranean cuisine focussed on regional vegetables and fish of the day. Dishes such as fresh pea gazpacho, grilled lobster, and bouillabaisse, all intended to be ‘no fuss’, ‘fresh’, and ‘flavoursome’. The bar is a place to be enjoyed at all hours of the day, and often late at night. Casiraghi’s use of mirrors behind the bar, American walnut wood ceilings, black-and-white checkered tiling, fireplace, and wrought iron coffee tables with glass tops, bringing back the Bardot years to the Cote d’Azur‘s decadent La Ponche hotel.

Suite-Me-Up: The bright and simple rooms are each named after illustrious visitors, and feature off-white American walnut woodwork, dark-stained, gloss varnish, tiled flooring, artworks by Jacques Cordier (the husband of La Ponche’s devoted owner turned ambassador Simone Duckstein) and original lithographs by Pablo Picasso.

Your host: Simone Duckstein

Seen: archilovers, Top Hotel Design, WeHeart

✅ free Wi-Fi • size matters: 21 rooms & suites (20-72m2) (215-775 sq ft) • hotel opened: 2021 (originally 1938) • interior design: Fabrizio Casiraghi • bathroom amenities: Hermès • parking possible nearby (charged) • pets allowed • 24-hour front desk