Archive

Hotel Le Beauvallon, St Tropez

2011-01-26 21:01

Where: Hotel Le Beauvallon, Baie Ste Maxime, St Tropez
Web: http://www.preferredhotels.com

This summer, you'll be able to travel back in time to the golden age of Riviera tourism when the Hotel Le Beauvallon near St Tropez re-opens its doors following an extensive refit. Its 57 rooms and suites, each with private butler service, have been entirely redecorated, while the stunning new 'sky floor' offers luxury suites and the added attraction of a breathtaking view over the bay of Saint-Tropez.


This is a distinctly 21st century experience, but the refurbishment has been done with such care and attention to historical detail that guests will find themselves effortlessly drawn into the world of glamour that so appealed to the Churchills, the Kennedys, and film stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, who came here to film 'Two for the Road'.

The Spa Garden has no fewer then seven suites, all ecologically constructed and each with a private pool, while the 15 acres of grounds include exotic Mediterranean gardens rolling down to the shore, and views across the bay to Saint-Tropez and Pampelonne Beach, accessible by the provided private shuttle boat.



In the original oak yard behind the hotel, the new Eco Luxe Spa will open in 2011 with organic treatments. Add to these facilities the new restaurant and Beach Club, as well as exclusive access to Beauvallon Golf Club and Beauvallon Tennis Club - and you can see that a stay at the Hotel Le Beauvallon is really an immersion in the art of wellbeing.



Pleasure Palace

Emile Bernheim could not have chosen a worse time to complete his pet project, a splendid palace-style hotel at Beauvallon.  At the end of 1913, Europe was a heartbeat away from what would be the most devastating war ever fought, but this patriotic Parisian businessman did not let that a global conflict dissuade him. In a spontaneous act of generosity, he handed the completed villa over to the French Red Cross to use as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers. The hotel would later reprise that role during the Second World War, when it was occupied by Italian and German troops until the arrival of the US army in August 1944.


It was the thirties, the time of 'entre deux guerres', that made the hotel's name, when, as the Golf Hotel, it played host to the then 'jet-set' which included, among others, F Scott Fizgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and the novel that was inspired by the Riviera, Tender is the Night.  Even though the Beauvallon was not itself the model for Fitzgerald's 'Hotel des Etrangers', it's still easy to conjure up some of the atmosphere of the period while wandering in the shade of the mimosa and pine in the the beautiful valley which gives its name to the hotel.

In 1997 the hotel was privately bought and is now a member of the luxury hotel group Preferred Hotels and Resorts, a collection of more than 185 leading hotels and resorts in the world's most desirable locations.