5 rue des Remparts, Var
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Most hotels keep a guest book. La Ponche, the most storied little hotel in Saint-Tropez, never did. Some of the most famous names of the last century slept at La Ponche, wrote here, drank here or simply hid here, and the house never asked any of them to sign. Their names have since found their way onto the doors of the rooms, but the discretion remains the real heirloom.
The hotel sits in La Ponche, the old fishermen's quarter at the far end of the port, in a cluster of seventeenth-century houses above a small beach. It began as a fishermen's bar run by Simone Duckstein's parents, and when the war ended, the men of the quarter came here to celebrate. Simone grew it, room by room, into a hotel that stayed in the family for decades. When new owners took over a few years ago, she stayed on as the soul and memory of the house, and one of the rooms carries her name.
The designer Fabrizio Casiraghi was asked to change everything without touching the essential, and he largely succeeded. Walnut panelling and tiled floors frame the rooms, and at the black-and-white marble reception the keys are still round and made of brass. Nobody here has to wave a plastic card at a door.
There are twenty-one rooms and suites, four apartments and a house, and they vary. The smallest are snug and look onto the lanes or the patio. The rooms worth asking for face the sea, and one of them, named after a film star and her husband, has a terrace as large as the room itself, looking over the rooftops and the citadel to the water.
Days follow the rhythm of the quarter. The beach below, which once had a part in a famous film, is more for basking than for lengths, so the hotel keeps a pontoon for a proper swim in the cove. Yoga happens on the pontoon itself. In the evening, dinner is served on the terrace above the water: simple Mediterranean cooking built around the day's catch, with the bay turning dark beyond the tables.
The bar is the soul of the house: a mirrored wall, a checkerboard floor, a fireplace and deep armchairs, with cocktails named after old regulars, and a small door onto the lane behind so the village can wander in, as it always has. There is no pool, the spa is small, parking means a garage down the street, and in high summer the lanes outside are packed. None of that matters much to anyone who has come for old Riviera romance with the sea at the bottom of the stairs.
Some of its guests became legends. La Ponche never asked them to sign anything, and it extends exactly the same courtesy today.
Getting about
A vintage Piaggio Ape Calessino, known at the hotel as the Petit Piaggio, runs between the hotel and its garage through the lanes, and on request drops guests anywhere in town.
The rooms with terraces sit above the quarter's roofs. The Prestige Tropézienne room is 24 m² with a 30 m² terrace facing the village, the bell tower, the citadel and the sea. The two Suites Prestige Tropézienne, 43 m², add a separate sitting room and a private sea-facing terrace with loungers. Some Deluxe sea-view rooms also have a terrace.
The restaurant runs from a dining room out onto a terrace beside the water. Chef Simon Pinault cooks Mediterranean food around regional vegetables and the day's fish, some of it over a wood fire, and Marine Bon Mugnaïni runs the room. Breakfast is served here, indoors or in the bedroom; in the evening the tables get cotton cloths and candles.
The bar keeps its old name, Saint-Germain-des-Prés-La Ponche, and opens daily, from coffee after the first swim to the last drink. Walnut panelling, marble, mirrors and deep armchairs set the tone, and the signature cocktails are named in tribute to regulars of the house. It is where hotel guests and the village share the evening aperitif.
Below the hotel a pontoon runs out into the La Ponche cove, and with no pool on site this is where guests swim. On summer mornings, except market days, it holds a yoga or Pilates class, gentle or dynamic, limited to fifteen and open to non-residents. Private sessions can be arranged, and retreats take place in winter and spring.
At a glance
Where
5 rue des Remparts, 83990 Saint-Tropez, Var; in the La Ponche quarter of the old village, above the cove and the Plage de La Ponche. Nearest airport Toulon, also Nice and La Môle-Saint-Tropez; Toulon and Saint-Raphaël stations; helicopter and sea arrivals possible
Why this one
A pontoon into the La Ponche cove.
Bell tower, citadel and bay.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés-La Ponche.
The Edit Notes
The two lower categories do not look at the water. Classic rooms, 20 m², face the pedestrian lanes or the patio; the Superior, 26 m² with a dressing room and desk, faces the patio. The sea begins with the Deluxe sea-view rooms, 27 to 29 m², over the cove, some with a terrace. The Junior Suite, 37 m², sits in a house on the beach and has a bath. The Suite Deluxe is larger but looks onto Rue des Remparts.
The restaurant serves dinner from Tuesday to Saturday only, so a Sunday or Monday arrival means an evening with the bar and room service, or a table in the village. Breakfast runs every day and can be brought to the room or the terrace. For a stay that includes a boat day, the concierge books a motorboat with skipper and the kitchen packs a picnic basket. Fix the restaurant evenings first, then the nights around them.
The hotel stands in the pedestrian lanes of the old village, so cars go to its own covered garage of sixteen places, a minute's walk away, with a valet available day and night. From there the Petit Piaggio carries luggage and guests to the door. Places are limited, so mention the car when booking. The hotel has no wheelchair-accessible rooms, an exception it states itself, and the lanes are cobbled. Small pets are accepted in the rooms.
Groups and families have better options than two adjoining rooms. Three apartments sit within the hotel: a one-bedroom of 72 m² for four, a two-bedroom of 86 m² for four, and a three-bedroom of 170 m² on two floors for six, with a 45 m² sea-view terrace. La Glaye, 90 m², lies a few steps away above the Plage de la Glaye. La Maison sleeps eight in four bedrooms, each with a bathroom, and has a 20 m² rooftop; pets are not accepted there.
The price question
The money buys a room in the oldest part of Saint-Tropez with the sea at the bottom of the stairs, a bar the village still uses, and a pontoon in place of a pool. It does not buy space: entry rooms are 20 m² and look onto lanes, the restaurant serves dinner five nights a week, and the car lives a minute away. The real comparison is with hotels outside the village that have gardens and pools.
Book it for a few nights in the village built around the sea: a Deluxe sea-view room or one of the terrace rooms, dinner on the terrace and the bar afterwards. A family that wants a pool and a garden, or a guest who needs step-free access, is better placed in one of the hotels outside the old town.
Villa Marie Saint-Tropez
Forty-five rooms and suites above Pampelonne Bay, minutes from Saint-Tropez, each with a terrace or balcony facing the sea or the gardens.
Airelles Pan Deï Palais
Ten rooms and two suites in the centre of Saint-Tropez, with gardens, a pool and a restaurant overlooking the garden.
The Extra Edit
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