Avenue des Trois Dauphins, Var
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Anyone who has been on a cruise knows its finest moment: drawing back the curtain to find nothing outside but sea, and an island floating on the horizon. Les Roches offers that moment without the engine, or the seasickness. Built straight onto the rocks of Aiguebelle, just outside Le Lavandou, it has terraces stacked like decks above the water and faces the Îles d'Or, so the effect is of a liner permanently at anchor. Its owner, Delphine André of the Barmes de l'Ours in Val d'Isère, reopened it in 2025 following years of rebuilding.
The cabins come first. There are forty rooms and suites, and as on any ship, not all of them are large. Most have balconies and wide bay windows facing the island of Le Levant, and the waves can be heard at night. A few sit almost at the waterline, cool and quiet, like very civilised grottoes, while connecting cabins make it easy for families. The architect Jean-Baptiste Pietri has kept the lines sleek, somewhere between brutalism and Art Deco, and the stairs and corridors wind about like the lanes of a Greek village.
Life on board follows the light on the water. The pool on the upper deck is small, as ship pools tend to be, but below it, through stone arches near sea level, lies an indoor pool with a jacuzzi, part of a spa that earns its keep on grey days. There is no gangway into the sea. Two coves lie close by on foot instead, and from the port of Le Lavandou boats leave for Port-Cros and Porquerolles, the shore excursion this view seems to demand.
The captain's table is L'Oursin. Its chef, Antoine Gras, spends his winters cooking at La Table de l'Ours in Val d'Isère, so the bear, as it were, comes down to the seaside each summer and becomes a sea urchin. He brings mountain technique and a love of sauces to Mediterranean fish, while Magali Delalex runs the room and the wine.
Up on the roof deck, a second table, best on a still evening, is given over to lobster, and Le Jardin, in the garden of the neighbouring Hôtel de la Plage, keeps things simpler. Breakfast is taken on deck, with the islands for company. In the evening they turn pink, then slip into the dark.
Like any new ship, this one is still finding its sea legs. In July and August, day passengers from outside crowd the terrace and the spa, so booking ahead matters, and service and cooking have both had uneven nights. Les Roches is for couples after the Riviera without the noise of Saint-Tropez, and for Barmes regulars curious to see their hotel in summer clothes. June and September, when the sea is warm and the bay calm, are the months to sail.
Every cruise ends with the sad business of disembarking. At Les Roches the islands stay where they are, and nobody has to leave before checkout.
Guest book
Thomas Mann stayed at Les Roches with his family in 1933, after leaving Germany; in 1957 Françoise Sagan came to Le Lavandou for the filming of Bonjour Tristesse.
The L'Oiseau Bleu spa sits at the water's edge, in the arched stone base of the building, and its indoor pool looks straight out through the arches to the sea. Alongside it are a jacuzzi, a fitness room and the treatment rooms. It is the part of the hotel that keeps working on a grey or windy day, when the outdoor pool loses its appeal.
The outdoor pool lies on a raised terrace along the sea side of the building, lined with loungers and parasols, with Le Levant and Port-Cros on the horizon. The Bar des Roches stands beside it and serves light dishes at the poolside through the day; in the early evening the bar takes over, with live music at aperitif time.
L'Oursin changes with the hour. At lunch it serves the Déjeuner des Roches, a short bistro menu; in the evening it becomes the gastronomic restaurant of Antoine Gras and Benoît Gornard, under murals painted for the hotel by the Japanese artist Maki Ohkojima. Magali Delalex runs the dining room and a wine list drawn from the Mediterranean and Provence.
Every room and suite faces the sea with no building opposite, and the hotel describes them as cabins: wood panelling, terrazzo floors and photographs by Jean-Daniel Lorieux on the walls. Most have a balcony or terrace above the rocks. Many rooms are modular and connect, so a family can take two side by side and share one stretch of sea.
At a glance
Where
Avenue des Trois Dauphins, 83980 Le Lavandou, Var; in the bay of Aiguebelle, on the rocks of the Calanques de Peire Gouerbe beside Aiguebelle beach, facing the Îles d'Or: Le Levant and Port-Cros
Why this one
No building opposite, just above the water.
Each evening except Tuesday.
One facing the islands, one inside the spa.
The Edit Notes
Les Roches keeps a season, not a calendar year. The official site announces the closure of the hotel on Sunday 4 October 2026 and its reopening on 5 May 2027, so there is no question of a winter or Easter stay. Inside the season, the shoulder months of May, June and September give the same rooms, pools and restaurants with fewer day visitors on the terraces than July and August, when tables and spa slots need booking well before arrival.
L'Oursin works in two registers: a simpler bistro menu at lunch, the Déjeuner des Roches, and a gastronomic menu in the evening, both booked through the hotel. On the roof, La Langouste sur le toit serves a shared lobster menu each evening at nightfall, facing the islands, except on Tuesdays, when it is closed. A stay of three nights can hold one dinner of each, with the Tuesday given to L'Oursin rather than the roof.
The hotel describes most of its rooms as modular and connecting, which makes it workable for a family or for two couples travelling together, provided the request is made when booking rather than at arrival. Every room faces the sea, so the choice is less about the view than about space. The hotel states that it is fully accessible, with two Superior rooms adapted for guests with reduced mobility. Animals are not accepted anywhere in the hotel.
The hotel stands on the rocks of the Calanques de Peire Gouerbe, beside the beach of Aiguebelle, and its own swimming happens in two pools: the outdoor pool facing Le Levant and Port-Cros, and the indoor pool of the L'Oiseau Bleu spa. The official site describes no private beach or bathing ladder, so sea swimming means a short walk along the coast. Valet parking and porterage are included in the stay, so a car can be handed over at the door.
The price question
The money buys a room facing the sea from just above the water, in the calm bay of Aiguebelle, with a gastronomic kitchen under the same roof. It does not buy a year-round address, a private beach or published room sizes, and in high summer the terraces and spa are shared with guests from outside. The comparison is with a seafront room in Saint-Tropez or Cannes, at a calmer pace.
Book it for three or four nights in June or September, as a couple or with children in connecting rooms, with one dinner at L'Oursin and one on the roof fixed before arrival. A traveller who wants nightlife, shops within walking distance or a hotel open at Easter is better placed elsewhere.
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The Extra Edit
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