Hotel of the Week: A Belle Époque Beauty Near Saint-Tropez Is Reborn as an Art-Filled Resort

From the fleeting glimpse on the coastal road to Saint-Tropez, COMO Le Beauvallon could easily be mistaken for a private Riviera estate. But as soon as guests arrive at the discreet side entrance of this stately property, they are met with a cinematic, breathtaking moment: beyond an expansive lawn stands the sprawling terra-cotta Belle Époque mansion overlooking the Mediterranean. For an instant, it feels as though one has stepped into another century.

That impression is no accident. Commissioned in 1914 by brothers Émile and Edmond Bernheim, wealthy real-estate developers and art patrons, the visionary resort included a golf course, villas, and gardens that would attract le beau monde. Colette stayed here in the 1920s; decades later, Winston Churchill was also among its guests. In the late 60s, Audrey Hepburn shot the romantic comedy Two for the Road on Beauvallon’s grounds.

Then, after several changes of ownership, the Hong Kong–based Hwang family painstakingly restored Beauvallon, reopening it briefly in 2008 before returning it to private use. Their extensive art collection remains one of the hotel’s defining features.

Today, COMO has reopened Beauvallon as a 42-room hotel, where expansive sea-view suites and terraces, salons, and a ballroom still reflect the hotel’s original scale. Yet, for all its grandeur, the new concept also introduces lighter, brighter interiors, plus a revived winter garden restaurant, a mosaic-tiled pool, a reimagined period beach club by Dorothée Delaye with menus by Yannick Alléno, and a small COMO Shambhala spa.

More than 300 works of largely Asian contemporary art and collectible design are displayed across the hotel and flower-filled gardens. On the ground floor, highlights include Ron Arad’s stainless-steel Bad Tempered Chair and sculptural ping-pong table, along with Zheng Lu’s installation, Toi et Moi, inspired by verses by the poet Paul Géraldy, who lived at Beauvallon during the 1920s. Outside, Xia Hang’s Kei Ling reimagines mythical Chinese creatures in stainless steel, while Antonio Fiorentino’s startlingly lifelike The Sleep invariably prompts a second glance at a man dozing peacefully.

Crossing the sloping lawns, dotted with sculpture, guests reach the beach club through a restored Belle Époque tunnel beneath the coastal road. Under the sweeping curves of a white 1920s rotunda is the restaurant and bar, where French designer Dorothée Delaye brings together cream upholstery, pale wood, ochre accents, and muted blues. Add to that a stretch of sand and limpid shallows—their small private beach—and a glittering pool with yellow-striped umbrellas that recall the glamorous Riviera heyday. Nearby, Toyo Ito and Cecil Balmond’s relocated 2002 Serpentine Pavilion serves as a private gallery and event space.

For his first beach club, Beauvallon sur Mer executive chef Yannick Alléno departs from the usual Riviera formula, combining Mediterranean ingredients with Chinese-inspired textures. Niçoise stuffed eggplant and pissaladière share the menu with chicken dim sum, grilled fish brightened with yuzu, and tang yuan.

The Asian influence continues at the restaurant up at the hotel, with a dinner menu of creative dishes from octopus drizzled with Sichuan chili oil to a featherlight lychee floating island with black sesame for dessert.

Upstairs, in the rooms, the panoramic sweep across the Gulf of Saint-Tropez remains the focal point, whether through the vintage telescopes placed in some suites or while luxuriating in a striking transparent resin bathtub—one of the more unexpected design flourishes. And if the quiet of Beauvallon ever begins to feel too seductive, the hotel’s private boat reaches Saint-Tropez or the beaches of Ramatuelle in just eight minutes, turning the journey itself into one of the pleasures of the stay.