Hotel of the Week: This Island Hideaway Offers the Best of the French Riviera with None of the Crowds
Zannier Île de Bendor resurrects arts patron Paul Ricard’s artistic haven as a spectacular resort with inspired cultural programming, inventive cuisine, and a tranquil wellness spa
On a coastline as celebrated—and crowded—as the Riviera, the promise of a little-known private island seems almost improbable. Yet just a seven-minute boat ride from Bandol, Zannier Île de Bendor leaves the continent behind. This 93-room neo-resort in France builds on the vision of pastis entrepreneur and arts patron Paul Ricard, who imagined the island as a haven for artists, artisans, and creative exchange.
When Ricard bought Bendor in 1950, the island—just 700 meters long and 220 meters wide—was little more than a rugged islet grazed by a lone sheep. He transformed it into a Mediterranean retreat for family and friends while keeping it open to the public, inviting cultural figures including Salvador Dalí, Josephine Baker, and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Dalí even left his mark on the island: his Pêche au thon hung here for decades and today inspires one of Zannier’s pastis-based cocktails.
The goal was to create a five-star resort without losing the island’s unpretentious spirit. Today, the hideaway set on 17 acres still has the feel of what Ricard’s great-grandson Marc Jouffroy calls “a Mediterranean village.” Beyond the retro-inspired Delos, the contemporary Japanese-inflected Soukana, and five sorbet-colored fishermen’s houses are three restaurants, a crêperie, an ice cream shop, a diving center, a kayak club, a wellness center with a Roman bath-style pool, a small sandy beach, and footpaths leading to rocky coves.
Just behind the harbor, a dusty square houses the Village des Artistes, the hub of Bendor’s cultural revival, along with a contemporary glass and stone gallery. “More than just a hotel destination, it’s a true showcase for art, creativity, and human connection—an experience that brings an emotional dimension to the island,” says Juliette Causil, co-founder of Oraé Gallery, who curates a year-round program of visiting artists, exhibitions, performances, and workshops.
True to that vision, Bendor itself becomes an exhibition space. More than 300 works are displayed throughout the property, and all of them are for sale. Among the artists commissioned for the interiors is David Servan-Schreiber, whose use of fire, metal, wood, and recycled materials echoes the project’s commitment to sustainability.
The ceramics workshop offers a glimpse into that philosophy. Croatian ceramicist Zeljana Vidovic, the hotel’s first artist-in-residence, drew directly on Bendor’s landscape for her collection, Dialogue with the Wind, combining ocher rock, sand, black stone, mica, and clay into pots and vases that seem almost sculpted by the Mistral.
“Your hands are your tools,” she tells Galerie. “People disconnect completely from everything else while they’re working. But it’s also the island that does that.”
Elsewhere, sculptures from Ricard’s collection remain part of Zannier Île de Bendor’s disarming spirit, from the cherubic sirens overlooking the harbor and a monumental Neptune facing the sea to a towering totemic monument inscribed Nul Bien Sans Peine (“No Good Without Pain”) in the forecourt of Delos.
The Mediterranean serves as the common thread running through the island’s dining spots, from Greek and Italian to North African and Provençal. At the gastronomic restaurant Le Grand Large, Michelin-starred chef Lionel Lévy has entrusted the kitchen to a rotating succession of young talents. The current 26-year-old chef, Lucas Antoniotti, draws inspiration from the wild flora, transforming ciste marine, a plant found in the coastal scrub, into an unexpectedly delicate ice cream.
For all its understated elegance, Zannier Île de Bendor’s greatest achievement may be preserving the slower, more contemplative rhythm that defined the world Paul Ricard imagined.