There are few things the French Riviera loves more than a glamorous comeback. A faded movie star returning to Cannes? Très chic. A billionaire repainting a 40-metre yacht cream instead of white? Practically civic duty. But this summer’s most delicious revival belongs to COMO Le Beauvallon, the newly reopened Belle Époque prince perched above the Gulf of Saint-Tropez like a man, after an expensive haircut, who has finally remembered exactly who he is.
Originally opened in 1914 — when seaside convalescence still involved parasols, strong opinions about linen, and inconveniently formal lunch attire — Le Beauvallon quickly became the Riviera address for the sort of people whose names now live on museum walls and overpriced biographies. Winston Churchill came for the light. Colette came for the atmosphere. One imagines Audrey Hepburn arrived impossibly elegant and somehow made everyone else look underdressed. Then, as Riviera legends often do, the palace slipped quietly into slumber. Until now.
Under the stewardship of COMO Hotels and Resorts, the storied property has returned not as a nostalgic museum piece, but as the sort of Riviera fantasy that makes you briefly consider developing a cigarette habit purely for aesthetic reasons. The hotel’s 42 rooms and suites unfold across a ten-acre hillside estate of umbrella pines, palms, and lawns so manicured they appear mildly judgmental.
And then there’s the arrival situation. Guests can, of course, drive. But the spiritually correct entrance involves boarding the hotel’s sleek COMO speedboat for the complimentary eight-minute transfer across the gulf to Saint-Tropez — the kind of casually glamorous detail that feels engineered specifically for Instagram Stories and divorce settlements. There’s also direct access to Pampelonne’s legendary beaches, because on the Riviera, convenience should always arrive with sea spray.
The beating heart of the reopening, however, is food. Specifically, food by Yannick Alléno, the Michelin-decorated culinary polymath who has somehow turned “beach club restaurant” into a phrase worthy of reverence.
At Beauvallon Sur Mer by Yannick Alléno — his first beach club concept — Southeast Asian precision collides joyfully with Mediterranean indulgence. Yellowtail tartare arrives with peanuts and Thai basil ice cream because subtlety is apparently overrated in Saint-Tropez. Sea bass crudo is splashed with baijiu and green papaya in a Som Tum-style riff that practically demands rosé before noon. And the seared tuna with Kampot pepper sauce feels tailor-made for guests who insist they’re “just doing something light for lunch” before ordering three desserts and a second magnum.
The aesthetic, meanwhile, lands somewhere between Belle Époque fantasy and Slim Aarons fever dream. French designer Dorothée Delaye has infused the beach club with curved wrought iron, Riviera pastels, yacht-inspired marquetry, and enough filtered sunlight to make everyone look suspiciously well-rested.
By day, the vibe is languid glamour. By sunset, the lounge pivots into a DJ-scored theatre of beautiful people pretending not to notice one another while absolutely noticing one another. Upstairs, the rooftop terrace surveys the gulf with the confidence of a place fully aware it will soon dominate social calendars from Paris to Geneva.
Naturally, there is a mosaic pool. Twenty-five metres of it. Reserved exclusively for hotel guests, because exclusivity remains the Riviera’s most enduring design principle.
And because no modern luxury hotel can simply offer beautiful rooms and extraordinary food anymore, COMO Le Beauvallon also arrives with a serious cultural résumé. Hidden among the gardens is the 2002 Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito — a gleaming, geometric apparition overlooking the sea that now serves as an impossibly photogenic venue for weddings, cocktails, and likely several discreet luxury brand dinners this summer.
Inside the main hotel, things become more quietly seductive. The Winter Garden restaurant glows beneath a glass ceiling where Mediterranean dishes meet French Riviera classics in a setting that whispers rather than shouts. Elsewhere, designer Paola Navone has transformed the Riviera Terrace into an open-air salon for cocktails, oysters, and strategic people-watching.
The rooms themselves avoid the trap of Riviera maximalism. Instead, they feel like the private residence of someone who inherited excellent taste and never once downloaded TikTok. Suites gaze over the bay; Hillview rooms drift toward the Provençal countryside. More than 300 contemporary artworks punctuate the property, because nothing says “relaxed coastal escape” quite like museum-quality sculpture beside your morning espresso. There’s also a discreet COMO Shambhala retreat offering holistic treatments and yoga, allowing guests to recover spiritually from the emotional toll of excessive champagne and prolonged sun exposure.
Most Riviera reopenings promise glamour. COMO Le Beauvallon delivers something rarer: atmosphere. The kind that cannot be manufactured overnight, only resurrected carefully, seductively, and with excellent lighting. And in Saint-Tropez, that may still be the ultimate luxury.
Visit www.COMOhotels.com to discover more
By: Lucas Raven
