Hôtel & Spa du Castellet – three stars above the pines

Forty minutes from Marseille and a few hundred metres from the Circuit Paul Ricard, Hôtel & Spa du Castellet sits 430 metres up in the Var hills, its ochre, Tuscan-inflected buildings scattered through a 12-hectare pine park. A member of Relais & Châteaux since 2006, it is one of only a handful of French country-house hotels whose own kitchen has reached the summit of French gastronomy: the MICHELIN Guide awards the hotel Three Keys, and its restaurant, La Table du Castellet, Three Stars. That distinction belongs to Fabien Ferré, who spent a decade as sous-chef under Christophe Bacquié before taking sole charge of the stoves in 2023 and, in March 2024, became the youngest French chef ever to be awarded three stars in a single leap, the first to go directly from no stars to three. Around that singular table, the estate runs to 46 rooms and suites, a second restaurant built on open-fire cooking, a six-hole golf course and a spa that has quietly become one of the region's most complete.

01The house

The estate's closeness to motor racing is no accident: Hôtel & Spa du Castellet stands in the shadow of the legendary Paul Ricard Circuit, and the hotel today forms part of the Circuit Paul Ricard Luxury Experiences group. Its architecture borrows deliberately from Tuscany rather than classic Provence — low ochre bastides and villas, terracotta roofs, pine and stone — scattered through parkland rather than gathered around a single courtyard, so that each building keeps its own view of the Sainte-Baume massif or the sea beyond.

The kitchen's own history is the more dramatic one. Fabien Ferré joined as sous-chef in 2013 and spent ten years beside Christophe Bacquié, who won the restaurant its first three stars in 2018. When Bacquié left in 2023 to open his own project in the Luberon, the table briefly dropped out of the Guide altogether while the new restaurant, reopened on 15 April 2023 under its current name, found its footing. A year later, in March 2024, the Guide restored all three stars directly to Ferré — a feat so rare that French food writers noted he was, at 35, the youngest chef in the country's history to receive them, and the first to do so without having held a star beforehand.

02Rooms and suites

The 46 rooms and suites are spread between the main Bastide and the garden villas. The Classic Double, at 27 m² and south-facing, sits in the country house or villas with a private terrace looking onto the park or the pine forest that runs down toward Le Castellet; the 32 m² Prestige rooms, in the heart of the main Bastide, pair hand-painted furniture and rustic Provençal fabrics with premium comfort. Junior Suites (40 m²) add a sitting area with deep armchairs and fresh flowers; the 60–70 m² Deluxe Suites sleep up to four with their own chaise-longue lounge. At the top, the 150 m² Exception Suite has private access, a fitness corner, a hammam and a balneotherapy bathroom — effectively a self-contained apartment within the park.

Insider tip

Open late February to early December; book La Table du Castellet well ahead given its limited service days.

03Where to eat

La Table du Castellet is built around a contemporary dining room set against the park and, on clear days, a glimpse of the sea. Fabien Ferré's cooking leans on marine and vegetal themes — a Vegetal Expression menu built around Provençal produce with just a touch of meat or seafood for character — and draws on a family history of pastry-making on one side and farming on the other. He now works with sous-chef Naoya Hotta, pastry chefs Loïc Colliau and Rémy Barbagelata, head sommelier Florian Wunenburger and Julie Vasseur in the dining room. The restaurant keeps deliberately limited hours, open for lunch Friday to Sunday and for dinner Wednesday to Saturday, which, together with the size of the room, makes early booking worthwhile.

A shorter walk from the pool, Le San Felice is the estate's open-fire bistro, run by chef Thibaud Durix on grilled meats, fresh fish and seasonal, locally sourced produce. Its dining room opens fully onto a shaded terrace facing the golf course, with the sea visible in the distance on a clear day; it serves lunch and dinner daily, a more relaxed counterpoint to the gastronomic table.

04The bar

L'Arèn Bar occupies the hotel's convivial heart — a long communal table in the lobby gives way to a bar designed for lingering, open from late morning until midnight. Guests take freshly squeezed juices, cocktails from the head bartender or a glass of champagne either on the terrace overlooking the park or by the indoor fireplace, with homemade pastries served at tea time throughout the day.

05Spa and wellbeing

The 700 m² Spa du Castellet, which the hotel marked in 2026 as ten years into its current partnership, is built as a full sensory circuit: a heated indoor pool with massage jets, hammam and sauna, a salt grotto, an ice fountain, a Kneipp path and a herbal-tea lounge, all arranged around natural light. Treatments use the Sym Biologic System protocol, and the spa has previously been named Best Luxury Spa in the region. Outdoors, the estate adds a six-hole golf course, a tennis court, a running track and a treetop adventure course for children, alongside an indoor pool for guests who prefer to swim whatever the season.

06The neighbourhood

The medieval village of Le Castellet is a short drive away: a fortified hill town entered through two old gates, the Grand Portail and the Portalet, with a 12th-century château — now the town hall and a listed historic monument since 1939 — looking out over the Bandol vineyards. From the estate it is roughly 45 minutes to Marseille and a similar distance to the calanques of Cassis, with the beaches of Sanary-sur-Mer and Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer closer still; the hotel itself sits between Marseille and Toulon, a position that keeps both cities, and the Bandol wine route, within easy reach.

07Making the most of a stay

The hotel's concierge, Alexis, arranges the kind of itinerary that makes sense of the setting: vineyard visits in Bandol, walks into the hilltop villages of the Var, and — a short drive from reception — track days or passenger laps at the Circuit Paul Ricard next door. The hotel's boutique stocks 8Js sportswear designed by Sacha Prost, a nod to the circuit on its doorstep. The property opens seasonally, from late February to early December, running around the clock during that window, so stays built around a single long weekend at La Table du Castellet are worth planning well ahead given the restaurant's limited service days.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.