La Bastide Saint-Antoine – Jacques Chibois's Provençal retreat above Grasse

On the hills above Grasse — the town that calls itself the world's perfume capital — a seventeenth-century Provençal country house has spent three decades under the care of chef Jacques Chibois. La Bastide Saint-Antoine radiates its own quiet happiness here, a house of character that Chibois and his wife Odette opened as a hotel and restaurant in May 1996, after five years spent searching for the right property in Grasse. Long before them, the estate had passed between an English owner and an industrialist from Pont-à-Mousson, and once gave shelter to the Kennedy family and the Rolling Stones during the grand evenings of the last century. Sixteen rooms and suites, named after villages of the Grasse hinterland, now sit among the olive groves; the restaurant carries Gault & Millau toques and belongs to Les Grandes Tables du Monde, and the MICHELIN Guide lists the house among its selection.

01The house

Restored using traditional methods, the house keeps a patina reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside, a texture no architect's plan could fake, and the layered history of previous owners before Chibois arrived gives the place more weight than its hotel age of thirty years suggests. Jacques and Odette Chibois acquired the property in May 1996, after a five-year search for exactly this kind of estate in Grasse, and set about returning it to a Provençal country house that matched their own warm, welcoming character rather than any imported idea of luxury.

La Bastide Saint-Antoine joined Relais & Châteaux four years after opening and went on to win its fifth star in 2009, placing it among the small circle of French five-star hotels. The grounds still carry the layout of the old Grasse estates, with terraced paths winding between olive trees and restanques, rather than a garden designed from scratch.

02Rooms and suites

The sixteen rooms and suites are named after the picturesque villages scattered across the Grasse hinterland, and split between two distinct moods: traditional Provençal elegance or a more contemporary, pared-back refinement, with the same attention to discreet luxury and sophisticated comfort running through both. Classic rooms measure between 22 and 25 square metres, with views onto the small square and the garden; the collection then runs up through deluxe rooms, suites, a Suite Prestige and an apartment, each fitted with air conditioning, a safe, minibar, espresso machine with organic teas, and a bathroom with both a bath and a massage shower.

Insider tip

Around 15 minutes by car from Cannes; private parking and EV charging on site.

Guests choose their register on arrival: terracotta and warm fabrics in the Provençal rooms, or a cooler, more graphic palette in the contemporary wing — the same discreet comfort, told in two different accents.

03Where to eat

The house itself frames the meal before a dish arrives: thick-walled, shaded by mature plane trees, with the kind of proportions that predate the idea of designed dining environments. Chef Jacques Chibois, working alongside chef Jean-François Marre, builds his Mediterranean cooking under olive trees said to be a thousand years old, drawing on lemon, olive oil and the herbs of Provence alongside market produce. The restaurant holds Gault & Millau toques and belongs to Les Grandes Tables du Monde, a collection of prestigious restaurants across the world, and the MICHELIN Guide includes the house in its current selection.

From spring to autumn, tables move out to the shaded terrace among lime and chestnut trees and a flower garden; for the rest of the year, service moves into harmonious, light-filled rooms warmed by an open fire. Specialities on the seasonal carte have included thyme-roasted lamb with aubergine, yoghurt, mint and cardamom, grilled langoustines with creamy socca, and Mediterranean octopus refreshed with mint and pink grapefruit.

04The wine cellar

For more than twenty-five years, La Bastide Saint-Antoine has built one of the more serious private cellars on the Côte d'Azur, now running past 1,000 references across some 25,000 bottles. It is a project the house describes as a contribution to the development of wine-growing in the region, as much as a list to pour from, and guests can book a tasting session with the chief sommelier, who leads newcomers through grape varieties and, on request, out to the vineyards themselves.

05Pool, gardens and wellbeing

Guests can relax on the shaded panoramic terrace, take a dip in the outdoor pool with its jacuzzi, or keep active in the fitness room — three ways to use the five-hectare park that surrounds the house. A petanque court sits among more than 1,400 centuries-old olive trees, with the paths of the old Grasse estates still ondulating down through the restanques toward views of the Esterel massif and, on a clear day, the sea. Massages and beauty treatments can be arranged through the concierge with outside practitioners, rather than from a fixed in-house spa menu.

06The neighbourhood

La Bastide Saint-Antoine sits just outside the historic centre of Grasse, the town regarded as the world's capital of perfume, a short drive from the fragrance houses that have defined the local economy for centuries. Chibois has long used the house as a stage for the region itself: each January he hosts a truffle market, in spring an olive-oil festival, and throughout the year themed stays built around scent, run in partnership with Grasse's own perfumeries. Cannes and its bay lie close enough to see from the terrace, and close enough to reach for an evening without leaving the calm of the hillside behind.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.