La Palmeraie in La Croix-Valmer – a star among century-old palms

At the Château de Valmer, between vineyards, an organic kitchen garden and the sea at Gigaro, La Palmeraie holds a MICHELIN star and, since 2026, a new chef in Thomas Pezeril.

La Croix-Valmer lies on the far side of the Saint-Tropez peninsula, where the road runs down through vineyards to the beach at Gigaro and the Îles d'Or float on the horizon. Here, at the end of an avenue of palms, stands the Château de Valmer, an early-20th-century house in five hectares of gardens, vines and orchards. Its gastronomic restaurant, La Palmeraie, holds one star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide, and for the 2026 season the kitchen passed to a new chef, Thomas Pezeril.

This is what to expect: the estate and the terrace, the chef and his two menus, the season and what to know before you book.

01Palms, vines and a kitchen garden

The restaurant takes its name from the century-old palm grove it faces. The estate is a five-star hotel and a member of Relais & Châteaux, with organic vines that give a hand-picked rosé, an organic kitchen garden of vegetables, herbs, fruit and edible flowers, and a 500-square-metre spa. Its sister house, La Pinède Plage, stands on the beach 400 metres away.

In summer, the MICHELIN inspectors note, dinner is served in the shade of a pergola. The plates themselves are part of the setting: they are made by the ceramicist Sylvie Gélis, one of the artisans the restaurant names on its menu alongside its fishermen, oyster farmers and growers.

02Thomas Pezeril

Thomas Pezeril comes from the Sarthe and has cooked with Anne-Sophie Pic in Valence and with Hélène Darroze in London, according to the critic Gilles Pudlowski; most recently he was executive chef for Hélène Darroze at Villa La Coste in Provence, the food magazine Supper reports. His cooking is strongly vegetable-led, often marine and precise about seasoning and cooking, and the estate's garden sets the rhythm of his menus.

Insider tip

Seasonal: closed in winter. Two six-course menus, one vegetarian.

The inspectors describe a six-course menu with short titles, plus a vegetarian version, built on produce from Provence, the coast and the estate's garden, and praise Tamaris oysters with artichoke and lamb with wild broccoli. Fish comes from Mathieu Chapel of Côté Fish, and shellfish from the Giol family.

03Terroir and Végétal

The autumn menu, dated September 2026, offers two menus in six courses. Terroir, at €190, with a wine pairing at €160, opens with an Ode Automnale of vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers and moves through porcini with buckwheat and lovage, gnudi with rocket and Menton lemon, rockfish with caponata and saffron rouille, and a meat course with coco beans, carrot and pistou, ending with yoghurt and meadowsweet. A course with caviar, melon and guanciale is available for a €58 supplement.

Végétal, at €140, is entirely vegetarian, from squash with buckwheat and lovage to girolles with Camargue rice and a 70 per cent chocolate dessert with tansy and gin. Shorter four-course versions cost €155 and €120. Next to La Palmeraie, La Bastide serves a more relaxed Provençal menu by the same chef.

04Season and booking

The Château de Valmer is open from spring to autumn. It has now closed for the winter and announces its return “next spring” without giving a date. Opening days and hours for La Palmeraie are not published; dinner is the main service. The restaurant takes its own reservations, by telephone on +33 4 94 55 15 17 or through the estate's website. There is a car park, and the restaurant is accessible to wheelchair users.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.