La Ponche – Saint-Tropez's fishermen's bar turned legend

On the quiet, eastern edge of Saint-Tropez's old town, where the village turns its back on the yacht-lined port to face a small pebbled cove instead, a cluster of 17th-century fishermen's houses forms La Ponche. Hôtel La Ponche was a small hole-in-the-wall establishment in 1938 run by the parents of Simone Duckstein, soul and memory of the place, and it was here that, at the end of the war, all the fishermen of Saint-Tropez gathered to celebrate their newfound liberty. Rooms were added from 1951, and within a decade the address was hosting everyone from Sartre and Picasso to Roger Vadim and Brigitte Bardot. A renovation by Milanese designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, completed after eight months in 2021, restored the house without erasing its past: the 21 rooms, each named after an illustrious visitor, still display artworks by Jacques Cordier and original lithographs by Pablo Picasso. The MICHELIN Guide recognises La Ponche with One Key.

01The house

A cluster of 17th-century fishermen's houses folded into the old village quarter, facing the small pebbled cove that shares its name — this has been La Ponche's setting since what was once her parents' hole-in-the-wall establishment in 1938. Film-stars and celebrities arriving by the overnight Blue Train from Paris would check in at La Ponche, which added hotel rooms in 1951. By the 1950s, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Paul Éluard, Juliette Gréco and Boris Vian occupied the bar, Vian playing jazz in a piano room he'd annexed from an adjoining barn, while Picasso donated lithographs, Françoise Sagan wrote in room 19, and Roger Vadim filmed Et Dieu… créa la femme on the beach out front, a film that made Brigitte Bardot and, incidentally, Saint-Tropez.

The 2021 renovation, eight months of it, was handed to Milanese designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, who was careful not to touch the structure. The rooms keep the whitewashed simplicity of the original, updated with off-white American walnut woodwork, tiled floors, and fabrics by Loro Piana and Pierre Frey in green, orange and yellow. He added ceramic frames by Victor Levai and a fresco by Elvira Solana, alongside the existing original Picasso lithographs and paintings by Jacques Cordier, Simone Duckstein's late husband. The Picassos are on the walls because Picasso left them, the rooms are named for people who actually slept in them, and Simone Duckstein, now the hotel's ambassador rather than its owner, remains part of the place's texture.

02Rooms and suites

Its small size — just 21 rooms and suites and three apartments — helps it keep its low profile. All twenty-one rooms and suites carry the names of some of the hotel's most distinguished visitors. One of the classic rooms is dedicated to the soul of La Ponche, Simone Duckstein, while rooms created from 1951 remember the couples who met in them: Brigitte Bardot and Gunter Sachs in room 1, Bernard Buffet and the model Annabel in room 20, Romy Schneider and Daniel Biasini in room 8. Room 8's terrace is as large as the room itself, looking over the rooftops of Saint-Tropez, the citadel, the bell tower and the sea.

Insider tip

Open seasonally; reached by foot from the port, car park with Piaggio shuttle to the cove.

For longer stays, La Maison sits slightly apart from the main building. Designed like a large holiday home, it offers 240 m² of space in the heart of the La Ponche district, sleeping up to eight people across four en-suite bedrooms. Upstairs, a 20 m² rooftop terrace looks over the bell tower, the citadel and the sea. Air conditioning, Aqua di Parma toiletries, room service and a 24-hour concierge complete a house built for privacy rather than show; apartments nearby are named, in the same spirit, for Danièle Thompson, Jack Nicholson and Pablo Picasso.

03Where to eat

The kitchen is now signed by chef Simon Pinault, whose Mediterranean cuisine focuses on local vegetables, daily fish and market vibes — a gastronomy that is both sober and inventive, in the image of La Ponche. On the terrace facing the sea or in the dining room, he crafts cooking set to the rhythm of the market: regional vegetables, the day's catch. At lunchtime, breakfast extends into a brunch overlooking the sea; in the evening the room turns to cotton tablecloths and subdued lighting.

04The bar

La Ponche's drinking den rose from humble beginnings, when writer Boris Vian secured a neighbouring barn to set up the Saint-Germain-des-Prés-la Ponche piano bar. Years later, Brigitte Bardot's orphaned Juliette would dance with abandon across the checkerboard floor in And God Created Woman, and a who's who that includes Picasso, Jack Nicholson, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir would prop up the burnished counter. Casiraghi's renovation kept the mirrors behind the bar, the American walnut wood ceilings and the black-and-white checkered tiling, adding a fireplace and wrought-iron coffee tables with glass tops. At the bar, where Boris Vian's trumpet and Bardot's laughter once resounded, people still dance to the rhythm of French songs.

05Spa and wellbeing

The well-being area is built as a setting to let go, meditate or practise yoga, before reconnecting with the energy of Saint-Tropez. In the early hours, guests meet on the pontoon for a gentle or dynamic yoga session — sun salutations over the sea, followed by an invigorating swim. Facials are built around PERS, a French skincare line created in a dermatologist's office; La Ponche describes itself as the first wellness area in the world to host it, with treatments taken at the spa or, for guests who prefer not to move, in the room. Massage and Pilates sessions run alongside the yoga, open to outside guests as well as residents of the house.

06The neighbourhood

The fishermen of Saint-Tropez gathered at La Ponche to celebrate the end of the Second World War, and the place never entirely shed the quality of somewhere that mattered. Its position, on the quieter eastern edge of the vieille ville, facing the cove rather than the port, is the thing you will not find elsewhere — a short walk separates the hotel from the crowds around the harbour and the Place des Lices. The Annonciade Museum lies just 450 metres away.

07Making the most of a stay

Arrive by car and the final stretch is covered by a small Piaggio, which takes guests one minute down to the cove the hotel overlooks. The house's 2026 season runs daily from 26 March until 3 January. Day-to-day management sits with Audrey Brémond, a native of Saint-Tropez, under the Corbo Collection. Ask at reception for a room named after a guest who actually slept in it — the brass key is usually a better guide to the house's history than any guidebook.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.