La Réserve Ramatuelle – Three Keys above Pampelonne bay

Above Pampelonne bay, a few minutes from the crowded port of Saint-Tropez, La Réserve Ramatuelle keeps its distance from the fray: a place preserved from the hustle and bustle, set into Provençal garrigue scrubland with a spectacular view of the endless sea. It opened in 2009, the year Michel Reybier installed chef Eric Canino at the stoves of La Voile, and in January 2020 the MICHELIN Guide awarded that restaurant a second star. The MICHELIN Guide now also gives the hotel itself Three Keys, a distinction it has held for three consecutive years, extending the house's reputation beyond the plate to its 1,000 sqm Spa Nescens, its beach club on Pampelonne and an interior that still trades on 1950s Riviera glamour. Forty keys in total are spread across the main house and a scatter of private villas, each with its own pool, hidden in scented scrubland between Saint-Tropez and Cap Camarat.

01The house

Eric Canino was brought in to head the kitchen when the hotel first opened in 2009, and it was there, within this exclusive address, that he built the reputation that later earned his restaurant two stars. The property belongs to Michel Reybier Hospitality, a small group of iconic hotels blending contemporary luxury and authenticity across France, Switzerland and London, whose Paris address, La Réserve Paris, embodies the elegance of 19th-century Paris in a very different, urban register.

The decor leans hard into a specific moment: the hotel's own redesign is a tribute to the golden age of the French Riviera, when the artistic and literary avant-garde would congregate on the Côte d'Azur in the 1950s and 60s. Michel Reybier worked with designer Jacques Garcia on a 40-room property that reads as both timeless and layered with history, mixing raw materials, signed works of art and custom-made pieces with the kind of Provençal austerity that lets a sea view do most of the talking.

02Rooms and suites

The main house gathers 19 suites and eight rooms ranging from 45 to 120 sqm, each with its own sun-filled terrace of between 25 and 190 sqm, some opening directly onto a private garden scented with southern herbs. Windows are placed to catch the Mediterranean from unexpected angles — at the end of a corridor, through a bathroom pane — so the view changes with every step rather than being fixed to one wall of glass.

Insider tip

Open seasonally; book La Voile well ahead given its two MICHELIN Stars and small dining room.

For longer, more private stays, the estate unveils 13 villas with a Provençal soul, each with its own swimming pool, aimed at guests who want the independence of a private home with the hotel's service on call. Suites carry the names of the capes and coves visible from their terraces — Camarat, Taillat, Escalet, Quessine — a small detail that roots each room firmly in this specific stretch of coastline rather than any generic idea of Riviera luxury.

03Where to eat

La Voile is the house's signature table, and the MICHELIN Guide awarded it a second star on 27 January 2020, confirming chef Eric Canino's reputation for a gourmet, almost guilt-free cuisine. Canino trained under Michel Guérard at Eugénie-les-Bains and later under Guy Martin at Le Grand Véfour in Paris, an apprenticeship that shaped his lifelong commitment to light, produce-driven cooking rather than richness for its own sake. His all-vegetable tasting menu, running from starter to dessert, has become a house classic, alongside his signature bluefin tuna rubbed with spices.

Beyond La Voile, the hotel keeps a loose constellation of other tables. La Piscine serves Italian plates with a hint of Dolce Vita in the shade of poolside greenery, while La Muña, on the rooftop, turns to Japan, with a menu prepared by two master sushi chefs eaten while admiring the sea. La Brasserie offers a lighter, terrace-bound repertoire, and on Pampelonne beach itself, La Réserve à la Plage — reimagined by Michel Reybier with designer Philippe Starck — puts guests' feet in the sand with their eyes on the blue of the Mediterranean. Saint-Tropez's grand gastronomic tables cluster precisely in hotels like this one, alongside La Vague d'Or and Colette, making La Voile part of a short, serious list rather than a solitary outlier.

04The bar

The bar moves with the seasons rather than staying fixed in one room: in summer it shifts to the patio, set beneath a large old olive tree, pouring aperitifs before dinner at La Voile or a late drink after a day at the beach club. It is less a destination in its own right than a hinge between the hotel's public rooms — lobby, restaurant, pool — built for lingering rather than spectacle, in keeping with the restrained, materials-first decor found throughout the house.

05Spa and wellbeing

Spa Nescens occupies 1,000 sqm of immaculate white space, built around the medical expertise of the Swiss wellness brand Nescens and its research into long-term health rather than one-off pampering. Signature treatments and Better-Aging programmes here are tailored to each guest's own objectives, rather than following a fixed seasonal menu. Facilities run to an indoor heated pool, a hammam, 11 treatment rooms and 24 different treatments, backed by a fully equipped gym. The spa, indoor pool and fitness area are not open to children under 16, and the fitness room itself is accessible around the clock, with the rest of the spa open daily by reservation.

06The neighbourhood

Ramatuelle sits inland and uphill from Saint-Tropez, close enough for an evening at the port but far enough to avoid its summer crush, and the hotel's own stretch of coast looks out toward Cap Camarat and Cap Taillat across Pampelonne bay. Saint-Tropez's own dining scene is unusually dense with MICHELIN stars for a town of its size, with La Voile sitting alongside La Vague d'Or and Colette among the region's most celebrated tables, so a stay here doubles as a base for exploring the wider peninsula's restaurants as much as its beaches.

07Making the most of a stay

The hotel keeps a strictly seasonal calendar, open daily from 1 May to 11 October in 2026, which concentrates its best moments — poolside lunches, beach-club evenings — into a single long Mediterranean summer. Given La Voile's two stars and intimate dining room, booking a table well ahead of a stay is worth doing before arrival rather than on the day.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.