Five-star One MICHELIN Key La Ponche, Saint-Tropez
La Ponche
Twenty-one rooms in the old fishermen's quarter, above the small beach of La Ponche, where Françoise Sagan, Romy Schneider and Picasso once came to stay.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key, new in 2026
- Rooms
- 21 rooms and suites, plus apartments
- Opened
- 1938, under the Duckstein family
- From the airport
- About 18 km from La Môle
The hotel
The fishermen's house of Saint-Tropez.
La Ponche began in 1938 as a small place run by Simone Duckstein's parents, where the fishermen of the quarter came to drink, and to celebrate when the war ended. From 1951 its rooms sheltered famous couples, and in 1957 there were eight of them. Over the following decades Sagan, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Boris Vian, Bardot and Roger Vadim passed through, and nobody kept a guest book.
The hotel looks down on the beach of La Ponche, which lies between two old towers in the historic heart of the town. Fabrizio Casiraghi spent eight months renovating it and reopened it in 2021, keeping the structure and adding Picasso lithographs, works by Jacques Cordier and fabrics from Loro Piana and Pierre Frey. In 2026 the MICHELIN Guide gave it its first Key.
- Rooms named after their guests Each room carries the name of someone who stayed here. Room 8, which recalls Romy Schneider, has a terrace as large as the room itself.
- Saint-Germain-des-Prés The bar, redrawn by Casiraghi, opens onto a lane behind the hotel, and the cocktails take their names from past guests.
- Yoga over the water Morning yoga and Pilates on the deck facing the bay, with massages and body treatments on request.
Rooms & suites
Sea views from the old town.
Twenty-one rooms and suites from 17 to 45 square metres, the most asked-for facing the sea, some with wide terraces.
- Rooms Classique, Supérieure and Deluxe From the classic rooms to the deluxe rooms with a sea view, some with a terrace over the bay.
- Suites Junior suite vue mer to Suite prestige tropézienne Five suites, the junior suite and the Prestige tropézienne among them with a view of the sea.
- Longer stays Apartments and La Maison Apartments and a house, La Maison, sold alongside the rooms.
Dining
A terrace on the beach of La Ponche.
As listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- Restaurant-Bar La Ponche Restaurant and bar, breakfast to last call Menu by chef Simon Pinault
- Saint-Germain-des-Prés-La Ponche Cocktails Bar redrawn by Fabrizio Casiraghi
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 4 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children Welcome at any age.
- Pets Accepted, according to the MICHELIN Guide. We confirm the conditions with the hotel before booking.
- Season The hotel opens through the winter, with stays on sale up to the end of December 2026.
Getting there
Flying to Saint-Tropez.
Nice Côte d'Azur is the main airport for scheduled flights, about 92 kilometres by road, which takes around an hour and a half outside summer traffic by our estimate, or about 30 minutes by helicopter. Private jets cleared for it land at La Môle, about 18 kilometres away; larger jets use Nice.
- Geneva 45 min
- Milan 45 min
- Paris 1 h 15
- Munich 1 h 15
- London 1 h 45
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Does La Ponche have a MICHELIN Key?
- Yes, one. The hotel joined the MICHELIN Keys in the 2026 selection.
- Who has stayed at La Ponche?
- Françoise Sagan, Romy Schneider, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Boris Vian, Brigitte Bardot and Picasso among them. Several rooms are named after them.
- Is La Ponche open in winter?
- Yes. After its 2021 renovation the hotel moved to opening all year, and stays are on sale up to the end of December 2026.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Saint-Tropez?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Saint-Tropez, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Saint-Tropez
Other hotels worth the trip.
- La Réserve Ramatuelle Michel Reybier's Palace on the hill at Ramatuelle, with villas, interiors by Jacques Garcia and three MICHELIN Keys.
- Cheval Blanc St-Tropez A villa of almost a century on the bay, with 32 rooms and the only private beach in town.
- Airelles Saint-Tropez, Château de la Messardière A nineteenth-century château among the Ramatuelle vines, its semicircular pool turned towards the Bay of Pampelonne.
- Lily of the Valley Rooms on the Saint-Michel hill above Gigaro, where six kilometres of wild beach run along the cape.
- Arev St. Tropez Thirty-five rooms and suites round a heated pool and a padel court, seven minutes on foot from the place des Lices.
- Château de Valmer A Relais & Châteaux house in a five-hectare park, its organic kitchen garden supplying the starred restaurant.
Staying at La Ponche?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Saint-Tropez, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.