Hotel Review: Hotel Byblos Saint-Tropez

Originally appeared in The City Magazine, September 2017

The swinging sixties are alive and well as celebrity hotspot Hotel Byblos celebrates its 50th birthday

Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to wangle the suite in which newlyweds Mick and Bianca Jagger had spent their first night as a married couple 46 years earlier. For the celebrity wedding of that year, Hotel Byblos hosted numerous after parties, with stars flown in to toast the occasion in Byblos’s now mythical nightclub, Les Caves du Roy. Keith Richards was, for the most part, resplendently horizontal, conked out in the courtyard in his combat-jacket-black-tights Best Man ensemble.

The golden age of the rock star celebrity might have passed, but try telling that to Byblos, which, for its 50th birthday, has recently undergone a refurbishment worthy of one of France’s most famous hotels.

Built by Lebanese billionaire Jean-Prosper Gay-Para in 1967 for Brigitte Bardot, with whom he was infatuated, Byblos’s opening was marked by three days of frivolity with the 700 invited guests spanning politics, literature and the arts. Just four months later, with the Arab-Israeli conflict causing diplomatic ruptures, Gay-Para returned to Lebanon and sold his dream to French aviation tycoon Sylvain Floirat – it’s remained with the Floirat family ever since.

Byblos feels like a village in itself, brightly coloured terraces facing inwards onto a lavish pool area and bar. The rooms are huge, and feel more like apartments than part of a hotel. Sisley’s spa, its first in the world, is an oasis of calm in an already serene setting – good luck staying awake if you’ve just spent an hour with the expert masseuses.

Rivea at Byblos, Alain Ducasse’s second onsite venue, is typical French Riviera dining. Seafood and rich meat dishes are complemented by garden-fresh vegetables and refined pastas. For a real taste of Byblos, opt for the John Dory fillet or the beef prime rib with daube-style jus.

As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Byblos is also collaborating with a roster of luxury brands: Missoni, Rolls-Royce, Audemars Piguet, Goyard, Dom Pérignon and Sisley have all released products instilling the Byblos spirit.

After half a century of serving A-list guests, Byblos radiates self-assuredness. There aren’t many hotels that capture so fully the concept of joie de vivre. Byblos lives and breathes it.

Double rooms from €440 (£400), byblos.com