Hotel Review: COMO Le Beauvallon
Some hotels have history. COMO Le Beauvallon has had several lives, and I’ve watched a few of them unfold.
I’ve been visiting nearby Sainte-Maxime for more than 20 years. During that time, I’ve seen this grand old hotel go through different iterations, including years when it operated primarily as a private events venue.
So I was particularly curious to see what would happen when COMO took over the century-old property and returned it to its original purpose: being a hotel.
The Belle Époque palace first opened in 1914 as Le Golf Hôtel, became a military hospital during both World Wars, and welcomed everyone from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Colette to Winston Churchill.
Now, as COMO Le Beauvallon, it has just 42 rooms and suites spread across a 10-acre estate overlooking the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.
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🌟 COMO Le Beauvallon 🌟
🛏️ Number of rooms & suites: 42
🤔 Three words: Historic, glamorous, sprawling
💰 Price: This is the Gulf of Saint-Tropez and a newly revived Belle Époque palace, so bargain hunting should probably happen elsewhere.
Rates vary by room category and season, with two-bedroom suites and summer commanding the highest prices, well into the thousands per night. The hotel is open until early October, and even then, rates were about $1000 a night for an entry level room.
There are 42 rooms and suites at COMO Le Beauvallon (photos courtesy of COMO Le Beauvallon)
📚 Why book: Space, history, and access to Saint-Tropez without actually being in the Saint-Tropez summer frenzy.
There’s also a genuine story here. The hotel opened in 1914 as the 100-room Le Golf Hôtel. It was requisitioned as a military hospital during both World Wars before returning to hotel life.
Among its former guests were Colette, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Winston Churchill and French poet Paul Géraldy. In the 1960s, it even had its movie-star moment as a location for Two for the Road, starring Audrey Hepburn.
The hotel sits on 10 acres, which feels positively extravagant on this part of the French Riviera, where land is a premium.
There are gardens, lawns, incredible art sculptures, terraces shaded by palms and umbrella pines, a 25-meter pool, a private pontoon, and the Beauvallon-sur-Mer beach club and restaurant by acclaimed chef Yannick Alléno.
Then there’s that eight-minute boat.
It makes lunch and shopping in Saint-Tropez remarkably easy. Car traffic between May and September can be particularly awful, so this perk is really smart, and convenient for guests.
🛏 Rooms: The hotel has just 42 rooms and suites now, less than half the original hotel’s 100, and accommodations vary considerably in size.
Superior Rooms start at a cozy 18 square meters/194 square feet, while Junior Suites jump to 40 to 50 square meters/431 to 538 square feet and offer garden or sea views.
Families have several useful options, including two-bedroom suites with separate sitting areas and either a queen bed or two teepee beds in the second bedroom.
Then there’s the 199-square-meter/2,142-square-foot COMO Suite, a one-bedroom penthouse with 180-degree sea views and enough space to make returning home to my much smaller apartment particularly painful.
🥘 Dining: Yannick Alléno oversees the hotel’s culinary program, which means food is much more than a club sandwich (though let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a room service club sandwich).
The restaurant is fantastic, and I really appreciate how varied the menu is — from grilled fish and Provençal dishes to sushi and other Asian food.
Beauvallon-sur-Mer by Yannick Alléno sits at the water’s edge, serving Mediterranean cooking with Asian influences and an emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients. I loved the menu’s sharing-sized dishes and variety.
The adjoining lounge and rooftop offer another place for drinks and bites, while breakfast is served in the Winter Garden and poolside dining is reserved for hotel guests.
I didn’t spend time at the beach, but the hotel has a private stretch of waterfront along with a gorgeous pool with sunbeds and food served from Alléno’s team.
(Modern artwork in the lobby of COMO Le Beauvallon (left); resort shop (right))
🗺️ Neighborhood: This is where terminology gets a little slippery. COMO Le Beauvallon is often described as a Saint-Tropez hotel, but I find this a little misleading.
You can SEE Saint-Tropez across the gulf, but the hotel address is Grimaud, NOT Saint-Tropez, and it’s actually closer to the village of Sainte-Maxime.
This distinction might matter to someone who’s never been here and thinks they can step out of the hotel and into the village. That’s not so.
The good news is that COMO Le Beauvallon has a complimentary boat that runs between the hotel’s private pontoon and Saint-Tropez’s port. The crossing takes just eight minutes.
👀 Nearby attractions: Saint-Tropez is the obvious one, particularly because Le Beauvallon’s boat drops you directly at the port.
But don’t overlook this side of the gulf, and its easier access to the highway for excursions further afield such as Aix-en-Provence, Lorgues, Cotignac, and other French Riviera towns.
The utterly charming hilltop village of Grimaud is just 5.5 miles or 15 minutes (depending on traffic).
Wine lovers can also organize a tour into the vineyards of the Saint-Tropez peninsula, where Côtes de Provence estates such as Château Minuty, Château Barbeyrolles and Château des Marres offer tastings amid the vines.
Or go wine tasting in a vintage 2CV.
Guests are also close to Sainte-Maxime, with its casual restaurants, shops, and casino. The hotel offers bike rentals, and a waterfront path connects the hotel and Sainte-Maxime.
📣 Standout Amenities: Complimentary eight-minute boat transfers to Saint-Tropez, a 25-meter outdoor pool, a private pontoon, the Beauvallon Sur Mer beach club, COMO Shambhala wellness treatments, a yoga studio, a gym (though it’s not super equipped), 24-hour room service, twice-daily housekeeping, and complimentary parking.
💫 Highlights: Ten acres overlooking the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, more than a century of Riviera history, just 42 rooms and suites, Yannick Alléno overseeing the food, a private waterfront and one extremely useful little boat.
❤️ My heartthrob: The boat. There are grander things here for sure, but anyone who has spent time in summer traffic around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez will understand why the water access to Saint-Tropez is the biggest plus this hotel offers.
No parking. No traffic. No questioning your life choices for hours on the D98. It feels decadent.
💔 My heartbreak: No coffee in the rooms Ugh. Why? WHY!!! (shaking my fists in the air).
For a hotel at this level — and for someone who wants coffee before becoming a functioning human in the morning — that’s a heartbreaking omission
While each floor also has a pantry stocked with complimentary snacks and drinks, including coffee, having to get up, put on pants, and walk down the hall is NOT my cup of tea, pun intended.
💡Know a hotel you think belongs on One Trip Wonder? I’m always interested in discovering places with a strong sense of place, a good story, and something that makes them worth traveling for. Get in touch.
