Hôtel Byblos review: The headline-making Saint-Tropez hotel that was built to impress Brigitte Bardot
More than a half century after Brigitte Bardot visited the hotel built as a sort of love letter to her, Rosie Paterson checks in to find out what makes it tick.
Hôtel Byblos is a reminder of Saint-Tropez days gone by — a heady mix of glamorous and bohemian styles that brings to mind the Golden Age of travel. Something that doesn’t seem that surprising when you recall that Lebanese billionaire Jean-Prosper Gay-Para was inspired to build the hotel by his hopeless infatuation with Brigitte Bardot (below).
(Legend has it that the Lebanese town of Byblos is where Adonis and Aphrodite became lovers.)
The French actress and singer catapulted both herself and the then sleepy fishing village on the map on account of her sexually-charged performance in And Then God Created Woman (1956). It received a mixed critical reception—the Catholic National Legion of Decency in the US 'condemned’ it — but was a massive commercial success.
Whether Gay-Para was successful in his romantic endeavour is up for debate. Yes, Bardot frequented Byblos — which quickly became a celebrity magnet that attracted stars such as Mick Jagger and Cher — but she didn’t attend the opening party. And he was up against some touch competition. In 1966, Germany’s ‘prince of pleasure’ Gunter Sachs famously dropped a tonne of red rose petals out of a helicopter over Bardot’s La Madrague home — she married him the same year.
Today, the nearly 100-room hotel is arranged around a courtyard and swimming pool — each building painted in warming tones of ochre, rust red and terracotta. In 2024, four new suites, designed by Paris-based interior designer Laura Gonzalez were introduced — and what a treat they are. One is daubed in coral, a second in yellow, the third in turquoise and a fourth in jade green. Not so subtle nods to retro design include the ceramic minibars inspired by travel trunks that were popular in the 1970s. Last year, the hotel completed a total overhaul of their food and beverage outlets and opened the doors to its first-ever rooftop bar.
I first visited more than a half century after Bardot first walked through the doors — likely in much less glamorous circumstances. I was supposed to be staying somewhere that shall remain nameless on the opposite side of the Bay of Saint-Tropez, but it was so unspeakably awful (another story for another day) that we ran out in a panic and into the outspread arms of the team at Byblos.
My travel companion collapsed, quite literally, with relief and joy when we walked into our bedroom.
A handful of hotels on this Earth just get it right, exuding a kind of aura that intoxicates everyone who stays. It’s a tricky science and there are plenty of places that are perfect on paper, but leave guests feeling a bit, well, flat. Byblos falls into the former camp. It’s sexy, but not sleazy, and still feels like a closely-guarded secret despite its headline-making hedonistic history.
Oh if walls could talk!
The village-within-a-village, cloistered layout likely has a lot to do with that. However, the hotel’s back entrance spills guests out onto busy Avenue Foch — the best of both worlds.
Rooms at Hôtel Byblos start from €645 on a bed and breakfast basis in the low season, and on a room-only basis in peak season. Visit the website for more information and to book.
