Where the Beautiful People Go: Summer in the French Riviera

The Château Hôtel de la Messardière (Route de Tahiti, St. Tropez, 04 94 56 76 00) offers an equally calm, serene stay and exuded absolute luxury. The Mediterranean-style hotel abutting the fairy-tale like château, sits on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.  Each fabulous room boasts a balcony or terrace with a spectacular view. Deciding on accommodation when planning a trip to this resort town is, decidedly, not simple.

[highlight_text] Day quickly melts into night where the throngs who come here to party are only too happy to have the party start. [/highlight_text]

If having one’s own slice of heaven here is preferable to a four- or five-star hotel, villas for sale Saint-Tropez are easily had. This exceptional 700-square-meter villa built in a contemporary style offers one of the most majestic views of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in its locale near the Club 55. The interior design and impeccable service, lounge, dining room opening onto the terrace, kitchen, and five bedrooms-all suites-are accommodations hard to beat. The home includes a 25-meter heated swimming pool set on 12 hectares of land—and all for a mere 20 million euro.

It’s easy to wile away the days in Saint-Tropez, and the prime place to do so is at Club 55 (Plage de Pampelonne Boulevard Patch, Ramatuelle, 04 94 55 55 55). Located on Pampelonne Beach, truly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Club 55 is best described as casual glam. A wooden slatted floor covered with sand forms the large dining room in which bikini and designer sunglass-wearing patrons come fresh off the beach for fish caught in the water 20 paces away and more rosé than they can stomach. The vineyards of Provence (the region of France in which Saint-Tropez lies) that produce the treasured pink summer wine are too numerous to mention, but one of the best is Bertaud Belieu. The historic vineyard lies on 62 hectares in Gassin and the Domaine under new management is turning out tremendous new crushes each year. This summer, the vineyard will make a huge splash when it issues a limited run of 20 Methuselah 6L (1.58 gallon) with numbered labels sculpted by Michel Audiard at a price of $10,000 dollars per bottle. Named Heracles, the Greek name of Saint-Tropez, the exceptional vintage will, needless to say, not only be stupendous but rare: only 4,000 liters worldwide of the best production 2010 rosé were bottled.