The Red Of Esterel

The Riviera of Alain Delon is no more. Amongst the many stations along the Côte d’Azur, the general trend is of plastic terraces, streets overflowing with shops, and frozen Dublin Bay Prawn being served up at restaurants on the beach which, somehow manage to fit 50 deckchairs on their ten square metres of sand, have the nerve to call it a ‘private beach’. It is on you to not forget the once beautiful calm of the Mediterranean, the deep ochre colour of the coast, the song of the cicadas which, despite everything, continues. And then, gradually, a new arrival set up at Saint-Raphaël which we believe could very well return the long lost sunny nonchalance back to the Riviera that we love so much.

Nature, memory and joy

L’Officiel India DigitalRead L’Officiel India in the digital libraryEvery issue and every cover story, on TCG Media.Read now

One could spend their days barefoot, reading on the large white terrace, playing petanque or table tennis, attending private movie screenings and exhibitions organised on the spot, or even doing absolutely nothing, lounging in a ‘Butterfly’ sofa facing the azure sea.

Could Les Roches Rouges hotel come at a better time? While we readied ourselves to sacrifice ten degrees to take a gentle spin in the Arcachon basin, the Hôtels d’en Haut team had already decided to bring a postmodern five-star hotel along with its boutique chalets at Val Thorens, Courchevel and Megève, their first Balearic hotel. And nothing here could insult the eye of the informed and experienced traveller who, often, on the first clumsy detail, of the infinite naff touches of the designer, raises the shoulders and says, “Another botch up.” And even if the demanding traveller were to continue looking, it is only with this “company of hotels” founded in 2011 can one find the fundamentals of travel: nature, memory and joy. A massive undertaking that’s for sure, but which appears to have been gradually forgotten during the sophistication of the 90s. This anti-bling hotel, the building influenced by the modernist movement, appears as if simply placed at the foot of the Massif d’Estérel, right in front of the Île d’Or, fifty rooms and suites of pure white, where the white wood gives it a style between the elegance of the 50s and the starkness of wabi-sabi aesthetics dear to Axel Vervoordt, with the relaxed feel of the Balearic Islands. A mix of references, sometimes erudite and direct, orchestrated by the architectural duo Festen, who we are already familiar with thanks to the Pigalle hotel. True to their style, they filled the interiors with variegated objects, book tables and well-chosen reproductions, to recreate the feel of an actual vacation home. And you need never argue to exchange your parking lot view for a view of the sea because every room faces the azure. That’s a given!

Lit up idleness

The message is clear: we are reinventing holidays by the sea, no longer the sort from which one returned more drained than when one left. One can live at Les Roches Rouges all year and need leave for nothing but perhaps a stroll in the natural park of the Esterel or a quick drive to the Ile d’Or. One could spend their days barefoot, reading on the large white terrace, playing petanque or table tennis, attending private movie screenings and exhibitions organised on the spot, or even doing absolutely nothing, lounging in a ‘Butterfly’ sofa facing the azure sea. The garden, reflects the intimidating nature of the Esterel mountains, at the foot of which is the hotel, intended to be located that low so as to bath in air filled with the peculiar perfume of coastal fig trees, the lily of the Nile and the everlasting Helichrysum. For the active traveller there are options, diving, yoga sessions, classes on local cuisine, mountain biking, horse riding and guided Sunday walks in the forest, but also a sea water pool which is so confounding with its turquoise expanse and a swimming basin fitted directly into the rock. The spa, invested in by the pioneer of bio-ecology brands, Esthederm, has crafted its treatments with days under the sun in mind, with an array of preparatory treatments, those to repair the skin and others to prolong the tan.

Food and Drink

We know you, you and your Instagram, always in search of the bar on the beach, perfect with wooden tables and lit up tinsel, to take a picture of you, from the back, with a cocktail in one hand facing the setting sun. Those of Les Hôtels d’en Haut are already part of the list, to add a few more, Les Roches Rouges has three bars situated between the terrace, the pool and the beach. One stops at each of these, depending on the time of day, to have a fruit juice, or a cocktail with a base of French spirits and locavore ingredients. Furthermore, an outdoors reading room, under large white canopies, whose neo-gypset décor could inspire the best locales in Ibiza. And the food? That too is locavore, captained by the young chef José Bailly. He was inspired by the René Jouveau book, ‘La Cuisine provençale de tradition populaire’, to undertake a return to the source while openly ignoring the popular obsession at the time for ‘revisited classics’. The sophistication here lies specifically in the detailed selection of products: fish are responsibly caught, the meat is locally grown and sourced, fruits and vegetables come from neighbouring farmers. They serve, without having to prepare tonnes, the ‘pouprihoun e tóuteno’ (little octopus, squid, samphire), the ‘lou mourre de gat’ (little purple artichokes, egg, saffron milk cap mushroom) or the ‘agnèu’ (lamb with rosemary and wild garlic), eaten with natural or biodynamic wines. For a little more simplicity, one can head down to the restaurant on the beach and have oneself an order of the provincial tapas to split at a wooden table, glass in hand, facing of the setting sun…. And for Instagram you ask? We will consider that tomorrow.

Les Roches Rouges, 90, Boulevard de la 36 - Division du Texas, Saint-Raphaël. www.hotellesrochesrouges.com