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Saint-Tropez 2026: Your Season Opening Guide — New Openings, Restaurants & Events
The Bay Wakes Up — and 2026 Is the Best Year in a Decade
Late April. The shutters along the rue Allard come up one by one, the awnings unfurl across Place des Lices, and the first Riva slides out of the old harbour at sunrise. Saint-Tropez is opening its 2026 season — and this year there is more to talk about than there has been in a decade.
Long-empty palaces are reopening under new flags. World-class chefs are arriving with fresh concepts. Two of fashion’s biggest names have moved in on the beach. And the calendar of regattas, parades and parties looks as full as ever.
If you’re planning a stay this summer — whether it’s a single week in July or the entire month of August in a private villa — here is everything that is genuinely new on the peninsula in 2026, and what’s worth booking now before the rest of the world catches up.
What’s New in 2026
COMO Le Beauvallon Opens Its Doors Again
The biggest hospitality story on the French Riviera this year is the return of Le Beauvallon. The Belle Époque landmark, perched on a hillside above the bay with its own beach access by speedboat, opened on 24 April 2026 as COMO Le Beauvallon. It is the first COMO property in France and brings the group’s quiet, design-led approach to one of the Riviera’s most storied addresses.
What sets the reopening apart is the chef. Yannick Alléno — the most Michelin-starred chef working today — leads the entire culinary direction, including the resort’s headline restaurant, Beauvallon Sur Mer by Yannick Alléno. Open to non-residents as well as hotel guests, the restaurant draws on flavours from Southeast Asia served against an open Mediterranean horizon. It will quickly become the table to book for a serious dinner this summer.
The Strand at AREV — A New Address in the Centre
Inside the five-star AREV in the village itself, The Strand at AREV debuts this season as a fresh take on haute-Mediterranean cooking. Expect classic Provençal ingredients — the morning catch from Saint-Raphaël, vegetables from Var smallholdings, olive oil pressed within twenty kilometres — handled with a contemporary, lighter touch. The room is intentionally relaxed, designed for both an intimate two-top and a longer table of friends.
Fashion Comes to the Beach
Two of Pampelonne’s most established beach clubs have been reimagined by fashion houses for 2026. Casa Amor, operated under the Dolce & Gabbana banner, is unmissable: bold prints, deep Sicilian colour and a menu leaning toward the south of Italy. A short walk down the beach, Loulou Ramatuelle has been transformed by Gucci into a green-and-gold getaway with the playfulness the brand is known for. Both run reservation-only, and both fill up within minutes when their summer calendars open.
Beach Clubs Worth Booking Now
Saint-Tropez beach club culture is famously seasonal: most clubs open between late April and the first week of May, and most close by the end of September. Reservations for August are usually gone by mid-June. Here is who to call first.
Verde Beach — Pampelonne
Verde returns for 2026 under the same Mediterranean–Levantine direction that built its reputation: a Moroccan shisha lounge, a charcoal-led grill from chef Julien Lee, and one of the most photographed sunset terraces on the beach. It opens at the end of April, and the calendar of theme nights — guest DJs, supper clubs, full-moon dinners — is what fills the property mid-week as well as weekends.
Nikki Beach — Reborn After 2024 Renovation
The original Pampelonne Nikki Beach — the club that effectively invented the day-into-night beach format twenty years ago — completed a full renovation in 2024 and is back in 2026 with a refreshed layout, a larger dance area and an expanded menu. Their Sunday Amazing Brunch remains the single most reserved table on the beach.
Casa Amor x Dolce & Gabbana
Bold, theatrical, very photogenic. Bookings open early; lunch is the easier reservation, and the kitchen is consistently strong.
Loulou Ramatuelle x Gucci
The most “in” address of the 2026 season. Lunch tables turn over twice; ask for an outer-row daybed for the longer afternoon stay.
The Classics Still Hold
It would be wrong to send any first-time guest past the classics. Club 55 remains the lunchtime address that anchors the entire beach. La Réserve à la Plage is the discreet alternative for a quieter, longer table. Bagatelle is the reliable choice if you want music and movement from the moment you sit down.
Restaurants Worth a Reservation
Beach clubs handle daytime. The town owns the evening. A short list of 2026 dinner reservations to put in your calendar before they go.
Beauvallon Sur Mer by Yannick Alléno — the season’s headline opening. Book a corner table on the lower terrace.
The Strand at AREV — the freshest village address; lighter, less formal, but the kitchen is serious.
La Vague d’Or, Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez — three Michelin stars under chef Arnaud Donckele. The South-of-France high-end benchmark.
Le Banh-Hoï — a long-running Vietnamese candle-lit room in the village. Loyal, slightly underground, the favourite of returning guests.
Sénéquier — the red-awning institution on the port. It is not the destination dinner; it’s the place you go for a Provençal lunch at one o’clock and a final drink at midnight, every day of your stay.
Le Quai — a port-side classic with a steady kitchen and the right energy for a longer table.
If you’d like a private chef in-villa instead — a route that often makes the most of an extended stay — most of our properties pair seamlessly with chefs who have trained in the kitchens above. Tell us a few preferences and we’ll arrange the introductions.
The 2026 Events Calendar
Saint-Tropez timing is everything. Some weeks the village is full, others it is almost empty. Here are the dates that shape the season.
Bravades de Saint-Tropez — mid-May (annual three-day festival)
The town’s oldest tradition. Locals in eighteenth-century costume parade through the streets behind the muskets of the bravadeurs; ceremonial blanks echo off the harbour walls. The atmosphere is unlike anything else on the Riviera.
Dames de Saint-Tropez L’Oréal — 8 to 10 May 2026
A women-only regatta in the bay, featuring classic sailing yachts and a strong social calendar around the harbour.
Voiles Latines — 5 to 7 June 2026
A weekend dedicated to the lateen-rigged boats of the Mediterranean tradition, organised by the Société Tropézienne des Voiliers de Tradition. The harbour fills with sails that look as if they have come straight out of an eighteenth-century painting.
Polo Season — June through September
The Polo Club Saint-Tropez at Haras de Gassin runs its season across the summer. Sunday afternoons in the stands are a fixture of the calendar.
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez — 26 September to 4 October 2026
The peninsula’s grand finale: roughly 250 boats — classic schooners, century-old gaff-rigged yachts, modern maxis — racing in the bay over nine days. It is the moment to come back if you’ve already done Saint-Tropez in July or August and want to see it in its other personality.
Insider Tips for the 2026 Season
A few things our concierge team would actually tell a friend.
Book July and August by April. The best villas — those with sea-view infinity pools, a private cinema room, more than ten bedrooms — are reserved by repeat guests months in advance. Even if your dates are still floating, putting a soft hold on a property in April is sensible.
The shoulder season is genuinely better than people think. Late May, early June, and the second half of September deliver eighty per cent of the experience for sixty per cent of the price, with empty roads, available restaurants, and water that is warmer than expected. Voiles week in late September is the hidden best week of the year.
Plan boat days in advance. A captained day on the water — to the Îles de Lérins, to Pampelonne for lunch at Loulou or Casa Amor, or simply at anchor in the bay — is the single best memory most guests bring home. It also requires a captain and a yacht booked in advance: the Mediterranean has too few of both for last-minute decisions in August.
Use a transfer rather than a taxi. Nice airport to Saint-Tropez is two hours by road in summer, but a helicopter from Nice or Cannes is twelve minutes and turns up on the heliport in Grimaud. We can book either.
Stay a week, not three days. The peninsula rewards an unhurried rhythm: lunch on the beach, a late-afternoon swim from the villa, dinner in the village, a digestif on the port. Three days does not give it room.
Plan Your 2026 Saint-Tropez Stay
Cyrus International has been arranging private villa rentals in Saint-Tropez for more than two decades. We know which villa pairs with which beach club, which chef matches which kitchen, and which weeks are quiet enough for the holiday you actually want.
If you’d like a curated short-list of properties available for your dates — with prices, full image sets and a private viewing arranged on the ground — send us a message via the WhatsApp button on this page, or get in touch through our contact page.
We’ll see you in Saint-Tropez this summer.
Cyrus International is a private villa rental and brokerage company specialising in Saint-Tropez and the Côte d’Azur. All properties are personally inspected; all bookings include 24/7 concierge support before, during and after your stay.
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