The Mediterranean Sea glitters as we pull away from the Provençal port of Bandol. Ahead lies Zannier Île de Bendor, France’s first private-island resort. The south of France has never been shy about pleasure; it’s practically where the concept was invented. But what awaits on this 17-acre island is something more interesting than a straightforward show of luxury: part artist’s colony, part spa retreat, part well-fed village. The seven minutes it takes to leave the mainland behind as you sail over are your window for throwing stress overboard. The Bandolais call it L’Île du Bonheur — the island of happiness. Île de Bendor is exactly that.
Our story starts, rather improbably, with a solitary sheep, the total population of Île de Bendor when pastis magnate Paul Ricard bought this rocky island off the Provençal coast in 1950. If you know the South of France, you know Ricard. The bright yellow aniseed spirit is to the French what Guinness is to the Irish; a national institution, if an acquired taste. The man behind the bottle was also a painter, a racing enthusiast and a patron of the arts, whose dreams went far beyond pastis. His original plan was a family-holiday retreat. Then he stood on the island and, awestruck by its beauty, declared it must be shared with everyone. Within a decade, Bendor had become a social and cultural hub where families, artists and celebrities gathered for sun, sea and good old-fashioned hedonism.
When you disembark at the island’s harbour, you step onto the same Provençal quay these golden-era luminaries so loved, with its fishermen’s houses, clock tower and village square as they were. What has changed is everything beneath the surface. The five-year revival, led by Ricard’s great-grandson Marc de Jouffroy and Zannier Hotels founder Arnaud Zannier, has been an act of loving reinvention. The island has several distinct residences, each with its own style, restaurants and atmosphere. The guest arriving on Bendor must first decide who they wish to be.
If the answer is impossibly chic, turn left, because the Delos segment channels the va-va-voom of the Riviera at its 1960s peak. This is a retro-design lover’s paradise. Many of the vintage pieces are from brocantes and Provençal antiques markets, and Arnaud Zannier had a hand in their curation. We ascend in the lift and doors open onto a terrace and pool that demand big sunglasses and an even bigger hat tout de suite. Opening the door to your room feels like stepping into a private cabin on a well-dressed yacht. Those facing east are blessed with sights of the sunrise over the sea from the balcony, and every room in Delos comes with its own cocktail-making kit, mais bien sûr.
The five Maisons Madrague, located just beyond the little port, offer a quieter pace. Each home, styled on a fisherman’s dwelling, has a private garden suited to families. Entry to the charming kids’ club is included in the room rate — it runs pâtisserie-making sessions, treasure hunts and sports for four- to 12-year-olds, and there’s a shaded play park, ball pit and even a climbing wall. The mascot, delightfully, is a sheep called Edmond, a nod to the island’s original resident.
Cross to the western tip to discover wellness world Soukana, which is anchored by the 1,200-square-metre Rēsonance Spa, one of the largest in the region. My massage treatment begins with a sea-salt and thyme foot bath, carried out with my choice of lavender and bergamot oil. But the pampering options are legion: there are beautiful indoor and outdoor pools, inspired by Roman baths; a hammam; reformer Pilates classes; a cryotherapy chamber; and Augustinus Bader treatments. Every register of restoration is considered, from an afternoon’s decompression to a full-week rebuild.
Soukana’s rooms and suites are conceived as comforting cocoons with rich cocoa accents and tactile textures. Some enjoy double-aspect terraces overlooking the sea and the rooftop pool. For watersports enthusiasts, there’s Le Club Nautique, plus tennis and pickleball courts.
The island offers eight distinct dining experiences, from haute-cuisine restaurants to a crêperie, all overseen by Michelin-starred executive chef Lionel Lévy. A child of the Mediterranean, who spent 14 years at his first Marseille restaurant, Une Table au Sud, before a decade as executive chef at the InterContinental Marseille Hôtel-Dieu, Lévy had been watching Bendor closely. ‘When I heard Zannier Hotels was taking on the island, I applied immediately,’ he says. ‘Its vision speaks to me: a simple, authentic luxury, where emotion comes before spectacle.’ He cooks from the land around him: goat’s cheese from the hills above La Cadière; vegetables from a local family; lemons, citrus fruits, figs and nasturtiums brought in from Hyères. Not forgetting the local fishermen, who deliver 50-kilo tuna straight to the kitchen. ‘Working in the south for all these years builds deep ties,’ Lévy says, ‘with the people, the land, the seasons. The producers are truly the ones who inspire my cooking.’ What does he hope guests take away? ‘Not necessarily a dish, but a feeling: the sense of having lived something authentic, in a place outside of time.’
Le Grand Large restaurant is conceived as a culinary-career launchpad: each season, a different young chef takes the helm. The first to step up is Lucas Antoniotti, 26, from Marseille, previously sous-chef at La Vague d’Or and Cheval Blanc in St Tropez.
Down past the harbour, Nonna Bazaar is the island’s most festive address. A second outpost of the concept first launched in Menorca, it has the Mediterranean spirit of multi-generational gatherings shining through in sharing plates, live music and a general atmosphere of well-fed conviviality. This being Provence, there is of course a pétanque pitch (a Ricard pastis is strongly recommended to aid your game).
Arnaud Zannier, by several accounts, was still carrying vases and objects across the island himself in the final days before opening, getting those last-minute details just right. ‘We weren’t simply creating a hotel,’ Zannier says, ‘we had to invent a destination in its own right.’ And to remain faithful, in doing so, to Ricard’s original spirit of openness. ‘You don’t arrive at a hotel — you arrive at a destination, you discover a world.’ Zannier calls it ‘humble luxury’. ‘High-end hospitality,’ he adds, ‘but without arrogance.’
Art is the island’s connective tissue. More than 200 works are dotted across Bendor and if something speaks to you, you can buy it and take a piece of the island home. The Oraé Gallery, at the heart of the island, would have delighted Paul Ricard. A residency programme is inspired by his original artisans’ village — he wanted Bendor to be a cultural hub, for painters, ceramicists, glass-blowers and more. It hosts creatives for two months at a time, who are invited to make work in response to the place. When I visit, Croatian ceramicist Zeljana Vidovic is in residence. The island has given her a new challenge. ‘The mistral wind,’ she tells me, ‘is an invisible force. It changes plants, rocks and us, both inside and out.’ Of her work she says: ‘It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence, about the beauty of becoming. I hope when someone lives with my pieces, they feel a part of that.’
Ricard understood that instinct. He too wanted to create a place of belonging: he built a navette (shuttle) to bring the people of Bandol to his island, and ran music and dance classes for local children. More than 75 years on, a new generation of guests is making the seven-minute crossing, but the Ricards still keep a home here, for Bendor is a special place: joyful, restorative and beautifully curated. L’Île du Bonheur is once again open for happiness.
See more of the scenic South of France on an art trail, or head along the coast for 48 hours in Cannes