Château de Théoule

After spending a week driving from Lyon down through the South of France, Château de Théoule on the Côte d’Azur was to be the final destination of our road trip. Having stayed at vineyards, small rural farmhouses and frankly some strange little towns along the way, it was a blessed moment when we finally caught a glimpse of that bright blue sea, and the road gently wound us down towards Théoule-sur-Mer. 

The Côte d’Azur is a rightfully famous bit of coastline, with its dinky little coves, gorgeous pebble beaches and dramatic cliffs. There are the glitzy destinations too — Saint-Tropez, Cap d’Antibes and Cannes, which is only 20 minutes away from Théoule. But Théoule feels a world away from the buzz of Cannes, more sleepy village than ostentatious celeb-magnet. If not quite a full-on secret, it’s certainly not as well-known as its neighbours, and so we smugly felt as though we’d stumbled on our rightful place, the IYKYK choice along the Côte d’Azur. 

The arrival of Château de Théoule, a luxurious beachfront hotel, will undoubtedly drive more people to discover this little seaside town, but it’s unlikely to alter the laidback charm of the place too much. The hotel is set in a historic, turreted building that was a soap factory in the 17th century, and then the home of Scottish lord, among other uses. Eventually, it was turned into a hotel and opened in its current incarnation in 2024. 

We pulled into the rather grand forecourt, with its palm trees and fountain, and were immediately met by the concierge team, who helped with bags and offered to park the car. We were disappointed to learn that there is a €50 a night parking charge. We’d really rather spend that money on food and wine, so after a couple of (admittedly rather marriage-testing) laps of the town, trying to find a spot, we did eventually find free parking down by the train station — which is our top tip if you’re similarly inclined. 

Our room was in the hotel’s modern extension, which is less creaky charm, more glossy glam. What we lost in heritage, we made up for with floor-to-ceiling windows, a private balcony overlooking the sea, and a bathroom big enough to host a small party, complete with double rainforest showers. The place was peppered with art deco touches too: gold clamshell lamps by the bed and sleek mirrored finishes everywhere.

Big props to the designers for the enormous, cloud-like, king-size bed and that headboard: a giant semi-circular mirror clearly only there to make the room feel bigger (ahem). In fact, no matter where you stand, you can see yourself reflected from at least three angles. Those sexy Frenchies, they know how to do passion alright. 

Having been driving for the last week, and moving hotels most nights, this was to be our place to relax and do nothing. But where to do nothing first? Outside our room was a lovely communal pool, nicely heated to a friendly 28 degrees Celsius; the hotel’s beach club was just down the steps, with its casual restaurant and sun beds (again, beware a fee of €45 a bed); and there was also the spa, offering Nordic baths, a hammam and various treatments. We don’t mind admitting that for our first afternoon, we did nothing more than swim in the pool (which we had to ourselves) and sink a bottle of Provençal rosé, which seemed entirely appropriate.

Since we were set to full lazing-about mode, we didn’t want to venture out come dinner time and luckily there are plenty of options at the château, including the Michelin-starred Mareluna, which has a pretty little dining room and terrace by the pool. Instead, we headed over to the Castle Bar in the old building, which we loved — all red-and-white-striped wallpaper, golden brass palm trees and big velvet sofas. There’s also a nice outdoor terrace facing the sea, which we duly plonked ourselves down on, despite the less than warm temperatures in late September (Old Weatherman Smith had promised me scorching-hot sun, so of course the warmest thing I had packed was a light jumper). Here we tucked into nothing more glamorous than a club sandwich with fries and a couple more glasses of rosé. It was absolutely perfect. 

We braved the chilly terrace again for breakfast early the next morning — a big buffet of fruits, detox juices, vitamin shots and all the naughty stuff, too. We loved the local cheese and hams, breads, pastries and jams the most, as well as some very good French omelettes. We just about digested it all in time for a date over at the spa: a 30-minute massage, before finally thinking we should probably go for a walk. We hiked along the clifftop, up and around the coast, past some very nice houses (including the famous Palais Bulles), and back down to the beach at Théoule, where we stopped for lunch at La Cabane du Pêcheur, a rustic seafood shack we highly recommend.

We very much enjoyed the slower pace of life in Théoule-sur-Mer and at Château de Théoule, the kind of place where you really can do as much or as little as you like. If you wanted a bit more action, it might not necessarily be the place for you — but, for us, we loved being able to indulgently answer the question of what to do next by doing very little at all.