Fair warning that this blog post may simply turn into a journal-style entry because when I tell you my heart is still ACHING for Hotel Les Roches Rouges in Saint-Raphael — I mean it from deep down in my soul.
ICYMI, we stayed in the small town of Saint-Raphael in the South of France as we made our way from Cannes to Saint Tropez. Our destination of choice was a hotel since it was such a short stop; but not just any hotel. It happened to be a hotel I’d had as my phone background since 2019. I (semi-unknowingly) booked the hotel after my gf Rachel sent a Tiktok showcasing the boutique hotel located on the coast of the Mediterranean. I saw photos of the pool and thought…this looks sort of familiar — but I had always been under the impression the photo on my phone (sourced via Pinterest) was taken in Italy. So I sort of shoved it off.
That was, only until we walked through the doors and my heart was swept away in a rush of excitement.
I quickly searched for the photo (ironically had just changed my phone background for the first time since April 2019 — thus relinquishing control and letting the universe take matters into its own hands and get me to the pool IRL) and realized in a rush that it was THE pool view I had stared at and dreamed about for years.
ON TOP OF THAT YOU GUYS — one of my favorite content creators was staying there are the same time. If you follow Hanna Schonberg on IG, you know how iconic she is. WELLLLL, as we waited for our room to be ready, I noticed her bf at the restaurant and thought to myself — why does he look so familiar? He looks just like…and sure enough — after checking out her IG stories, they revealed she was in fact staying at the same hotel. I was overwhelmed with excitement and joy, and this will forever go down as my favorite hotel of all time.
It is on the pricier side, but it is a 5 star hotel so you get what you pay for (like bathrooms fully stocked with Diptyque products — uhhhh yeah. It’s THAT good). We tapped into our Chase credit card points for this one to keep it within our daily budget, so that helped a lot when it came to “splurging” for 2 nights.
There’s not too much to report on from this city experience as we fully embraced hotel life for the 2 days we stayed there. The rooms were GORGEOUS, the pool was iconic, and the private pier leading straight into the Mediterranean kept us swimming all day long.
We walked to a local supermarket one day for snacks, but other than that we dined at the hotel restaurant breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately we didn’t love the menu enough to be doing so, but the town was about a 15 min drive from the hotel and we just didn’t feel like getting a cab to and from each day. The best part about the hotel dining experience was breakfast was included with our room, and it was DIVINE. This is a huge travel hack when booking hotels — always see if there’s a breakfast inclusion option to help stick to your budget and eliminate one less thing to worry about each day!
I quickly learned the French are responsible for the tastiest scrambled eggs known to man. Hotel Les Roches Rouges has also perfected the warm, fresh pain au chocolat. Pair those two with a sweet espresso, and the sound of the Mediterranean Sea morning noon and night and you’ve got yourself a depiction of Heaven. Their mozzarella salad was also chef’s kiss.
Worth noting that if you do visit this cute little town, you should definitely explore a bit — as we were catching our bus to Saint Tropez I noticed there were quite a few local boutiques to shop in, and lots of cute restaurants.
You’re also so close to the rest of the beach towns, so definitely consider renting a car for a day or two, or coordinating train excursions to neighboring towns.
WHAT TO DO IN SAINT-RAPHAEL
Explore the creeks of Estérel – access the caves and coves that the bigger boats can’t get near. You’ll explore with a guide to get the lowdown on the nature and volcanic geology of the creeks, and have time to swim and snorkel. Complimentary cool-down refreshments are also provided.
Switch things up on a 60 minute dive in Estérel
Go sailing with a group of friends
Take advantage of the close proximity of Cannes and Saint Tropez and explore the French Riviera by boat
Visit town and shop in the local boutiques
