Welcome to Fashion’s Finest Stays, a travel series where we lend our fashion-editor POV to the world of hospitality. Here, we’ll give you exclusive insider access to the world’s most renowned hotels and resorts, uncovering every detail you’d ever want to know before you book.
Of all the celebrity-adored hotels in the world, the first that likely come to mind are the buzzy names widely known to be hot spots where the A-list crowd descends. Then there are the stays that fly (almost) completely under the radar where it’s more about achieving a sense of quiet and calm than it is about seeing or being seen. Crillon Le Brave is the very definition of the latter. Tucked discreetly into in the Provençal hills in the south of France, the 17th and 18th-Century stone village-turned-hotel was named the number one resort in France in the Travel + Leisure 2025 World’s Best Awards, and after spending three nights in May, I fully understand why.
If you haven’t heard of it before, well, that’s kind of the point. The hotel, which is less of a single structure than it is a cluster of honey-stone village houses turned five-star hideaway, is the spot where the fashion insiders, actors, F1 drivers, and royalty alike go when they want to disappear for a few days. There’s no see-and-be-seen atmosphere, just centuries-old architecture, incredibly local food and wine, and panoramic views of Mont Ventoux.
Here, inside my Crillon Le Brave experience and what makes the south-of-France hotel one of the fashion crowd’s most wish-listed spots.
I first came to know about Crillon Le Brave via Jenny Walton and have had it bookmarked as a wish list stay ever since. Images of its slim rectangular pool framed by tall, slender cypress trees makes up the iconic imagery the hotel is most known for. Over the years, famous guests have included everyone from Formula One drivers and British royals to A-list actors (Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas apparently spent a few nights around their south-of-France wedding celebrations). Its owners are the family-run hospitality group Maisons Pariente with just three (soon to be four) other hotels around France, including the fashion insider-beloved Parisian destination Le Grand Mazarin.
Following a major renovation, the hotel reopened this April unveiling an expansion on the guest rooms with. The update adds three restored historic houses that includes 10 new rooms and suites (and bringing to the total to 26 rooms and 17 suites), a fully renewed spa, a second adults-only pool, and a new culinary space for hosting cooking lessons and other events.
What makes Crillon Le Brave so special and so unlike anywhere else I’ve stayed is its location. It’s not that the hotel is situated in a charming town in the foothills of Provence, which would have already been a major draw in itself, but it’s the fact that the hotel is completely intertwined with the hilltop village and it’s hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins. Walking from your room to breakfast, for instance, means meandering through the cobblestone “streets” and underneath curved archways. The entire experience had me feeling less like I was a hotel guest and more like a proper resident of the village. The architecture and design takes care to incorporate original details wherever possible, revealing hidden clues and corners of the village’s 17th-Century origins. My favorite example of this was in my bathroom where a small window was build right into the wall of the shower revealing a sweeping view of the valley below. Talk about special.
There is farm-to-table dining, and then there’s the menu at Crillon Le Brave. The restaurant on property adhere’s to something called Écotable which is France’s leading sustainable restaurant rating and it comes with stringent standards for short supply-chains, seasonal menus, and at least 15% of products being organic. It’s poses a creative challenge for the kitchen—if it’s not in season or can only be sourced from a distance, it won’t be available—but it also means that everything that landed on my plate was remarkably fresh and creative.
While I could have easily passed several days without ever feeling the need to leave the property, its location offers an abundance of excursions and experiences that you can’t find elsewhere. I left twice, once to explore the local market in the town of Bédoin just 10 minutes away and a second time for a vineyard tour and wine tasting at Chêne Bleu. If you’re into cycling, I noticed a few guests taking the opportunity to bike along a route that makes up part of the Tour de France.
Part of the 2026 updates includes the newly unveiled Maison Tilleul, a space that’s dedicated for events like cooking classes and workshops. I had the chance to take a cooking class with the lead chef Thomas and learn how to make a few dishes that are very typical of the region. The space will also be used to host retreats, and it will kick off with Crillon Le Brave’s very first culinary retreat held by photographer and cookbook author Chloé Crane-Leroux, alongside her mother and co-author, ceramicist Trudy Crane this October bringing the seasonal, plant-based sensibility that runs through their cookbook, The Artful Way to Plant-Based Cooking.
While I’d say the pool is, naturally, the main event at Crillon Le Brave, the spa was a close competitor and I was grateful to be among the first to experience it after a major facelift. Upstairs, treatment rooms for massages and facials utilize Tata Harper products while downstairs, it’s all about the contrast therapy. Hot and cold plunge pools are set inside a literal stone cave while a few steps up are a sauna and steam room in which to rotate between.
While a stunning view and great food are what drew me to the property, it was all the smaller details and thoughtful touches that made a lasting impact on my experience. Every night, I would come back to my room after dinner to find a little treat sitting on my bedside table. It was always something new and different and was accompanied by a notecard with a line of poetry. Small gestures, like the addition of a custom luggage tag affixed to my suitcase and a small pouch of local dried lavender, made my stay feel incredibly personal.
Since the surroundings were very rustic, I wanted my wardrobe to reflect that laid-back, effortlessly cool French energy. I packed airy maxi dresses from Almina Concept and Dissh which I layered with my favorite Sezane trench coat as the weather was still on the crisp side during my visit in mid-May. For shoes, a pair of sleek flat sandals and polished ballet flats made for the ideal outfit finishers as the vibe here was more casual than dressed-up. As for a handbag, I felt very local carrying my Liffner striped basket tote to shop the markets and lounge by the pool.
