Philippe Starck’s Villa W is a hilltop hideaway in Saint-Tropez with retro accents

Located in a sun-drenched spot overlooking the French Riviera, Villa W is a new retreat by Philippe Starck packed with design flourishes.

Villa W nestles into a hillside in La Croix-Valmer on the Saint-Tropez peninsula and part of the nearby Starck-designed Lily of the Valley spa and hotel. Guests can make use of the 2,000sq m wellness hotel’s facilities, restaurants and treatments and classes before retreating to the privacy and seclusion of the hideaway, which boasts a dramatic seafront terrace with a 17-metre-long swimming pool decked in Mondrian-style colour blocks.

There are just three rooms at Villa W, a pre-existing structure which Starck has wholly renovated. He has decided to retain much of the original 1960s architecture, lending the hotel a midcentury modern flavour, with wood panelling and brown caramel sofas dominating the main living space and views through the surrounding pine trees to the Bay of Gigago beyond.

There’s no shortage of views in Villa W’s guest rooms either, which have floor-to-ceiling windows opening straight onto terraces of their own. Vintage pieces by the likes of Arne Jacobsen and the Eameses emphasise the hotel’s retro atmosphere.

Prices for Villa W are available upon application, though a night at Hôtel Lily of the Valley will set you back around €950 per night for a double room. The wellness resort specialises in weight loss and healthy eating, with classes such as floating yoga, aqua-biking, TRX, Biologique Recherche Esthéderm treatments, Chinese tui na massages, cryotherapy, radiofrequency and pressotherapy, among others.