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.
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