Rumors have been flying that season four of The White Lotus would be set somewhere on the French Riviera… and after much speculation it’s just been reported in Variety that the next White Lotus will be set at the Airelles Chateau de La Messardiere, a 5-star luxury resort in Saint-Tropez. This opulent hotel is over-the-top even by Saint-Tropez’s excessive standards, so what better spot to show the wealthy at their worst as Mike White does so deliciously.
I was really hoping that they would choose somewhere close to Nice, but with the recent passing of legend Brigitte Bardot, Saint Tropez feels even more mythic, and I think that actually it’s the perfect choice. And Variety reports that they will be shooting at least some scenes in Nice and Paris, so I may still have a shot at being an extra when shooting starts late-April!
Tanya and Greg the snake in happier days…
No word yet on the cast, but here’s an insider tip for you: The Nice-Matin reported that writer Mike White and Jennifer Coolidge (Tanya!) were seen dining at Nespo restaurant in Nice last July… hmmm… Tanya starred in season one on Maui and then was killed-off in Sicily in season 2, but could that mean that we might be in for some Tanya-esque flashbacks?
This newest ‘White Lotus Hotel’ was originally built as a palatial wedding present for the daughter of a wealthy French cognac baron (bien sur!) in the late 1800’s. The couple raised 7 children, but when the husband died unexpectedly, she was forced by circumstances to turn her home into a hotel. Luckily, the fabulous chateau quickly attracted Parisian aristocrats, and hit its glory days in the roaring 1920’s, but then came the wars and the former palace fell into an eerie abandon. It has has changed hands many times since then, and its most recent incarnation with The Airelles Collection has included massive renovations and meticulous upgrades, just recently reopening in 2021.
This luxurious 32-acre hilltop hideaway has its own private beach on Pampelonne Bay and its ‘beach shuttle’ is a chauffeured Rolls-Royce. The 28 rooms and 71 suites (plus a private villa) all have butlers. Choose from 3 picturesque pools and 5 gourmet restaurants, and send the small scions off to their own kids section in a very Willie-Wonkaish mini choo-choo train that will certainly show up in at least one scene.
Want to go visit? Here is the scoop on a daytrip to Saint-Tropez, but don’t go now because the hotel as well as the entire town is zipped-up tight as a drum in the winter, but it all starts to reopen the last week in April, which is when shooting is supposed to start. Interestingly, as of this writing, no shooting dates are blocked off the hotel’s rental calendar and the most inexpensive room of the whole year is in late April for 1150€/night. If you were lucky you could potentially be there during the filming which would be very fun, and if you can’t afford the room, you can always just book a lunch at one of their restaurants.
As a side note, to commemorate the recent passing of Saint-Tropez’s most famous and beloved resident Brigitte Bardot, Nice is renaming a beach and a movie studio in her honor. Lenval Plage will now be known as Brigitte-Bardot Beach (ooh la la!) and this particular plage was chosen as a tribute to her animal rights activism because it’s one of the only beaches in Nice that welcomes dogs!
Further, the sprawling Studios Victorine complex where many scenes from Bardot’s first film And God Created Woman were filmed in 1956 (…and will likely be used for shooting some White Lotus scenes as well) will also now be renamed in her honor.
In 2020 a massive storm named Tempete Alex walloped the hills above Nice in the Roya Valley, washing away roads, bridges, train tracks, entire homes, and 18 townspeople. The damage was dramatic and the rebuilding has been a long, but finally, months ahead of schedule, the mountain train known as the Train of Marvels, rides again!
The giant Monaco 
Just in time for the holidays: a spectacular all-new immersive light show in the magnificent Notre-Dame Basilica. 
This Thursday, being the third Thursday in November, is the official release date and festivities for this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau: it’s the first taste of this year’s grape harvest, before the rest of the 2025 vintage is put away to be aged.
I was surprised to learn that Japan is the largest importer of Beaujolais Nouveau, followed by Germany, and then America, where Georges Duboeuf imports over 2 million colorfully labeled bottles each year just in time for Thanksgiving. (…Until the Trump Tariffs that is… good luck finding cheap Beaujolais Nouveau in the US this year!)