After nearly a year of speculation, HBO made it official: Season 4 of The White Lotus is heading to France, with HBO selecting the hilltop Château de La Messardière in Saint-Tropez as the primary resort setting. It’s arguably the show’s most classically grand European backdrop, second only to season two’s San Domenico Palace in Sicily. In a departure from the first three seasons, the 19th-century castle hotel is part of the Airelles luxury collection, not the Four Seasons. However, it’s still a five-star property, likely providing plenty of filming locations for the usual storylines around wealth, power, inequality, and family dysfunction at the highest levels of society.
Photo: Expedia
For the First Time Ever, the New 'White Lotus' Hotel Isn't a Four Seasons
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The choice of Saint-Tropez as the site of the next fictional White Lotus resort is a strong indication that the writers plan to center season four on old-world European glamour. It’s a bit of a shift for creator Mike White, moving away from the tropical modernism of past settings toward a more established, borderline aristocratic location that eschews the nouveau riche in favor of generational wealth. The resort sits on a pine-covered hill with views of the Bay of Saint-Tropez and Pampelonne Beach, and both the resort and Saint-Tropez itself will likely become the year’s must-visit destinations, if the show’s popularity continues.
What to know about Saint-Tropez and Château de la Messardière
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Saint-Tropez, sitting on the French Riviera equidistant between Marseille and Nice, has been associated with European luxury since about the 1960s. It was once a relatively quiet fishing village, but started to transform in the middle of the 20th century when A-list actress Brigitte Bardot bought a house on the shore. Soon, it was known more for Hollywood stars, yacht culture, and old-money summer vacations. Today, the town offers a mix of ritzy beach clubs and big-name designer showrooms with a historic center wrapped around a busy harbor, where both working fishermen and working super-yachts jostle for space.
Château de La Messardière, a historic hotel, sits on a hilltop just a short drive from downtown. From the property, guests have views of vineyards coastlines, and open ocean. It was built in the early 19th century by a wealthy cognac magnate as a wedding gift for his daughter and her new husband: Henry Brisson de La Messardière — hence the resort name. However, by the 1920s it had become a luxury resort for the who’s-who of the Roaring 20s.
For the next 60 years or so, it went through cycles of use as a resort, followed by disuse and abandonment. It was purchased and restored in 1989, and bought in 1992 by a resort-owning family. That family highlighted the resort’s semi-circular swimming pool with views of the Mediterranean’s turquoise waters, among other selling points, and it soon reclaimed its reputation as a staple of Saint-Tropez’s luxury scene. Its location just above the town should lend itself well not just to the show’s requisite gorgeous backdrops, but sense of physical and metaphorical separation from the locals who live in the destination.
How to visit the new White Lotus resort
Photo: Expedia
The high-end resort is now part of the Airelles Collection and operates as a resort more or less inside what feels like a palace. Guests have access to multiple pools, 32 acres of gardens (with guided tours available), a spa with a hammam and high-tech beauty treatments, and several restaurants focused on Mediterranean cuisine. Nightly rates are firmly in the five-star range, with slow season dates (April) starting around 1200 euros (about $1,400) and peak summer rates reaching as high as 11,000 euros per night (about $13,000) for a one-bedroom terrace suite. However, those rates could increase as the show gets underway. The White Lotus season 4 is expected to premiere in late 2026, with filming around the French Riviera through October 2026.
