Thierry Marx: Three months a year in his secret refuge, a life lived in two parts for 35 years

IN BRIEF Thierry Marx leads a double life : Paris and a refuge distant, every three months since 35 years old. In Paris: an unusual house with private vegetable garden, ski cabin and management of Michelin-starred restaurants. Getaways mainly to Japan and in Asia to recharge their batteries through contact with the nature and crafts. Regular practices: snorkeling to observe the corals, judo And jujitsu early mornings, intensive treks. Travel style: treks in self-sufficiency without a phone, map and compass, fishing and fire to get back to basics. Cultural engagement: learning from Japaneselocal relations and respect for traditions mixed with innovation. Objective of the trips: to escape the stress and on screens, rediscover life and simplicity.

Two-Michelin-starred chef, Thierry Marx leads a double life surprisingly structured: each year, it agrees three months retreating to a distant refuge, a ritual he has maintained since 35 years oldFrom his Parisian home equipped with a private vegetable garden and from a ski cabin, he flies towards the Japan and other countries to practice the snorkeling, THE judo and the trekpreferring effort and exploration to relaxation. These trips, often self-sufficient and without phoneallow him to recharge, refine his relationship with living things and combine tradition and innovation.

On the surface, Thierry Marx leads a life dedicated to Parisian haute cuisine, holding two Michelin stars and working in prestigious establishments. But for the past thirty-five years, he has divided his time between this urban existence and an unchanging cycle: every three months, he disappears to a distant retreat to reconnect with nature, practice demanding sports, and explore territories that offer him a different pace. This regular back-and-forth forms a life in two stages where discipline, rejuvenation and cultural curiosity come together.

An unchanging rhythm: every three months for thirty-five years

Thierry Marx has established a personal rule that structures his schedule and mindset: to travel abroad every three months. This ritual, maintained over several decades, is not simply a series of vacations but a necessity for regaining balance. It is a deliberate, planned trip that allows the chef to escape the frenzy of the kitchen and media obligations to find himself in a space where daily life is reinvented.

These periods away from Paris are devoted to observation, learning, and physical training. They give him the opportunity torefine your practice — whether it be sporting, linguistic or contemplative — and to return to his restaurants with renewed energy and different perspectives on life and taste.

Between Paris and the distant horizon: a house with a vegetable garden and a natural refuge

In the city, Thierry Marx maintains a tangible connection: a house in Paris equipped with a private vegetable garden and even a ski cabin, symbols of a life that doesn’t renounce either nature or functionality. But when he reaches his remote refuge, everything changes. Far from urban obligations, he prioritizes essential gestures—walking, observing, touching the earth—and renews his relationship with time.

His travels have taken him all over Asia and beyond: from the trails of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to the wide-open spaces of Canada and the United States. These journeys are sometimes marked by the history and memory of the places; reading accounts of Cambodia in 1975 reminds us how some countries carry deep wounds, as evoked by the article on the French embassy transformed into a place of confinement (https://asiesudest.com/cambodge-1975-lambassade-de-france-transformee-en-lieu-denfermement/), and how the culture survived despite the disasters, as shown by the history of Cambodian music (https://asiesudest.com/au-cambodge-les-khmers-rouges-ont-extermine-les-artistes-mais-la-musique-a-survecu/).

Physical activities: snorkeling, judo, jujitsu and trekking

The watchword is not relaxation. For Thierry Marx, recharging comes from effort and being present in the body. Snorkeling, with its slow face-to-face encounter with corals and underwater life, offers him a form of concentrated wonder: observing a fragile ecosystem allows him to “reconnect with the living world.”

Back on dry land, he practices the judo and the jujitsu He trained very regularly—up to five times a week, in the mornings—in disciplines he discovered at a very young age, which shaped his relationship with respect and effort. Judo, which he began at twelve at his mother’s urging, served as an educational framework and a means of personal development that continues to this day.

Trekking is another dimension of his training: long walks or horseback rides, sometimes self-sufficient, without a phone or internet connection, with only a compass and a map. These outings are conceived as conscious retreats—fishing, making a fire, cooking simply—actions that bring him back to the essentials and a form of primal self-reliance.

A relationship with Japan built on friendship, craftsmanship, and learning

For decades, Japan has held a special place in these travels. Thierry Marx doesn’t go there just for the scenery: he finds a culture where the tradition and innovation They seem to coexist without contradiction, where craftsmanship meets a high demand for service and civic responsibility. There, he has forged habits, friendships, and a constant learning of the language, which he uses to better understand cultural nuances.

Japan allows him to combine contemplation—observing a plant, the rain, the way a craftsman works—with daily physical practice. There, martial disciplines and the rigor of daily movements blend into a routine that nourishes his reflections on cooking and our relationship with the living world.

Traveling to understand local contexts and their stories

These journeys do not ignore the political and social realities of the countries visited. The Southeast Asian region, for example, is complex and has difficult histories: there are accounts of how Thailand deals with its local current events (https://asiesudest.com/thailande-express-les-temps-forts-de-lactualite-thailandaise-du-28-avril-au-4-mai/) and on contemporary aspects, such as Thailand’s role as a refuge for some exiles (https://asiesudest.com/la-thailande-refuge-paisible-pour-les-russes-et-les-ukrainiens-opposes-au-conflit/).

Thierry Marx’s visits to these areas allowed him to gather impressions, hear firsthand accounts, and compare his own practices with local know-how. As travelers and chroniclers of the region have recounted, these experiences leave lasting traces (https://asiesudest.com/jerome-pitorin-evoque-ses-souvenirs-de-voyages-inoubliables/), and cuisine, just like music or crafts, is transformed by these encounters.

Cultural resilience and the memory of places

During his travels, Marx encountered landscapes where culture had suffered ruptures but had continued to survive. The case of Cambodia illustrates this idea: despite repression and destruction, artistic and musical forms persisted and found renewed life, offering visitors a lesson in the tenacity of human practices (https://asiesudest.com/au-cambodge-les-khmers-rouges-ont-extermine-les-artistes-mais-la-musique-a-survecu/).

These encounters with history, whether they date back to dramatic events or concern living traditions, nourish the chef’s reflection on transmission, the use of products and the way to tell the story of a territory through a plate.

FAQ — The Double Life of Thierry Marx