A journey to {SAINT-TROPEZ AREA}:

Saint-Tropez hardly needs an introduction. Brigitte Bardot and And God Created Woman helped turn what had been a fishing village into one of the most famous summer destinations in Europe, and it still has an intoxicating mix of superyachts, designer shops, glamorous hotels and beach clubs.

We still really enjoy it. There is always somewhere new to try, but equally we like going back to the places that have been here forever. And once you get away from the port and Place des Lices, there is another, much quieter side to Saint-Tropez: narrow streets, little squares, galleries and the tiny beach at La Ponche.

One of our favourite walks starts at Place des Lices and heads up Montée Guy Ringrave towards Avenue Paul Signac. Turn right here and you’ll see the famous Hôtel Byblos, but instead head up the footpath towards the Citadel. It is worth the climb for the views back over the rooftops, port and Mediterranean.

Come back down Rue de la Citadelle, where you have the glamorous 5 start Le Yaca hotel (below left), then turn into Rue d’Aumale (below middle) and reach the pretty little Place de l’Ormeau (below right). Banh-Hoi Gallery is here and is worth popping into for its great collection of contemporary art. Continue down towards Rue de la Ponche, where you’ll find Bleu Mon Jules (see Shop), before reaching Plage de la Ponche.

Despite the name, La Ponche is more of a tiny harbour than a conventional beach, with people swimming from the shore and sitting against the old buildings. Pick up a baguette and have lunch here if you want a complete contrast to Saint-Tropez’s rather more expensive options. From here, loop back through Place des Remparts and Rue de la Citadelle, stopping at Gaby (see Dine) for a sandwich or salad.

Hiring a boat for the day is a great way to see this part of the coast and gives you much more freedom to explore the smaller bays. It also means you can arrive at one of the Pampelonne beach clubs by boat, which is definitely the most Saint-Tropez way to do lunch! If you book your boat trip from Port Grimaud, you get to gently meander through the pretty houses of this town that are by the side of the canals.

The market on Place des Lices is a Saint-Tropez institution and takes place on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. More than 100 stalls spread beneath the plane trees, selling fruit and vegetables, cheese, olives and Provençal produce alongside clothes, jewellery, baskets, art and homewares. The cafés around the place are full and buzzing. Go as early as possible, particularly in summer, before it gets really busy.

One practical tip if you’re staying outside Saint-Tropez: avoid driving into town if you can, as traffic is horrendous! Les Bateaux Verts run boats from Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud straight into the harbour, which is a much nicer way to arrive.

We still love going to Sénéquier, even if it has become a bit of a tourist spot. The bright red tables, chairs and awnings are part of the Saint-Tropez waterfront, and the position directly on the port is unbeatable. Try to sweet-talk the staff into giving you one of the front tables, order a (pricey!) drink and watch the superyachts and the glamorous crowd coming and going. There are newer and cooler places in town, but few that feel quite so unmistakably Saint-Tropez.

Pan Deï Palais is hidden behind an ochre façade in the centre of town, and you could easily walk past without realising what is behind it. The restaurant is in the Airelle luxury hotel’s magical garden, with tables around the pool beneath palms and mature trees. It is a lovely setting and feels surprisingly removed from busy Place des Lices just a few minutes away. The food mixes Mediterranean and Asian flavours, with colourful, carefully presented plates. Service is impeccable, and the food was some of the best we’ve had on any holiday in recent memory. Booking is essential.

Au Caprice des Deux is on a quiet lane away from the port, with tables outside along the narrow street and a much more neighbourhood feel. The cooking is classic French and Mediterranean, based around seasonal ingredients, fish and meat rather than anything overly complicated. The terrace is small and informal, and it makes a good counterpoint to Saint-Tropez’s bigger-name restaurants.

Restaurant Arnaud Donckele is a Louis Vuitton creation that sits on a terrace at White 1921 just off Place des Lices that brings together chef Arnaud Donckele and pastry chef Maxime Frédéric. The place and the food are beautifully designed as you would expect from this luxury brand, with prices to match; definitely one for a special night out! There is subtle Louis Vuitton colour and patterns everywhere, such as specially designed tableware. The food has the same level of detail. Donckele’s dishes are creative, precise and beautifully plated, using Mediterranean ingredients, followed by Maxime Frédéric’s excellent desserts.

Chef Cyril Lignac’s ice cream shop is a good stop when wandering around the port, with gelato and sorbets rather than a full sit-down café. Expect classic flavours alongside more elaborate combinations, all done with the same polished presentation you’d expect from Lignac.

Of the Pampelonne beach clubs we’ve tried, La Cabane Bambou is probably our favourite. It feels greener and more relaxed than some of the big-name options, with plenty of bamboo, wood and planting rather than an overtly flashy look. It opens from the morning, so it’s easy to book loungers, settle in for the day and move to the restaurant for lunch. If you want Pampelonne without quite so much of the Saint-Tropez party scene, this is the one we’d choose.

Bagatelle is at the opposite end of the beach club scale. We came here for a big birthday celebration, and it is definitely one for a party rather than a quiet beach lunch. Lunches can become very lively as the afternoon progresses and, on our visit, ended with people dancing on the tables!

Gaby is a simple little café on Rue de la Citadelle that we found while walking back from La Ponche. There’s a small terrace outside and it’s a useful place for good sandwiches, salads and something cold to drink without committing to a long lunch.

We always seek out good bookshops when we travel, so Scarlett was an obvious stop. It combines an independent bookshop with a café and has a particularly good selection of art, photography, design and travel books, alongside international literature, graphic novels, gardens, food and lifestyle. It’s also somewhere to sit down with a coffee for a while, making it a useful break between the shops and port.

The much posher coffee stop, Café Dior, is within the Dior Saint-Tropez house on Rue François Sibilli, a historic building with blue shutters, terracotta floors and a lovely garden. Mauro Colagreco oversees the food, with breakfast, pastries, afternoon tea and drinks served on the terrace. The whole space is beautifully done and very Dior, right down to the presentation. Book ahead if you have your heart set on going!

Near La Ponche, Bleu Mon Jules takes the classic striped marinière and gives it a more playful Saint-Tropez spin. There are T-shirts, striped tops, shorts, caps, swimwear and bags, often with nautical or Saint-Tropez graphics. It’s an easy shop to combine with our walk through the quieter streets of the old town.

David loves blue and white, so Blanc Bleu has long been one of his favourite Saint-Tropez shops! The whole collection is based around a relaxed marine look, with lots of navy, white and stripes. The Saint-Tropez flagship on Avenue Foch is particularly nice, including a large outside area that makes it feel very different from a conventional fashion boutique.

The Shop on the Corner is one of our best new finds. This large two-storey shop opposite Blanc Bleu brings together some very good travel and design brands. Downstairs is Globe-Trotter luggage and travel accessories alongside Connolly and Smythson; upstairs switches to Italian design with Fornasetti furniture, porcelain and accessories and pieces from Alessi. It’s spacious, beautifully presented and exactly the sort of shop we love finding on a trip.

A complete change from Saint-Tropez’s designer boutiques, Mimosa is an old-fashioned droguerie near Place des Lices. It’s somewhere between a kitchen shop, hardware shop and haberdashery. You’ll find cookware, household bits, sewing and craft supplies and all sorts of useful things you didn’t know you needed. There are even bicycles and coffee in the mix. Quirky and worth a browse!

We stayed at Le Y on an earlier visit and found it a good option if you want to be in Saint-Tropez itself without paying the prices of its five-star sister hotel, Le Yaca. It is a tiny boutique hotel with just 13 rooms, tucked into the old village at the foot of the Citadel, but still only a couple of minutes’ walk from the port and La Ponche.

The rooms were completely renovated in 2021 and mix contemporary pieces with vintage Italian furniture, patterned fabrics and some more playful details. Standard rooms are compact, while the two duplex junior suites are much larger and have balconies looking towards the Citadel gardens and sea. Guests can use the heated outdoor pool at nearby Le Yaca, where breakfast is also served.

La Garde-Freinet sits up in the Massif des Maures, around 30–40 minutes from Saint-Tropez and feels very different from the coast. The old centre is small, with stone and pastel-coloured houses, narrow streets and a couple of squares where most of the cafés and restaurants are clustered.

There’s also a creative side to the village, with galleries, artists’ studios and a handful of independent shops. Wednesday and Sunday are market mornings, when Place Neuve fills with stalls and the village is much busier.

For the first part of our trip, we stayed at Villa La Colline, one of the houses of The Hideaways Club that we’re members of. The villa is in the hills outside La Garde-Freinet, overlooking the village and surrounded by the wooded landscape of the Massif des Maures. It’s a restored Provençal farmhouse with a cream exterior and olive-green doors and shutters.

Inside, the style is relaxed and traditional, with wood, stone and simple country furniture. There are four bedrooms, so it works particularly well for a family or a group of friends. The kitchen has also been renovated and opened up with a large island, making it a good house for cooking and eating together.

There’s a nice pool surrounded by greenery, gardens with olive trees and planting, and a lovely shaded dining area beneath a pergola. There’s also a terrain de boules, which is a lot of fun!

Bar du Soleil has one of the best positions in the village, on the corner of pedestrianised Place Vieille (below left and middle). It starts the day with locals having coffee and moves gradually towards glasses of rosé and cocktails later on. Food is simple – snacks and sharing boards rather than a serious restaurant menu – with the outside tables being the reason to come. There are occasional live music evenings too.

Vie La Joie is part café, part wine bar and very much a local meeting place (below right). There are French and international wines by the glass, coffee and Mariage Frères tea, with simple food. They also serve waffles, cakes and artisan ice cream. We like it most for a coffee in the morning or a glass of wine towards the end of the afternoon.

La Cabane is a family-run restaurant on Place Vieille, with tables spread outside across the pedestrianised square. The menu is French and Mediterranean, based around fresh, seasonal produce, with fish, meat and simple dishes that suit the relaxed setting. There is also a wine cellar, with a good choice of bottles to drink. We liked the fact that it feels very much part of village life: an easy, informal place to have dinner outside, surrounded by the old houses and other terraces of Place Vieille.

La Faücado was on our list, but we ran out of time to try it. It has a good local reputation, a large garden and terrace, and serves homemade food, with tapas and grilled dishes featuring prominently. There are also exhibitions by local artists and live music on some Friday evenings. One for our next visit.

Wednesday and Sunday mornings are market days, when Place Neuve fills with stalls selling fruit and vegetables, cheese, meat, Provençal produce, flowers and plants as well as clothes and household goods. This feels much more like a proper village market than a tourist attraction. We’d arrive early, shop and then head around the corner to Place Vieille for coffee.

La Maison Meir is a tiny brocante and interiors shop on Place Vieille (below right), packed with small pieces of furniture, vintage finds and decorative objects. It has the slightly jumbled quality we like in a brocante, where you need to look properly rather than having everything presented as a polished collection. A good place to find something original for home.

La Fournée Gardoise is the village boulangerie on Place Vieille and the obvious stop for the morning bread run. Go for baguettes, croissants and pastries, particularly if you’re staying in a house nearby, as we were.

La Patience Fraxinoise is a good little food shop that is also a good place to buy your baguettes and pastries. There are cheeses and breads alongside olive oils, spices, wines, Champagne, spreads, fresh pasta and other deli products.

For some beach fun, your first option when staying in La Garde Freinet is, of course, Saint-Tropez, which we did on our latest trip. A more laid-back and less pricey option is to head over to the Saint-Maxime area, which is about 30-35 minutes by car. Here, there is a row of beach clubs just outside the town on La Nartelle beach. Our favourite is Le Wyc. The service is genuinely friendly, sunbed hire is more affordable, and there’s even a valet to make arriving easy. You can hire a lounger and parasol, swim, then head up to the terrace for lunch overlooking the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. The restaurant serves Mediterranean dishes, including fresh fish, and it’s easy to settle in for the afternoon.

Grimaud village sits on the hillside above the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. It’s a lovely place for a wander, with cobbled lanes, old stone houses, little squares and plenty of flowers around the doors and shutters. Walk up through the village to the ruins of the medieval château at the top, where there are wide views across the surrounding countryside and towards the Gulf.

Chez Les Garçons has a pretty outside terrace for warmer weather and a small, colourful interior if you visit out of season. The food is more unexpected than the Provençal setting might suggest, with an Asian-influenced menu that changes regularly. Dishes can include nems and spring rolls followed by caramel pork, coconut curry chicken, Cantonese rice and other Asian favourites.

Right in the heart of Grimaud, Café de France was on our list, but we didn’t manage to try it this time. The large terrace overlooking the village is the main attraction, and the menu is classic, easy-going brasserie food: salads, beef tartare, burgers, fish and dishes such as tuna and whole sea bream. Definitely somewhere we’d consider for an uncomplicated lunch on our next visit.

Ramatuelle is another of the pretty hilltop villages around Saint-Tropez. The old centre is compact, with narrow streets curling between stone and pastel houses and small shops tucked into the ground floors. Sunday is a particularly good time to come, when the market brings more life into the village. Allow time simply to wander and stop for coffee in Place de l’Ormeau.

Café de L’Ormeau is the obvious place to stop in Ramatuelle, right in the heart of the village on Place de l’Ormeau. The large shaded terrace works throughout the day, from coffee and croissants in the morning to lunch, an afternoon glass of rosé or dinner. The food is based around French brasserie classics and seasonal Provençal ingredients. We like it as much for the location as anything else: get an outside table and watch village life going on around you.

La Petite Halle is a lovely little food shop in the centre of the village (below left). It combines a greengrocer, cheese counter, charcuterie, deli and wine shop, with local produce, prepared food, artisan ice cream and cold drinks. Good for picking up the ingredients for lunch or supplies for an evening apéritif.

Le Grain de Sable is a small artisan shop showcasing work by different makers rather than the usual Riviera souvenirs (below right). The collection has included ceramics, painting, jewellery, photography, basketry and perfume, so it’s worth popping in to see what is there when you visit.

For the second part of our trip, we moved down to Gigaro, on the coast near La Croix-Valmer and around half an hour south of Saint-Tropez. Gigaro has a long sandy beach backed by Mediterranean vegetation.

For our few days by the sea, we stayed at La Pinède Plage, a four-star hotel directly on Gigaro beach. And by directly, we really do mean directly: walk across the hotel terrace, and you are on the sand!

The hotel has been owned by the same family for generations and feels more like a relaxed beach hotel than a formal Riviera resort. Interiors have a casual, relaxed nautical theme. Rooms are light and simple, with the best looking straight towards the Mediterranean (below right).

Outside, there is a heated swimming pool facing the sea (below left), surrounded by loungers, as well as a private section of beach. Guests can also use facilities at sister property Château de Valmer, around 400 metres away, with a lovely palm tree-lined walk to get there (below right).

La Pinède Plage restaurant sits immediately beside Gigaro beach, with the sea filling the view beyond the tables (below left). The menu is Mediterranean and particularly strong on fish and simple grilled dishes, exactly what we wanted when staying by the water. It’s relaxed enough for lunch straight from the beach but works equally well for dinner, and if you’re staying at La Pinède Plage the great advantage is being able to wander back to your room afterwards.

Brigantine is part of Lily of the Valley’s beach club at the far end of Gigaro and was one of the coolest restaurants we found in the area. It sits right beside the water, with a terrace (below middle) and an indoor dining room, all done in a relaxed but very polished way. The food is Italian, moving from colourful antipasti through fresh pasta and risotto to fish and meat, with ingredients changing with the seasons. The location is the big draw for us: proper restaurant food without losing the feeling that you are having lunch at the beach.

Also part of Lily of the Valley’s Gigaro beach club, Pépé is the more casual option. It’s an open-air restaurant in pale wood with tables right by the sand (below right), serving relaxed Italian food throughout the day. The beach club has loungers along a private stretch at the edge of the pine forest, so it’s easy to make a full day of it: beach in the morning, lunch at Pépé and back to your sunbed afterwards.

Saint-Tropez is still Saint-Tropez: glamorous and over the top but great fun too! But there is also much to do and see around it. Within a relatively small area, you can have lunch at a Pampelonne beach club, shop and people-watch in Saint-Tropez, wander around quiet hilltop villages and finish with a few days almost entirely on the beach at Gigaro. Staying outside Saint-Tropez itself can work well. On our most recent trip, for example, La Garde-Freinet gave us markets, village cafés and a local feel while still being within driving distance of Saint-Tropez. Alternatively, to have the full Saint Tropez experience, choose one of the many hotels in the town.