Saint-Tropez occupies a particular corner of the French Riviera where celebrity glamour meets genuine Provençal fishing-port character. The town's narrow streets and pastel-shuttered houses date back centuries, whilst the harbour fills with yachts that cost more than most villages. It's this contrast that makes the place interesting — you can browse the Tuesday and Saturday market on Place des Lices under the plane trees in the morning, then watch the harbour spectacle unfold in the afternoon.
The gîtes near Saint-Tropez put you within reach of excellent beaches, hill-country monasteries, and the kind of coastal landscape that attracted painters long before it attracted hedge-fund managers. It's busy in July and August, genuinely so, but the shoulder months offer warm weather, functioning restaurants, and roads you can actually drive on.
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About Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez started as a fishing village and still looks like one in parts, particularly around the Vieux Port where pastel façades back onto cobbled lanes. The town's transformation into a celebrity destination began in the 1950s when Brigitte Bardot arrived to film And God Created Woman. The effect was immediate and permanent.
Despite the yachts and boutiques, the town hasn't entirely lost its original character. Place des Lices remains the social heart, a tree-lined square where locals play pétanque and the twice-weekly market sells everything from lavender honey to vintage linens. The Citadelle de Saint-Tropez sits on the hill above the port, a 17th-century fortress that now houses a maritime museum with a serious collection tracing the town's naval history.
Self-catering options in the area let you base yourself within reach of both the famous beaches — Pampelonne stretches for several kilometres south of town — and the quieter Maures hills inland. Gigaro Beach offers a more sheltered alternative, whilst the Domaine du Rayol, The Mediterranean Gardens showcase plants from similar climates worldwide across clifftop gardens overlooking the sea. The Monastère Notre-Dame de Clémence de La Verne sits deep in the forested hills, a 12th-century Carthusian monastery in honey-coloured stone that feels a very long way from the harbour posing.
Things to do near Saint-Tropez
The Citadelle de Saint-Tropez - Musée d'histoire maritime commands the high ground above town and traces the area's naval past through paintings, model ships, and the kind of detailed maritime ephemera that gives texture to coastal history. Place des Lices hosts the main market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings — proper Provençal produce, not tourist tat — and the surrounding cafés do a brisk trade in pastis and people-watching.
The Gendarmerie Nationale museum celebrates the comic film series Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez starring Louis de Funès, which captured the town in its 1960s heyday. Out along the coast, Gigaro Beach offers clearer water and fewer crowds than Pampelonne. The Domaine du Rayol, The Mediterranean Gardens occupies 20 hectares of clifftop and presents plants from Mediterranean-climate regions — Chile, California, Australia — in thoughtfully designed landscapes.
Inland, the Monastère Notre-Dame de Clémence de La Verne sits isolated in chestnut forest, its pink stone buildings dating from 1170 and still occupied by Bethlehem nuns. The drive there winds through the Massif des Maures on narrow roads that discourage tour coaches. For families, Aqualand Fréjus provides the standard water-park experience 30 kilometres west.
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Food & drink
Provençal cooking here centres on seafood — sea bass, red mullet, octopus — prepared simply with olive oil, garlic, and local white wines. The markets on Place des Lices sell excellent vegetables, cheeses from the Var backcountry, and the kind of tomatoes that actually taste of something. Tapenade, anchoïade, and aïoli appear on most café menus alongside salade niçoise that bears little resemblance to the British interpretation.
Côtes de Provence rosé dominates local wine lists, produced in vast quantities from vineyards that stretch inland from the coast. The better estates around the appellation make serious wines worth seeking out. Self-catering lets you shop the markets properly and eat on your own terrace without the harbour-view price premium that can make restaurant meals here feel like a form of punishment.
Getting there
Nice Côte d'Azur airport lies 64 kilometres northeast along the A8 motorway, roughly an hour's drive outside peak season — longer in summer when coast-road traffic thickens. Marseille Provence airport sits 116 kilometres west, a practical alternative if Nice flights don't suit. Both airports connect to most British cities via year-round scheduled services and seasonal budget flights.
Driving from Calais covers about 1,100 kilometres, a long day or a comfortable overnight with a stop in Burgundy or Lyon. The Eurostar terminal at Paris Gare du Nord is 705 kilometres away; you'd need to cross Paris to Gare de Lyon for TGV connections south. Caen/Ouistreham ferry port (Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth) lies 850 kilometres distant — a two-day drive through central France.