Travel · 8 min read
Things to Do in Saint-Tropez: An Insider's Guide
From Pampelonne beach clubs to the Place des Lices market — the insider's guide to Saint-Tropez, written by people who have spent fifteen years here.
Saint-Tropez rewards those who know where to look. The postcard version — crowded port, €30 rosé, yachts you cannot afford — is real, but it is only one layer. Beneath it is a village of 4,000 permanent residents, a morning market that has run every Tuesday and Saturday since the 19th century, and a coastline that stretches far beyond the famous names.
This is how our clients actually spend their time here.
The beaches
Pampelonne is the headline: four kilometres of fine sand divided between private beach clubs and free public stretches. Club 55, Nikki Beach, Bagatelle Plage and Tahiti Beach are the names you will hear most. The formula is similar everywhere — a sunbed, a table for lunch, a bottle of something cold — but the crowds thin considerably once you move south past the main access points. We have written a fuller guide to the Pampelonne beach clubs for those who want the detail.
For something quieter, Plage des Graniers sits just outside the village walls and fills with locals rather than tourists. Plage de la Bouillabaisse is good for families. Those staying in villas near Cap Camarat tend to use the smaller calanques accessible only on foot or by boat — genuinely uncrowded in a way that Pampelonne rarely is in July and August. We cover the full coast in our guide to the best beaches in Saint-Tropez.
The village
The Place des Lices market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings is the best two hours you can spend in Saint-Tropez. Provençal produce, olives, leather goods, and a cross-section of village life that the port area no longer offers. Arrive before 9am.
The old port — the Vieux Port — is worth one slow walk. The fishing boats are still there, outnumbered now by superyachts, but the proportions of the place remain unchanged. The Annonciade museum, housed in a converted 16th-century chapel, holds a serious collection of Fauvist and Post-Impressionist work. Most visitors walk past it.
For lunch away from the port crowds, the streets behind the church — Rue du Portail Neuf, Rue des Tisserands — have restaurants that do not require a reservation three weeks in advance.
Beyond the village
Ramatuelle, fifteen minutes by car, is a medieval hilltop village with none of the summer circus. The Thursday and Sunday markets are smaller and better than anything in Saint-Tropez itself. The drive along the D93 through vineyards and cork oak forest is one of the better short drives in the Var.
The Citadelle above Saint-Tropez is almost always empty and has the best elevated view of the gulf. The maritime museum inside is modest; the panorama from the walls is not.
For those with access to a boat — which most of our villa clients arrange — the coastline between Saint-Tropez and Cavalaire opens up entirely. The calanques around Cap Taillat and the Île du Levant are accessible only by water.
Practical notes
July and August are genuinely crowded. The D98 into Saint-Tropez can hold traffic for two hours on a Friday afternoon in summer. Clients staying in villas with a pool and a chef frequently discover that the best day in Saint-Tropez is the one they never left the property.
September is different. The beaches are still warm, the restaurants are still open, the crowds have thinned by half and the prices follow. It is the month we most often recommend to clients who have flexibility, as we set out in our month-by-month guide.
Planning a stay? Our advisors know which villas place you closest to the experiences that matter to you. Inquire privately.
