Saint-Tropez
Fishing Port Turned Jet Set Resort On The Var Coast, Made Famous By Brigitte Bardot And The 1956 Film And God Created Woman · Saint-Tropez, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
Saint-Tropez is a small town at the end of a peninsula on the Var coast, between Toulon and Cannes, whose name is known far beyond its size. For centuries it was a fishing and trading port. Painters such as Signac and Matisse came in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century for the light, and after the 1956 film And God Created Woman, with Brigitte Bardot, it became the summer playground of film stars, then of the very rich. Today the old port is lined with superyachts and pastel houses, the narrow lanes of La Ponche lead to a tiny fishermen's beach, and a hilltop citadel holds a maritime museum. The famous beaches are not in the town itself but a few kilometres south at Pampelonne, in the commune of Ramatuelle, where beach clubs rent loungers at high prices. In July and August the town is crowded, expensive and cut off by traffic jams on the single road in. Out of season it is quiet, local and much closer to the village the painters knew.
Vieux Port and La Ponche, Saint-Tropez, Var, Saint-Tropez, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France
Saint-Tropez is a town, so the port, the lanes and the public beaches are open all the time. The rhythm of the place changes sharply with the season. From about June to September, and above all in July and August, bars, restaurants and boutiques stay open late, the beach clubs at Pampelonne run from late morning to evening, and nightlife goes on into the small hours. Many beach clubs open only from around Easter to October (confirm), and a good part of the town's shops and restaurants close from November to March, though the town stays alive for residents. The Place des Lices market is held on Tuesday and Saturday mornings (confirm) and finishes around midday. The Citadel and the Annonciade museum have their own opening days and hours, with at least one weekly closing day and a winter break possible (confirm before going). Ferries from Sainte-Maxime and other coastal towns run frequently in summer and less often or not at all in winter. Car parks fill early in summer, and the road in can take hours around midday and late afternoon.