Characterised by sunset-hued pink, orange and deep red townhouses framing its flotilla-filled port, St-Tropez is, effectively, two different towns, depending on the season. If you visit during the madness that is midsummer, when the population increases tenfold, you’ll tear your hair out looking for a parking space or a seat at a quay-side café, and be hard pressed to squeeze past the tourist throngs clogging the cobblestone streets.
St-Tropez acquired its name in AD 68 when a Roman officer named Torpes was beheaded on Nero’s orders in Pisa, and packed into a boat with a dog and a rooster to devour his remains. His headless corpse washed up here intact, leading the villagers to adopt him as their patron saint.
There are a few options available for getting around St. Tropez.
Bus:
St-Tropez bus station (av Général de Gaulle) is on the southwestern edge of town on the main road.
Boat:
Boat:
Les Bateaux Verts www.bateauxverts.com operates a shuttle-boat service from St-Tropez to Ste-Maxime
Things to do?
Coastal walks:
Ramatuelle tourist office organises balades nature (guided nature walks) to Cap Camarat, Cap Taillat and elsewhere on the peninsula.
Additionally, a scenic coastal path wends its way past rocky outcrops and hidden bays 35km south from St-Tropez, around the Presqu'île de St-Tropez to the beach at Cavalaire-sur-Mer and beyond to Le Lavandou. In St-Tropez the coastal path, flagged with a yellow marker, starts at La Ponche, immediately east of Tour du Portalet at the northern end of quai Frédéric Mistral.La Pouncho
Boat trips around the glamorous Baie des Cannebiers - dubbed the 'Bay of Stars' after the many celebrity villas dotting the coast - are advertised on boards along quai Suffren: La Pouncho runs four or five one-hour trips a day around the bay, March to October.
L' Esquinade
Where the party winds up when you want to dance till dawn. The only club open year-round is also the Tropéziens’ top choice.
Chez Nano
Chez Nano
Chez Nano is a high-flyer cabaret bar best known for its raspberry champagne.
Le Club 55
What started out as a simple canteen for the crew of And God Created Woman in the 1950s is now the hippest joint on the beach. Dine at tightly packed tables beneath sails strung from trees, drink from plump white sofas on the sand, and pay to be a beach bum on a white cushioned mattress beneath umbrella or hip paillote on the designer beach. Rumbling tummies with no reservation can opt for a salad or sandwich at the twig-topped beach bar nearer the water.
Le Club 55
What started out as a simple canteen for the crew of And God Created Woman in the 1950s is now the hippest joint on the beach. Dine at tightly packed tables beneath sails strung from trees, drink from plump white sofas on the sand, and pay to be a beach bum on a white cushioned mattress beneath umbrella or hip paillote on the designer beach. Rumbling tummies with no reservation can opt for a salad or sandwich at the twig-topped beach bar nearer the water.
Places Des Lices Market
The massive place des Lices Market is a jam-packed kaleidoscope of everything from fruit and veg to antique mirrors and slippers. It's truly legendary. It is studded with plane trees, cafés and pétanque players.
At the northern end of Plage des Salins, on a rock jutting out to sea, is the Tomb of Émile Olivier (1825-1913), who served as first minister to Napoleon III until his exile in 1870. Olivier's 17-volume L'Empire Libéral is preserved in the library of Château La Moutte, his former home on Cap des Salins. This is a must site to see for those history buffs!
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