Surprising Facts About Saint Tropez: Bravades, a Borrowed Beach and a Saved Cape

1. There is no railway station

For a town this famous, it is hard to reach by train. There is no station at all. You take the train to Saint-Raphaël and then the ZOU! 876 bus for about an hour and a quarter, or the 878 bus from Toulon along the coast. Both start at €3. Many visitors arrive by boat instead, from Sainte-Maxime across the gulf or on the scheduled boat from Nice.

2. The famous beach is not in the town

Pampelonne, the beach of the clubs and the photographs, belongs to Ramatuelle, the hill village behind it. It covers 27 hectares of sand on the peninsula's east side. The beaches inside the town are small: La Ponche has two little coves of coarse sand below the fishermen's houses.

3. A holiday village nearly took a cape

In the 1970s a developer planned 400 bungalows on Cap Taillat, at the tip of the peninsula. The plan was stopped, and in 1987 the Conservatoire du littoral, the state's coastal trust, bought the cape. Today about 140 hectares are protected. Its neighbour, Cap Camarat, was bought ten years earlier, in 1977.

4. The lighthouse is one of the highest in France

The Camarat light stands 130 metres above the sea, the second-highest light in France. It reopened to visitors on 16 June 2025. From the water you see it on the ridge above the cape, which is why the full-day private boats end their trip there.

5. A festival of salutes every May

The Bravades are the town's own festival, three days every May, from the 16th to the 18th. There are processions through the streets and official salutes on the square in front of the town hall. If you visit in mid-May, expect noise, crowds and closed museums on the 17th, and a town that belongs to its residents for three days.

6. The citadel's keep became a museum only recently

The citadel on the hill is centuries old, but the museum of maritime history inside its keep opened only in 2013. The €5 ticket covers the museum and the ramparts. Children under 12 go free. Our page of things to do in town has its hours.

7. The canal town is younger than most of its visitors

Port Grimaud looks old, but its building permit was signed on 14 June 1966. The architect François Spoerry designed it as a town on water: in its first phase, 13 of its 22 hectares are canals and harbour, with 1,100 homes and 834 berths. Our post on the canal town or the old port covers how to see it.

8. One car park holds 1,477 cars

Parking du Nouveau Port, by the port, has 1,477 spaces. Street meters charge €3 for an hour and jump after three hours. The visitor guide lists the other car parks.

9. The wine country is bigger than you think

The hills behind the gulf are Côtes de Provence, a wine appellation since 1977. It covers more than 20,000 hectares across 84 communes in three départements, and 51% of its vineyards are organic or certified for their environmental practice. Most of what it makes is rosé. The private wine day visits estates round the gulf and inland at Le Cannet-des-Maures and Vidauban. The guide picks the estates on the day, and you pay the tasting fees at each one.

10. The regatta brings thousands of sailors

Every autumn the gulf fills with classic and modern sailing yachts for Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Some 3,500 sailors are expected in 2026, when it runs from 26 September to 4 October. Watching from the shore is free. The best time to visit covers the season round it.

11. The town bus and a ferry run on electricity

The small town bus that leaves from the market square is electric, seats 22 and costs €0.50 a trip, Monday to Saturday. Across the gulf, Les Bateaux Verts have run a fully electric boat since 2025.

12. Some of the paintings are away

The Annonciade, the art museum on the port, is preparing a renovation, and some of its works have been sent away for study and restoration. It is still open and still €5, or €6 during a major exhibition, but check what is on the walls before you plan a visit round one painting.

13. The nearest airfield is not the one you fly into

The closest runway is La Môle, a small airfield about 15 km away. Most visitors fly into Toulon-Hyères, about 49 km away, or Nice, about 91 km, and finish the trip by road or by sea. From Nice, the sea is often the easier way: see our page of Saint Tropez day trips from Nice and Cannes.

The dates at a glance

What these facts mean for your visit

• Come by bus or by boat. With no station, the train only gets you to Saint-Raphaël or Toulon.
• Plan museums round the closures. Both the citadel and the art museum close on 17 May, and the art museum also closes from 15 January to 10 February and from 15 to 30 November.
• See the capes from the water. The full-day private boats spend hours under them; by road you see far less of the shore.
• Let someone else drive to the wine. The estates are spread out, and tasting fees are paid at each one.
• Watch the regatta for free. The quays and the citadel's ramparts both look over the gulf.

Want to see the capes and the lighthouse for yourself? Our page for a private boat tour Saint Tropez compares the boats that go that far, and the FAQ answers the usual questions first.

See these places for yourself

Saint Tropez: Voiles Regatta

Three hours on a catamaran that follows the race starts off the town during the autumn regatta week, with two aperitifs on board. It sells only that week.

From $85 per person

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Saint Tropez Half Day Private Yacht Charter on our Pershing 45

Four hours on a Pershing 45 for up to ten, collected from your port: an hour at anchor in the bay of villas and an hour off the salt-marsh beach, with a paddleboard, snorkels and towels.

From $1,858 per group (up to 10) plus a fuel surcharge; the amount is not published

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From Nice: Round-Trip Transportation to Saint Tropez by Boat

A scheduled boat from the Port of Nice at 09:00: two and a half hours along the coast, five hours ashore, and back by 19:00. There is no guide; a bar sells drinks.

From $112 per person

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