Paris(but not only)  Personal Tours

And, in the afternoon, if you feel like enjoying more authenticity (and if you don't mind a little steep walk), we can climb the hill to go visit the old fortress of the 16th century. There will be shade and benches on the way (just trying to motivate you).

I've got to admit that, until recently, I had mixed feelings about Saint-Tropez... My first impression was (and remained for a long time) that Saint-Topez was completely artificial and therefore useless compared to all the beauty and authenticity that the inlands have to offer. I mean, it's so funny that a small village could become so chic (and so expensive) and how you find here AGAIN all the most famous names of the deluxe trade. But what finally amazes me most at the end of the day is that Saint-Tropez manages to make us somehow feel that, even from a distant way, we are temporarily part of the big picture. Saint-Tropez definitely has that "je-ne-sais-quoi" which is at the same time so French and so international!

This is how Saint-Tropez first appears to you when you arrive by boat (one hour trip from Saint-Raphael).

The boat is the only way to get there smoothly during the summer (otherwise too much traffic). We'll go on a Tuesday or a Saturday because of the big unmissable provençal market on the place des Lices!

The harbour is quite interesting with its permanent display of I've-got-a-bigger-yacht-than-you boats that tourists drool in front of (like in Antibes) while licking their ice-creams...

But we are not the kind of people who drool in front of yachts while licking ice-cream... No, we're the kind of people who have lunch in one of those trendy restaurants while discretely checking out the boats!

And you get to see so many good-looking men and women, both genders not so young but not so old (like us), a lot of them very well dressed, elegant but casual (like us). Women wear expensive jewellery, men smoke cigars but they all behave with style and class, and that is worth seeing.

For me, Saint-Tropez is at its best in the fall or in spring. Even in November which is reputably renowned for being the worse month to visit (because 70% of the businesses are closed for vacation) and it's known to be very quiet at that time: but, HELLO, it's the quietness which then makes the beauty of it!

Even though most of the deluxe shops and restaurants were closed last time I was there in November, the market had fewer stands but still had a lot, we were able to find a nice and reasonably-priced restaurant overlooking the harbour where we could keep an eye on "things"... The sky was blue, we ate outside under the sun and the waiters had the time to chat!

Great view from the citadel:

But you'll have to be careful, some peacocks may try to sneak into your pictures surreptitiously!

But please don't blame them : they're just mimicking the locals in their need for attention!


And, like the jet-set, they vanish as fast as they appeared....

Then around 4 or 5 pm, we take the boat back to Saint-Raphael...


Or...


If we go off-peak-season (anytime but from mid-June until mid-September) and we take the car to get there, we can then go for a very beautiful drive where we'll get to visit the inlands of Saint-Tropez with the small villages of the Middle-Ages at the top of the hills. This makes a great excursion.

Saint-Tropez