Saint-Tropez is a village of about 4,000 residents on a peninsula that receives several million visitors a year. The old port with its painted houses and the fishing boats is the image; the beaches everyone actually goes to are five kilometres away at Pampelonne, on the other side of the peninsula, reached by one narrow road.
In August that road is a queue. The transfer that takes twelve minutes in May takes an hour, and both ends of it are a car park.
Port or Pampelonne
The port and the village put you in Saint-Tropez itself: the Place des Lices market on Tuesday and Saturday, the narrow streets of La Ponche, the Citadelle above and the restaurants. There is a small beach at Bouillabaisse on the western edge and no real swimming otherwise.
Pampelonne is the beach: five kilometres of sand on the eastern side of the peninsula, lined with beach clubs that have been the resort's real economy since the 1950s. Hotels here are in Ramatuelle, above or behind the sand.
Ramatuelle and Gassin are the hill villages behind, which are quieter, cooler and have the views back over the peninsula.
La Croix-Valmer and Gigaro, further round the coast, are what Saint-Tropez was before the boats arrived.
The season here is short and intense: May to September, with July and August at capacity and the majority of restaurants and beach clubs closed from November to Easter.
The nine below are grouped by that.
The port and the village
In Saint-Tropez itself, on foot to everything.
Cheval Blanc St-Tropez occupies a position on the Bouillabaisse beach at the entrance to the village, with a private sand club, a spa and rooms facing the water. It is the best hotel in Saint-Tropez and it has the only proper beach in walking distance of the port.
Hotel Byblos Saint-Tropez sits in the village as a set of painted Provençal buildings around courtyards and a pool, with a nightclub that has been an institution since 1967. It is the address people mean when they say Saint-Tropez.
Hotel Byblos Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez village · 5★ · $$$$
Painted courtyards and a nightclub running since 1967
Check availabilityHotel la Ponche occupies the old fishermen's quarter of La Ponche in a set of houses above the small beach, restored, with the most personal service in the village.
Hotel la Ponche
La Ponche quarter · 5★ · $$$$
Restored fishermen's houses above the small beach
Check availabilityHôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez sits on the port itself with a rooftop pool over the harbour and the shortest walk to the boats.
Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez port · 5★ · $$$$
Rooftop pool over the harbour beside the boats
Check availabilityHôtel Le Yaca Saint-Tropez occupies a garden position a few minutes from the Place des Lices with a pool, mature planting and rates below the port hotels.
Hôtel Le Yaca Saint-Tropez
Near Place des Lices · 5★ · $$$
Garden pool minutes from the market square
Check availabilityAbove the village
The hillside, with the views and a short drive down.
Airelles Château de la Messardière occupies a nineteenth-century château on a hill above the bay in ten hectares of grounds, with a spa, two pools and the best view on the peninsula.
Airelles Château de la Messardière
Hill above the bay · 5★ · $$$$
Ten hectares with the best view on the peninsula
Check availabilityHôtel Villa Marie Saint Tropez sits above the port in a pine-shaded property with a pool, a small room count and an interior of collected antiques.
Hôtel Villa Marie Saint Tropez
Above the port, Ramatuelle · 5★ · $$$$
Pine-shaded with an interior of collected antiques
Check availabilityRamatuelle and Pampelonne
The beach side, above the sand.
MUSE Saint Tropez - Small Luxury Hotels of the World occupies a hillside at Ramatuelle above Pampelonne with a pool, a spa and a design that is calmer than the beach clubs below it.
MUSE Saint Tropez - Small Luxury Hotels of the World
Ramatuelle, above Pampelonne · 5★ · $$$$
Calmer than the beach clubs below it
Check availabilityLa Croix-Valmer
Further round the coast, and quieter.
Lily of the Valley sits above Gigaro beach with a serious wellness programme, a large spa, two restaurants and views to the Îles d'Or. It is a twenty-minute drive from Saint-Tropez and a different pace entirely.
Lily of the Valley
Gigaro, La Croix-Valmer · 5★ · $$$$
A serious wellness programme with views to the Iles d'Or
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The villa rentals across the peninsula are excluded, and in Saint-Tropez they are the accommodation for a large share of the summer population, particularly for groups. They are houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Go to the Place des Lices market on a Tuesday or Saturday morning, which is the one moment the village still feels like a village.
Walk the sentier du littoral, the coastal path that runs from the Tour du Portalet around the peninsula to Pampelonne. It takes about four hours to Bonne Terrasse and it is the best thing here.
Book a beach club in advance in season. A sunbed at the well-known Pampelonne clubs goes days ahead in August and the walk-in option is limited.
Take a boat. The Îles d'Or off Hyères, the calanques toward Cavalaire and simply anchoring off Pampelonne for lunch are all straightforward to arrange.
See the Musée de l'Annonciade on the port, which holds a serious collection of the painters who came here before the boats did.
Practical notes
Nice airport is about an hour and a half by road, longer in season. Toulon-Hyères is closer. There is a seasonal boat from Nice, Cannes and Sainte-Maxime, which avoids the road entirely and is the civilised arrival.
May, June and September are the good months. July and August are at capacity with rates to match. From November to Easter much of the village closes.
Parking in Saint-Tropez is difficult and expensive. Consider not bringing a car at all if you are staying in the village.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Saint-Tropez Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Port or beach?
Port for the village, the market and walking. Pampelonne for the sand and the clubs. Five kilometres and, in August, an hour apart.
How bad is the summer traffic?
The one road to Pampelonne queues. A twelve-minute drive can take an hour in August.
When is it worth going?
May, June and September. The village is open, the sea is warm by June and the road moves.
How many nights?
Four. Longer if you are here for the beach clubs rather than the village.