Alright, so I know this is a bit much for a day trip, but my husband is set on either seeing St. Tropez or Cannes and as I've already talked him out of several other ideas and do want to include his ideas in the trip, here goes. We will be staying in St. Remy de Provence and would like to do a day trip to St. Tropez (or Cannes, but St. Tropez is closer and I think the village itself is more managable than Cannes). I've have the following questions, but would welcome any other thoughts/suggestions as well:

1. Google maps says it is a 2 hr 19 min drive. Do you think this is accurate? Is it fairly easy driving or will we be on narrow, twisty roads a lot?

2. Any recommendations for a good, affordable place to eat lunch? We will have a toddler in tow - she does not need a kids menu, high chair, crayons, etc. but I don't want to go to a very fancy restaurant where she will be out of place.

3. Suggestions for what to see and do in St. Tropez? And is there a park where we could relax for a bit?

4. Are the beaches near the village or will we have to drive to them? Suggestions for which beach is the nicest if there are multiple options? Forgive my ignorance on this one, I know I need to do a bit more reasearch on St. Tropez but I'm getting the St. Remy part of the itinerary ironed out at the moment.

Many thanks!

Audrey

The time of year makes a HUGE difference on how long it takes to get there. Before late-June and after about the first week in Sept, it might take the 2 1/2 hrs if you leave by 7:30 in the morning. Mid June to early Sept - it may take 45 mins to 1 1/4 hrs longer each way.

The D558 through La Garde Freinet is twisty & winding. If you instead take the D25 from le Muy through Ste Maxime, it will be easy driving. However, you don't want to take the latter route in July & Aug (packed).

We love la Ponche for dining. There are a lot of restaurants on the port also. We much prefer la Ponche because it's quieter & doesn't have the "circus" atmosphere that the port restaurants do. Reserve ahead. It will me a tad more expensive than some of the other restaurants you'll pass. There is a simpler restaurant in front of la Ponche. There are lots of other simple restaurants serving blubbery tasteless mussels, fries, etc elsewhere in St Tropez.

There is a huge square in the middle of St Tropez called Place de Lices. Lots of plane trees & benches. Also several restaurants around it. That's a good place to relax - except on Tues & Sat morning when there is a market on the Place.

The beadhes are quite a ways out of town. There are really no decent beaches in St Tropez.

Parking is horrible in peak season & expensive if you park in the underground garage.

We've spent about 5-6 weeks in St Tropez in June & Sept.

Stu Dudley

I agree with Stu. Traffic in summer will be horrid, as the roads into and out of town are congested. Walk around the old harbor, if not to eat then to experience the ambiance.

The beaches of the west riviera, like St. Tropez, are sandy while those in the east, near Cannes, are covered with pebbles or store bought sand.

Also, I trust you are aware that the beaches permit varying degrees of clothing and clothing optional arrangements, and, there is not a lot of physical separation between the beaches if that offends or entices you. Many are also "private" beaches of particular hotels and the charges for services can be substantial.

Have a great trip.

Thanks Stu and hmmm! Luckily we are going the end of May so hopefully traffic and parking will not be terrible, although it also may not be beach weather. We plan to leave around 8 a.m., although it may be a tad bit later. I'm actually leaning towards St. Tropez vs. Cannes based on your wonderful itinerary, Stu, so thanks again for emailing that. On the beaches - even if we have to drive out of town is there a particular beach that you would recommend if the weather is cooperative? What would be included in a "private" beach, i.e. could we rent an umbrella or cabana? It does not bother us if it is topless vs. clothed, we've been to both elsewhere in our travels.

I can answer your questions about the beaches. La Ponche, in St Tropez is right behind the public beach,which isn't pretty at all but it is public and free, if the weather wasn't too nice I might just stick the kid's feet in here. If you drive down towards Pampalone(sp) there are tons of private and public beaches, right next door to each other. We like Nikki beach, which is private. It was 20E last year and this buys you a chaise lounger and an umbrella. You might want to have snacks with you as the food is very expensive and not so good, IMO. Right next door to the right is the public beach is you don't want to pay.
Also, there is a restaurant across from La Ponche that is child friendly, reasonable prices and pretty good food, certainly not fine dining as LP would be... I can't remember the name though but you can't miss it.
I actually prefer to eat down at the harbor, it's great entertainment!

>>even if we have to drive out of town is there a particular beach that you would recommend if the weather is cooperative?<<

Tahiti Place - at the end of the Route to Tahiti.

>>What would be included in a "private" beach, i.e. could we rent an umbrella or cabana?<<

Along this beautiful contiguous stretch of beach called Plage de Pampelonne - the configuration is like 50 yds of a private beach concession, then a 50 yd section of public beach, then three 50 yd sections of three different private beach consessions, 100 yd section of public beach, etc. One of the private beach concessions is called Tahiti Plage. This was the "original" concession during the Bridget Bardot period. Other concessions have names like Bora-Bora, Club 55, etc

You get a chaise lounge & matress, unbrella, table for keeping your drinks off the sand. Waiters to bring you drinks, lunch, etc. There is also a full bar & restaurant with the private beache. Showers & WC, of course. While you are at lunch, the "crew" will re-arrange your chaise lounge to face the sun so you don't have to do it.

If you just want to take a towel & throw it on one of the public sections of the beach next to the private beach section, you can do that and also dine at the private beach concession. There are also a few simple bars to get burgers, fries, drinks, etc.

>>It does not bother us if it is topless vs. clothed, we've been to both elsewhere in our travels.<<

There is less toplessness than there was 25 years ago. The total nudity was banned, I believe, about 20 years ago. Many of the women who are topless - shouldn't be !!!

Stu Dudley

Thanks Susanna and Stu. I did not realize about the private beaches so that is extremely helpful information. I think we will just adjust our plans based on the weather - if it is a beautiful day it may be very worth the $$ to relax, be waited on and have an umbrella for shade while the baby plays after a long drive. And if the weather is not so nice we'll stick to the village and dip the baby's toe in at the public beach by town.

LOL, Stu. We were in St. Barts a couple of years ago and a similar situation there - many of the women who were topless (and men who were bottomless, I might add) shouldn't have been! But oh well, not a big deal to us

I'm not sure what I was thinking about when I said Nikki beach, but Stu's comments brought me back to reality and it is indeed Tahiti that we loved, and Club 55 that we didn't. Club 55 had sand chairs with straw umbrellas that were stationary, where as Tahiti had nice loungers, mats, unbrelllas, and the best scenes of yatches dropping off people at the pier to come in for lunch and the walk of shame after too many cocktails to get back on their boats!