A group of six young adults plans to spend one night in St Maxime at the end of this month (Sept '05) on the way to Nice.

We're looking for a reasonably priced hotel (~100 e +/-) in a great location (and within walking distance of the ferry to St Tropez??). Yes, we plan to book 3 rooms.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

That's a difficult area; could you go a bit farther and stay around Le Luc? A nice, old-fashioned hotel (in the good sense) nearby is La Grillade au Feu de Bois. The excellent restaurant features grilled meats, as you might guess. There are rooms in the hotel as well as in a more modern annex, and the pool is absolutely gorgeous.

The group is interested in being close to St Tropez. Perhaps we should just stay in St Tropez for the night? We'll be arriving in the area from Aix-en-Provence.

Thanks again for your excellent advice.

If your group wants to be in St-Tropez, wy not go directly there. No point going farther on the coast to Saint Maxime, which is more of a French-family holiday area. If you go directly to St-Tropez you can maximize your time there.

One other suggestion to maximize your time at St-Tropez: take the autoroute from Aix rather than going by the often very slow coastal road. Travel as early in the morning as you can manage to avoid the crawling traffic from the autoroute to St-Tropez (only one main road!).