The peninsula, the gulf, Porquerolles, the Lérins: the days at sea I genuinely arrange out of Saint-Tropez, with the distances, the trade-offs and the mistakes to avoid.
The most common mistake, when chartering a boat in Saint-Tropez, is to think the day consists of going to Pampelonne. Pampelonne is magnificent, and I send plenty of people there. But the peninsula offers far better as soon as you get past the first bay, and most of my clients only discover this when I unroll the chart in front of them.
The real subject of a day at sea isn’t the boat: it’s the ratio between time under way and time at anchor. Here are the five programmes I genuinely offer, from the shortest to the most ambitious.
1. The peninsula: Pampelonne, Cap Camarat, l’Escalet, Cap Taillat
This is my number one recommendation, and by far the day I sell most. Very little cruising, a legendary bay, then a wild stretch of coast most visitors never see.
- 10am: leave the port, round the point and run down along Pampelonne
- Lunch at a beach club: Club 55, Loulou, Indie Beach, or on board at anchor
- Past Cap Camarat and its lighthouse: the landscape changes completely
- L’Escalet, then Cap Taillat : protected land, two bays, transparent water
- A long swimming and water-toys session
- Back to Saint-Tropez in the late afternoon
Cap Taillat is the moment my clients remember: a wild isthmus separating two bays, so there’s shelter whatever the wind. It also has, in my view, the finest water on the peninsula. Reckon on about ten nautical miles over the whole day: next to nothing, which is exactly the point.
2. The gulf, as a half day
Underrated, and perfect if you have small children, guests who aren’t sailors, or simply an end of day to fill. You cross to the Baie des Canoubiers, run along Sainte-Maxime, push on to Port Grimaud, and come home at sunset with Saint-Tropez head on, it’s the best view of the village, and you only get it from the water.
Two and a half to three hours is enough. It’s also the programme I suggest on the day the westerly gets up and makes heading offshore uncomfortable: the gulf stays workable when the open coast no longer is.
3. Porquerolles and the Îles d’Hyères: the big day
This is the day people talk to me about months later, and also the one I most often turn down, because it can’t be done on just any boat. Reckon on some thirty nautical miles each way: on a fast boat that’s a beautiful day; on a slow one it’s a day of cruising with a lunch break.
The appeal is real: Porquerolles has beaches that are nothing like the Riviera Mediterranean, pale sand, pines, turquoise water, and a protected island with virtually no traffic. You lunch in the village or on board, swim on the north side, and head home at the end of the day.
One technical point I always flag: the area is protected, with a national park at Port-Cros and strict anchoring rules designed to preserve the posidonia meadows. A serious crew knows exactly where to drop anchor and where it’s prohibited. This isn’t administrative trivia: the patrols are real, and so are the fines.
4. Cannes and the Lérins islands
The reverse of the trip my Cannes clients make, and it’s worth doing in this direction too. Some twenty nautical miles from Saint-Tropez to the approaches of Cannes, the Estérel and its red rocks along the way, then lunch on Île Sainte-Marguerite at La Guérite before heading back out to anchor in a cove.
Same caveat as for Porquerolles: on a slow boat this programme makes no sense. On a fast yacht it’s a very fine day that leaves you feeling you’ve seen two different Rivieras.
5. Beyond a day: Corsica, Liguria
One question comes back every summer: “can we go to Corsica?”. Yes, but not in a day: the island is over a hundred nautical miles away, which means an overnight crossing or a long leg on a fast boat, and therefore a multi-day charter with a crew sized for it. It’s a very fine three- or four-day programme, to be prepared properly in advance.
Eastwards, Liguria and Portofino follow the same logic: magnificent, perfectly feasible, but counted in days and paperwork, not hours.
The rules I go over before every departure
- Leave early. At 10am the sea is fine and the anchorages are free; at 1pm in August everyone is out and the best coves are taken.
- Book lunch at the same time as the boat, never afterwards. In July and August the Pampelonne beach clubs go long before the yachts do.
- Look at the wind the day before, not that morning. A well-established mistral or an easterly changes the itinerary entirely, and a good programme is one you adapt, not one you endure.
- Check the boat’s real speed before choosing the destination, not the other way round. It’s the one mistake in this business that can’t be fixed mid-day.
- Plan for a tender to get ashore. Many beaches and islands have no accessible pontoon, and you don’t land guests in dresses by swimming.
- Out of season, everything is better. In June and September the water is good, the anchorages are free and the tables are available.
