beach

Tuesday 7th April 2026 – St Tropez, St Maxime and on to St Aygulf…

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Another beautiful day and sadly the day we have decided to move on – that is not to say we won’t be back as it has been so peaceful at this Aire and ideally located, but for now, onwards and a short drive to the outskirts of St Tropez.

We find roadside parking on the way into town and decide to not try and get any closer as there is a continuous stream of traffic heading that way. It only takes us about 20 minutes to walk down to the shore and may be another 10 into the old town proper which envelopes the main Marina.

We follow the crowds around the marina checking out the millions of pounds worth of craft moored there…

And then follow the coast line to visit the 3 small beaches – Plage de la Glaye….

Plage de la Ponche….

And on the edge of the town – Plage de la Fontanette….

The beaches themselves are not really very exciting but the beautiful almost tumble down peach houses that surround them are just beautiful.

As I suspected the main old town with it’s Gucci and like designer shops was very busy (the shops themselves not so much maybe the bouncers on the doors is a bit off putting to some?) but as we soon find out it is very easy to loose the crowds by just heading away from the main port and into the myriad of little streets running away from the centre….

Though busy I would agree that it is a stunning little town. We meandered our way back to the van and pressed on the short distance to our next stop – St Maxime….

No where near as busy or indeed as beautiful but nevertheless we enjoyed a lovely walk along the sea front promenade (a lot of the beaches are not dog friendly) with just enough sea breeze to keep us cool and checked out all the beaches on the way….

Plage de Croisette and de Maxim on the way into town….

Plage de Club Nautique and Plage de St Maxime on either side of the bridge in the centre of town….

And finally Plage de Saudan, a rather forgotton little bit of sand on the far side of the marina and town….

It is by now getting incredibly hot and the van was like an oven so we had to wait a while with all the doors open for it to cool down enough to be bearable as we drove the short distance, via a supermarket to our campsite for the next 3 nights at St Aygulf.

To give the van a chance to cool down before we settled in we took a brief walk to check out the 3 beaches in the immediate vicinity – Plages de la Galliarde, des Eclaireurs and de la Galliard Ouest….

The main sandy one and the one immediately outside the site, unfortunately is not dog friendly which is a real shame after being so spoilt last week on Plage de Pampelonne – but I’m sure we will cope.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 27
  • Miles walked – 9
  • Beaches – 11
  • Food – £25.86
  • O/N – £23.12

Monday 6th April 2026 – another day on Plage de Pampelonne…

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Yet another beautiful day – this is certainly the best weather I have ever experienced at Easter and we are making the most of it with a couple of hours on the beach and then when it is a bit cooler in late afternoon we took a stroll down to the far end of the beach – Plage de Tahiti (still really part of Plage de Pampelonne)….

On the way back we picked up a bit of shopping before settling for another little while on Plage de Pampelonne…

Before returning to the Aire via the little footbridge….

Hoping that we have left it late enough to catch our little friend the Beaver….

We did just that and took a little video of him heading off into the sunset – which you can see on Instagram as my membership here does not allow videos.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 7
  • Beaches – 2
  • Groceries – £6.05
  • O/N – £20

Thursday 2nd April 2026 – just a stroll along Plage de Pampelonne…

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Another beautiful day with cloudless blue skies and temperatures in the late teens (perfect) and as we have decided to stay put over the Easter weekend to avoid any Easter traffic and also the uncertainty of finding somewhere else suitable and safe to park, we spent the morning doing adminny things and then set out for a beach walk in the afternoon….

Today we ventured along the beach heading eastwards….

Noticing that the beach bars that appear intermittently along the beach are all gradually opening up….

Not particularly my thing, especially travelling solo and also not within my budget which is already under strain from the increased over night coasts on this stretch of coastline and the increased fuel costs, but looking very inviting none the less.

Beach walking is fairly heavy going as there is no firm sand to walk along as the Med doesn’t appear to be very tidal so we took respite where we could on the slightly more built up areas offering boardwalks. Strangely there doesn’t appear to be any focal town or village along the beach just stretches of holiday villages (and bars) interspersed with stretches of natural scrubland or private gardens. Some of the bars / restaurants appear to be very exclusive and in the case of Club 55 we witnessed queues of very expensive cars arriving and waiting for valet parking and to say we would have been underdressed is putting it mildly – clearly a go to destination from the likes of St Tropez etc.

Not to worry we are quite happy to lower the tone and sit on the beach and drink from our coffee flask and in Tilly’s case, water bottle and consume our own snacks! All the while with the enviable back drop of Monaco and the snow capped Dolomites….

A lovely place and a lovely lazy day.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 0
  • Miles walked – 7
  • O/N – £20

Wednesday 1st April 2026 – from Le Lanvandou to Ramatuelle Plage…

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Having found an Aire a little further westwards along the coast, we have decided to move on today ahead of the hike in price from 22 euros a night to 26 from tonight. We topped up with water and emptied balck and grey waste before getting on the road. We have opted to follow the coastal road as much as possible and got the opportunity to pull over above Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer and take a photo looking over the resort and back along the coastline…

There followed a rather dramatic drive up and over lush tree covered hills and through vine filled valleys with switchbacks a plenty until we made our final decline through the small town of Ramatuelle – which looked absolutely stunning but was not overly campervan friendly parking wise, so unfortunately we couldn’t stop for a wander. The road finally wound through vine filled flat lands until we reached the coast – still within the area of Ramatuelle and our Aire.

After getting ourselves pitched and settled, we walked the short distance to Plage les Bambou (actually part of the long Plage de Pampelonne) and wow what a treat…

Feeling the need for a bit more of a walk, we headed east and up and over the next headland down into the small resort of Bonne Terrasse to the small Plage de Camarat….

We attempted to continue up over the next headland but about half way up the coastal path just became a scramble over the rock face so we decided to turn back as it felt unwise to continue….

Returning to our starting point we continued a little further west joining the Plage de Pampelonne just beyond the Aire…

In the distance we could see the pink rock of Monaco with the snow capped Dolomites in the background….

On our return to the Aire, we crossed over a bridge over a small brook leading out to the sea…

After we had had our tea the beautiful sunshine tempted us back out again for a short wander and I am so pleased we did as down by the brook was a family of wild boars snuffling in amongst the bamboo roots at the waters edge….

And lo and behold on the other side of the bridge a beaver just loitering in the evening sun….

How magical?

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 21
  • Miles walked – 5.5
  • Beaches – 3
  • O/N – £11.37

Tuesday 31st March 2026 – a bit of a lazy day just pottering and enjoying the sun in Le Lavandou….

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It was quite a windy night last night, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect this morning – I needn’t have worried, another sunshiny day and without the wind which had blown itself out, a lovely warm one too.

I took the plunge and swapped some of my winter wear for summer wear – not a complete commitment mind as it is only the end of March but hey we are on the Med!

We pottered down on the beach for a while and then set off in an easterly direction along the cycle path that runs along the back of the Aire over the top of Cap Negre and down into the little seaside community of Pramousquier for a wander and play on the beach there….

Thoughts of the day:

  • I have spent quite a while looking for possible places to stay, heading east towards and into Italy and it is not looking very good. The campsites (which are just opening) are all around 40 to 50 euros a night, which is way too much for me and the Aires de Camping Car Park which have held me in good stead throughout France do not appear to have a presence in northern Italy. So I’ve decided I’m just going to have to jump between the few coastal aires that are available and wing it for a while – time will tell.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 0
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Beaches – 1
  • O/N – £19.16