This stretch of St-Tropez coast is wild and rugged with deserted creeks and bleached beaches, far less developed than its eastern counterpart.

Its resorts are strung out like pearls along the coast, with St.Tropez the jewel in the crown. No name evokes the joie de vivre of the region as much as St’Trop’ (‘too much’) – a hedonistic, ‘see-and-be-seen’ resort and home of the bikini – with its picturesque old port, decadent yachts and glamorous sun soaked beaches.

Further along the St-Tropez coast, the Corniche de l’Esterel pierces the blood-red cliffs of the seashore with minute inlets, and tiny deserted beaches, while the remarkable remains at Fréjus bear witness to an exceptional heritage as the oldest Roman city in Gaul. Inland, away from the tourist-courting coastal resorts, is some of the most wooded countryside in France. It is a region of wild, unexplored landscapes, its sombre green forests of chestnuts, cork oaks and conifers, interrupted only by an occasional yellow splash of mimosa or a hidden village, drenched in bougainvillea and oleander. It is here, in such slumbering villages as Bormes-les-Mimosa, Grimaud and Collobrieres, that visitors can sample the true ‘good life’ of rural Provence.

http://www.ot-saint-tropez.com

Richard Reeves is the founder of Essential Sailing and if you have been inspired to relax on a luxury sailing holiday, why not make this idyllic world your reality.

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