Free Walking Tour Saint-Tropez: Port, Citadel and Art

Your Saint-Tropez Walking Tour: Seven Places, Port to Painters

1. 1

   Old Port of Saint-Tropez

   

   Start where everyone ends up: the Old Port of Saint-Tropez, its quays lined with moored yachts and, behind them, the ochre facades of Provençal village houses. Café terraces, boutiques, ice cream shops and galleries fill the waterfront, and Sénéquier is the café name you will hear most. Today the harbor spreads over two basins covering 9 hectares, with moorings for nearly 800 boats; one jetty, the Môle d'Estienne-d'Orves, takes yachts longer than 50 m.

   The glamour is recent. Tradition holds that Greeks from Phocaea founded a trading post here around 600 BC, under the name Athenopolis Massiliensium. Through the Middle Ages this was a harbor of fishermen, merchants and corsairs, shipping fish, wine, timber and local cork until the 18th century. Shipyards built tartanes and pointus, the traditional wooden boats of this coast, and the town had its own national school of navigation. The Tour Suffren, from the 11th century, belongs to that older harbor.

   What changed everything was a film. In 1956 Roger Vadim shot And God Created Woman here with Brigitte Bardot and Jean-Louis Trintignant, and its international success turned the fishing port into a summer harbor for yachts and one of the emblems of Saint-Tropez. The water still belongs to sailors too: the Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the Giraglia Rolex Cup and the Trophée du Bailli de Suffren all start from these quays.

   Take your time on the quays, it costs nothing. Then turn away from the water: Place aux Herbes is 390 m into the old town, about 5 minutes on foot.

   Local name

   Port de Saint-Tropez

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Website

   portsainttropez.com ↗

   Location

   Old Port of Saint-Tropez on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Place aux Herbes

   

   Rue du Marché does the introductions: market street, then market square. Place aux Herbes is the old town's trading floor, public and free at any hour, but the real action is in the morning, when the stalls sell fish, fruit, vegetables and local specialties. Later in the day the square goes quiet, so either time your visit for the morning or treat it as a pleasant square on the way to La Ponche.

   The two market squares of Saint-Tropez split the work. On Tuesday and Saturday the bigger weekly market runs on Place des Lices, which you reach later on this walk. On both squares the same rule holds: locals shop early, visitors arrive late.

   If the stalls are trading as you pass, buy something. Market food is the one souvenir from Saint-Tropez that is neither luxury nor cliché.

   From here La Ponche Quarter is only 240 m away, about 4 minutes; on the way you pass the Fish Market.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place aux Herbes on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   La Ponche Quarter

   

   One turn off the market square and the tone changes. La Ponche is the historic fishing quarter, the village before the fame: narrow lanes, stone walls and the scale of the place Saint-Tropez used to be. The money floating in the harbor is only minutes away, and none of it reaches here. This is where you feel the old size of the town most clearly.

   Think back to the harbor: the fishermen, the boatbuilders and the sailors who carried wine and cork along the coast lived in lanes like these. The public lanes are free to explore at any hour, and on an ordinary day this is the quietest stretch of the walk.

   The calendar can change that. On 16, 17 and 18 May, Rue de la Ponche is one of the streets of the Bravade procession, blocked for hours while costumed brotherhoods fire their musket salvos.

   Walk it slowly, because the next leg is the only climb of the route: 400 m, about 7 minutes up to the Citadel of Saint-Tropez.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   La Ponche Quarter on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Citadel of Saint-Tropez

   

   The Citadel of Saint-Tropez is a pre-Vauban fortress from the early 17th century, and today it houses the maritime history museum of Saint-Tropez. Its keep has been a listed historic monument since 1921, the surrounding walls since 1995. It stands on the hills that once held windmills and that dominate the town and the gulf, which is exactly why a fortress was built here.

   The town needed one. After the wars that followed the death of Queen Joanna and raids by Barbary pirates, Saint-Tropez lay ruined and was emptied of its people in 1388. On 14 February 1470 the Genoese Raphaël de Garezzio arrived with sixty families of settlers to repopulate it. In return for rebuilding and fortifying the town and defending a long stretch of coast, the inhabitants were declared free and exempt from all taxes, a deal that lasted until Louis XIV ended it in 1672.

   The walls were tested. They held against the Constable of Bourbon in 1524. A larger bastioned wall of packed earth, built in 1534 for a growing population, resisted a Barbary attack in 1556 after the raiders had devastated neighbouring towns. In 1564 the local lord had a cannon tower built by masons brought in from Antibes, and in 1583 the first fortification rose up here on the wooded windmill hills, part of the coastal defence against pirates, corsairs and the Ottoman Empire.

   Going inside costs entry. It is worth it if the harbor story hooked you: the maritime museum ties together the corsairs, the boats and the fortress. If you are short on time, the climb and the walls from outside already tell you why this hill mattered. From here the route heads back down: 460 m, about 6 minutes, to the Chapelle de la Miséricorde.

   Hours

   Apr–Sep: Daily 10:00–18:30; Oct–Mar: Daily 10:00–17:30

   Price

   5 EUR full

   Website

   saint-tropez.fr ↗

   Location

   Citadel of Saint-Tropez on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Chapelle de la Miséricorde

   

   On Rue Gambetta, in the old quarter of the seafaring families, stands the Chapelle de la Miséricorde. Look up at the bell tower: its dome is covered in glazed tiles that shine in the light, typical of the churches along the Provençal coast. Then look at the doorway, carved from serpentine, a green stone quarried not far from Saint-Tropez.

   The town bought the land in 1633, building began in 1635 and was finished just a year later; the chapel was meant to include a new hospital, and it still belongs to the town. From 1656 it was the meeting place of the Black Penitents, a brotherhood that visited the sick, carried the dead and walked in processions.

   Their feast fell on Candlemas, when they carried out the statues, above all those of Saint Vincent and Saint Victor. The two saints looked in opposite directions, and the locals joked that one looked to port and the other to starboard, a very Saint-Tropez way to describe two saints.

   The chapel's later life was restless. In 1776 it replaced the crumbling parish church for services, to the Penitents' displeasure. Sold off in 1808, it was bought by private owners who gave it back to the parish in 1818. The brotherhood used it until it dissolved around 1854, and for a long time it served for exhibitions and concerts. A full restoration began in 1973, the statues were regilded, and it reopened on 15 December 1997.

   Entry is free, so if the doors are open, go in for the gilded statues. Place des Lices is just 170 m on, about 2 minutes.

   Hours

   Mon–Wed & Sat–Sun 10:00–12:30, Thu–Fri closed

   Price

   Free

   Website

   golfe-saint-tropez-information.com ↗

   Location

   Chapelle de la Miséricorde on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Place des Lices

   

   Place des Lices, officially Place Carnot, is the big open heart of Saint-Tropez: a rectangle of white sand shaded by rows of plane trees, with public benches, an 18th century fountain in the middle and café and hotel terraces around the edges, the Byblos among them. In summer you hear the cicadas before you see the players.

   Because this is above all a pétanque ground, laid out in its present form in the early 1800s. Locals, visitors and celebrities have all played here, among them Brigitte Bardot, Eddie Barclay, Johnny Hallyday, Karl Lagerfeld, Vanessa Paradis and Patrick Bruel; its only rival for celebrity pétanque is Saint-Paul-de-Vence. On Tuesday and Saturday the square becomes the Provençal market, and in May it belongs to the Bravade.

   Painters and filmmakers found it too. Paul Signac painted the square in 1893; that canvas, Place des Lices, Saint-Tropez, now hangs in the Carnegie Museum of Art in the United States. Fans of Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez should know one thing: the famous pétanque game with Louis de Funès was not filmed here but in a pine forest near town. La Cage aux Folles 2, on the other hand, sets part of its plot in a hotel on this square.

   Sit on a bench or watch a game; it is free and the best way to feel the town's rhythm. The last leg to the Musée de l'Annonciade is 400 m, about 5 minutes.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place des Lices on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   Musée de l'Annonciade

   

   The walk ends with the people who first saw something special in this place. The Musée de l'Annonciade shows mainly art of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on painters who worked in Saint-Tropez or found their subjects on the Mediterranean coast. The first of them was Paul Signac, the painter of Place des Lices, who arrived in 1892 when Saint-Tropez was still an unremarkable fishing village.

   The museum began modestly. In 1922 the painters Henri Person and André Turin founded the Muséon Tropelen with 32 works donated by artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Maximilien Luce, Charles Camoin, Henri Manguin, Paul Signac and Théo van Rysselberghe. It was shown in a single room of the town hall, and the town showed little interest. After Person died in 1926, his widow kept pushing, and from 1936 the collector Georges Grammont backed the project with his own works.

   The building has its own story. It is the Chapelle Notre-Dame de l'Annonciade, built around 1510 by a confraternity of penitents. It became state property in the Revolution, lost its bell tower in 1821 and served as a storehouse, then as a boatyard for sailing boats. The museum moved into the upper floor in 1937, while the ground floor was still a theatre; only in 1950 did it get the whole building. After a redesign by the architect Louis Süe it has shown, since 1955, among other works the 56 paintings of the Grammont collection, donated to the state.

   Entry costs a ticket, and it is worth it if you enjoy painting: after the harbor, the square and the light you have just walked through, the canvases make sense in a way they never do in a book. This is the end of the route; if you want, the GPS navigation leads you back to the Old Port of Saint-Tropez.

   Hours

   Jul–Sep: Daily 10:00–19:00; Apr–Jun & Oct: Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, Mon closed; Nov–Mar: Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon closed

   Price

   5 EUR to 6 EUR full (depending on exhibition), 3.50 EUR reduced

   Website

   saint-tropez.fr ↗

   Location

   Musée de l'Annonciade on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Saint-Tropez

The full route is compact, but you can split it by mood: the free harbor and village half, or the history and art half that holds both paid visits.

Harbor and fishing village, all free

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For a morning stroll or a first look before lunch on the quays. Old Port, market square and La Ponche are 630 m apart in total, about 9 minutes of walking, and nothing costs entry. Allow around 45 minutes.

Fortress, chapels and painters

Stops: 4, 5, 6, 7

For history and art lovers who already know the harbor. From the citadel down to the chapel, across Place des Lices to the museum is 1,030 m, about 13 minutes on foot. The Citadel of Saint-Tropez and the Musée de l'Annonciade charge entry, the chapel is free. With both museums, plan about two and a half hours.

The whole walk with both museums

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For a full half day. All seven stops, 2.1 km and 30 minutes of pure walking; entry at the citadel and the Annonciade. Count on about three and a half hours.

How Long This Saint-Tropez Walk Takes, With and Without Museums

The order follows the town's own story: the harbor where it began, the market and fishing lanes of the old village, the climb to the fortress that defended it, then down to the chapel, the big square and finally the museum of the painters who made it famous. Every leg is short, from 2 minutes to 7, adding up to 30 minutes of pure walking.

Walked with time to look around but without going inside the museums, the route takes about two hours. Give the maritime museum in the citadel and the Annonciade about an hour each and you are at roughly three and a half hours. The free harbor and village loop fits into 45 minutes, the fortress and art half into about two and a half hours.

Before You Set Off From the Old Port

• Start: The Old Port of Saint-Tropez is the recommended start, but you can join the walk at any stop.
• End: The route ends at the Musée de l'Annonciade. If you want, the GPS navigation leads you from there back to the Old Port.
• Best time: Start in the morning, when the stalls on Place aux Herbes are trading. On Tuesday and Saturday the bigger market fills Place des Lices as well.
• Entry: The Citadel of Saint-Tropez and the Musée de l'Annonciade charge entry. The Chapelle de la Miséricorde is free, and the harbor, squares and lanes are public.

Common Questions About Walking Saint-Tropez