Cannes to St. Tropez day trip
Cannes Harbor
When you’re in Cannes with some of the most amazing French Riviera locations at your fingertips, it can be a challenging task to choose which locations to visit and which locations to skip. We decided a day trip to St. Tropez would be the perfect little adventure. It’s a no brainer, St. Tropez is one of the most sought after locations in the south of France. Great, Now we had a location, the next step was to figure out how to get there. Unlike a day trip in California where we speak the language and have our own transportation, a day trip in France can seem like a daunting task. We enlisted the help of our trusty iPhone’s on the free WiFi in our sweet little apartment and began to explore the options available to us.
St. Tropez Ferry
Yep you guessed it, we decided a helicopter would be the most exciting way to travel…. well that is until we saw the prices and decided something more economical might be a wiser choice. After reviewing everything we could find online we decided to take the SNCF TER train from Cannes to St. Rafael. We found a great app for checking train time tables in France or Germany called “Capitaine train app.” The Ferry company Les Bateaux de Saint Raphael runs daily from the 15th of April. It is important to check the time table to make sure your train times line up with the current ferry schedule at http://www.bateauxsaintraphael.com. The Ferry ride takes approximately 1 hr and costs €15 for one way or €25 for a round trip ticket. Below are some of the other options we found. From our research we felt the risk of being stuck in traffic was to high to choose transportation by freeway.
SNCF TER train from Cannes to St. Rafael then take the 7601 Bus to St. Tropez – $10 1 – 3 Hrs
Taxi – approx 1 hr with no traffic $190-$220
Rental Car – 1 Hr plus cost of rental
Ferry Cannes to St Tropez – Link: The times available are subject to change
Port of St. Tropez
After a beautiful ferry ride we arrived in exciting St. Tropez. We started our day wandering the streets in and around the port perusing the high end shops and culture of St. Tropez. But, lets get real we had planned our transportation and day around arriving early enough to enjoy a full day on the glamorous beaches that have enticed celebrities for decades. After dipping our toes into the river of information that is the world wide web, we discovered quickly that plage de Pampelonne was the place to be. You guessed it, it was time to figure out the transportation situation again. If you’re thinking we sprung for a helicopter this time, well that would have just been foolish since Pampelonne beach is only a 10 minute taxi ride from St. Tropez harbor.
Vespa Ride
Being the extreme adrenaline junkies that we are, we sprung for 50CC’s of raw vespa power. We are just hard core like that. With the freedom to come and go as we please, we set off for Pampelonne beach. Let’s have a quick safety meeting before we go any further. We have read and heard that scooters can be extremely dangerous… and they can be. Especially if you end up on a freeway with a 50CC gutless wonder of a scooter (trust us we have been there and it is scary.) Seriously though, rocks on the road, inexperience and distracted driving can lead to serious injuries. If you decide to go for it anyway be careful, start slow and enjoy the experience.
Vespa St. tropez
Riding a scooter in Europe is one of the most thrilling and exciting ways we have discovered to travel while vacationing. When traveling outside the USA, we always download the local maps on CityMaps2go app. This app is an amazing resource which allows you to reference stunningly detailed maps while offline. You can also download Wikipedia attachments for each city filled with information on historical sites, transportation and restaurants. It’s basically everything you would need on the internet, while conveniently not on the internet! Pro tip, if you connect to WiFi when you first arrive in a city and open the app, the blue identification marker is activated and will follow you wherever you go while offline. This will allow you to always know where you are located. The blue dot followed us to Pampelonne beach where we began our search for the perfect beach club to call home for the afternoon.
St. Tropez Beach
Megan & French Sheepdog on St. Tropez beach.
Eureka, we found it! After parking the hogs, we made a bee line for the sea. We started to search the beach for the perfect place to spend the day and Moorea Plage quickly caught our eye. With its comfortable beach loungers, umbrellas and classy feel we knew it was the place for us. Not to mention we didn’t really want to sacrifice all of our time searching the entire 3 mile beach before choosing our relaxation destination. If you are looking for a party scene, Nikki beach is by far the most famous stop on Pampelonne. If looking to rub elbows with a celebrity or to party like a rock-star, this might be the perfect place for you. For more options check out 4beachnuts.com. They have some great information on other exciting places to see in Pampelonne.
St. Tropez Beach
The beach in St. Tropez was everything we hoped it would be. The sand, the sea and the scenery were amazing. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon
California Flag
full of swimming, laying out on the beach and of course some good food and drinks. After soaking up the sun we headed out for a long walk down the beautiful white sand beach. Walking the beach in St. Tropez can be an experience all to its self. European beaches are famous for loose dress codes and Pampelonne definitely has its share of Nude beaches. Be aware of your surroundings when walking the beach if you wish to avoid these areas. If you are interested in water sports there are some great options on the beach, we even found a shop flying the California Republic flag! If you are feeling more adventurous, check out some of the activities listed on TripAdvisor for Pampelonne Beach. After a fun filled day we jumped back on the scooters and headed back to St. Tropez harbor to catch the ferry back to St. Raphael. If you have time before catching the train in St. Raphael, we found a great ice cream shop near the harbor called Latinos Ice Cream. Very delicious, and the most flavors of ice cream we have ever experienced at a gelataria anywhere. Even though we didn’t take the helicopter our day trip to St. Tropez went wonderfully and we made it back to Cannes in plenty of time to enjoy a delicious dinner on a magical street, but that’s a story for another time. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, if you enjoyed it please let us know.
St. Raphael Gelato
St Tropez 2015
