When to go rather depends on when you are free. If in summer, expect to be packedinlikethis. St Tropez, remember, is a village which, shorn of tourists, has a population of a little under 4,000. Through July and August, it might welcome some six million visitors, with up to 30,000 people a day on the main Pampelonne beach. In short, you’re going to be queuing, and paying. But that merely underlines that you’re in a summer hotspot than which there is nowhere groovier in Europe. If that’s your thing, summer St Trop is your place.
Should you wish less commotion but some warmth all the same, and the possibility of finding most things open, then the shoulder months – May, June, September, October – will suit you fine. That said, the Grande Braderie (when all St Tropez shops spill out on to the streets to sell off last season’s goods) happens on October 25-27. The place is heaving, as at the height of summer. Expect much commotion.
In truth, though, my preference is for winter, when there’s no-one but locals about, you’ll need a coat, bling palaces are shut and St Tropez becomes once again what it was in the first place – a charming little Med port village.
