boutique hotel pick – Hôtel La Résidence De La Pinède -St. Tropez, France

St. Tropez is a destination I include in  every trip to France. Although it is  very difficult and time consuming to get to the small fishing village from most anywhere in the world, it is truly a wonderful place to experience when daydreaming about the high life.

I normally stay in Nice and take a train to Saint Raphael and then a bus to St. Tropez, totalling approximlately 2-3 hour travel time. It is the most ecnomical way to get there but also the longest, especially if there is traffic during the high season (May-Sept/Oct). There are also ferrys leaving from Nice and Cannes and Saint Rapael, but I have found those to be an inconvinience due to their unpredictable schedules (plus I cannot deal with motion sickness very well)

There is also driving along the Riviera in a rental car and without traffic you can reach St. Tropez within an hour and half from Cannes. Of course having your very own personal yatch also helps, but that is a story for another day.  

The most interesting thing about St. Tropez is that although it is a fishing village, it is also a place for the best designer shopping, celebrity spotting and dining and night life. Women flock the streets in their fashionable ensemble and golden tans and the men sit in outdoor cafes  to people watch really, while they pretend to read the  newspaper. It’s a magical place and definitely worth experiencing at least once in your lifetime.

Hotels vary in price along St. Tropez, but if planned right, you can actually find a pretty good deal. The charm of the hotels in the area is  that they remind me of the 1960s, simple, simply elegant and peaceful. One hotel  which fits that image is  Hotel La Residence De La Pinede  and it is ideal for a 2 nights/3 days stay in St. Tropez, very close to the beach. What’s important is that if you  schedule your stay  to  include a Tuesday, you can actually experience one of the best flee markets I have been to in Europe.