Le Plan-de-la-Tour: A slow Base in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez

Are you dreaming of a holiday in the South of France, in a slower pace, away from the crowds? Forget the villages directly at the beach and go for a place more inland. I took my family and our dog to the Gulf of Saint-Tropez and I chose a quiet village as a home base, called Le Plan-de-la-Tour. You will still be close to places like Grimaud, Saint-Tropez, Ramatuelle and Sainte-Maxime, and at the same time you will have the charm and advantages of a village, with a weekly market, nice restaurants and a good bakery. Other places, like Antibes, Cannes and Nice will be at a drivable distance.

When I travel with my family, I just want to have a good time together. It’s not like checking all the highlights, but more like cherry picking. Pick some off the good ones and keep your bucket list short. What really works for us, is to have a nice home base during our holiday. This time I found us a great villa in Le Plan-de-la-Tour, a village close to Sainte-Maxime and Grimaud. From Le Plan-de-La-Tour, Saint-Tropez is just a 30-minute drive away. 

In this guide I will share all the nice places with you that I discovered during my trip to the French Riviera (the Côte d’Azur). From local markets to great beaches and villages to wander around.

Villa in Le Plan-de-la-Tour

You know that you found yourself a lovely place when the owner is offering to order you some pizzas, so you and your family could start with a nice dinner on your arrival. Unfortunately, the pizzeria was closed that day, but the intention was such a kind gesture. When the owner couldn’t reach the pizzeria by phone, her son was even sent to town to double check. Super nice, thank you! Well appreciated. 

The garden and the dog

For me, the biggest asset for this villa in this part of the French Riviera (the Côte d’Azur), is the outdoor area. Plenty of space to play, and completely fenced, so no worries about the dog. We could easily walk him close to the house, where the normal road prolonged as a gravel path, with views on the mountains, along grass fields, donkeys, cacti and beehives. Sometimes a Bentley is driving down, and on the street, I see people walking with a vintage designer bag of Louis Vuitton, a sweater tied around the shoulders. Just to remind me in which part of France I’m staying.

Why we slow down here

The South of France is treating us well. Mostly, sunny days, and lovely temperatures of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. Waving palm trees, birds singing their songs, the sweet smell of flowers in full bloom. Sun on my skin, a coffee on our little terrace to start the day and just now and then we go for a walk with our dog, or we plan a little visit somewhere. Life is easy here and one of the things I’m wondering is, why are we spending such an amount of time in one place? Living in the same town, seeing the same things, having pretty much the same rhythm all week. 

The world is beautiful and there is so much to discover. One to keep in my mind for my further life goals. And yes, I could easily switch my home to this villa in the south of France and stay here for a few months. A year, also fine, I would say yes anyway.  

Where to stay in Le Plan-de-la-Tour

I was staying at Villa Isollela, at walking distance from the village. I was happy that we could take our dog here and that the complete outdoor area was fenced. The villa has a private pool, a barbecue grill and a boules court. You’ve got plenty of space in the garden to sit anywhere you want and find yourself a nice spot in the sun. There is airconditioning and the main house got two separate bedrooms. The property also got a separate part (you can enter it from the outside) with another bathroom and three extra beds, one double and two single ones. So, in total, there’s space for eight guests.
-Dog welcome: yes
-Garden: yes
-Rates: around €2086 a week, off season

More options for a stay in Le Plan-de-la-Tour:

Villa Carrera is a spacious villa of 250 square meters in Le Plan-de-la-Tour. The house got five bedrooms, four bathrooms and you’ve got great views over the mountains. There is an infinity pool, a barbecue grill and a boules court. The house seems secluded and surrounded by nature.
-Dogs welcome: yes
-Garden: yes
-Rates: around €2265 a week, off season

Casa Soleo in Le Plan-de-la-Tour is a charming house with a small pool and garden. The house got three bedrooms with double beds, a barbecue grill and there’s airconditioning.
-Dogs welcome: yes
-Garden: yes
-Rates: around €2146 a week, off season

This Provençal villa in Le Plan-de-la-Tour might be an option if you’re not traveling with your dog. The house got magnificent views over the mountains. There’re four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large pool and a barbecue grill.
-Dogs welcome: no
-Garden: yes
-Rates: around €5065 a week, off season

Le Plan-de-la-Tour

Le Plan-de-la-Tour is a nice little village with laid-back vibes. Go to the local market on Thursday. With fruits, vegetables, olives, raw honey in several flavours, bracelets, necklaces and some clothing. I couldn’t resist the big mountains of nougat from Le Nougat de Montségur. Made with natural flavours. It was pricy – a big piece for more than €20 (on the other hand, nougat is pricy, you can easily pay €8 for a small piece at the gas station) but I loved it so much! I think it was the best nougat I ever had. So, in my opinion worth the money. Fool I am, I would go again.

For drinks or a nice meal, you go to le Café in Le Plan-de-la-Tour. They serve salads, homemade burgers and gambas. Mauricette Cantine is a place with a small kitchen and a great variety of dishes and flavours, like the Moroccan tuna tartare. It’s on a pedestrian street, so children can run around if they want. Le bon coin is the perfect place to eat crêpes with your little ones. Fresh ingredients and at reasonable prices.

Vintage market Le Jas des Robert

As a sucker for vintage, I really wanted to go to Le Jas des Robert, a flea market close to Cogolin. It’s situated outside the village, at a charming spot between the trees and rolling hills. The market is every Sunday from 6.00 till 14.00 and there’re quite some sellers around. I spotted vintage sailor hats from Saint Tropez, old pictures of Brigitte Bardot, blue French painting jackets, vintage designer bags, paintings, drawings, vintage baskets, and my weak point, ceramics. There’s also a stall with drinks and a terrace. Dogs are welcome and entrance is free.

I really love the bohemia vibes over here. The song I got in mind when I think about this place is, ‘La bohème’ of Charles Aznavour. All the traces of times that passed by, of people who loved a creative lifestyle and enjoyed life to the fullest. You can feel it in the air.

Le Jas des Robert, Chem. de Négresse, Cogolin.

Dog friendly beaches in Ramatuelle

For dog walking along the coast, I went to Plage de Pampelonne, between Saint-Tropez and Ramatuelle. Leashed dogs are welcome here all year round, like they are at the other beaches of Ramatuelle: Anse de Bonne Terrasse and Escalet. Plage de Pampelonne is not a dog’s beach, but a beach where dogs are allowed. What to expect at Plage de Pampelonne? A soft, sandy beach, family-friendly, with clear blue water and beach clubs that are overpriced (also a sign you’re in the South of France), so have a quick scan before you pick one. I went to Cabana Bambou to have a drink with my family (we paid about €50 for four, non-alcoholic drinks), and we took the dog with us. Further away you will find all the legendary clubs, like Club55, Nikki Beach and Tahiti Beach. 

Read more about it in Lisa’s article about the Best Things to do in Saint-Tropez

Go for a village walk in Grimaud

Grimaud is a charming medieval village with small, cobblestone streets and houses in soft, pastel colours. It’s a lovely city to wander around with plants and flowers everywhere. There is an old castle on top of the hill, Château de Grimaud. From there, you will have a great view over the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. For lunch, you can go to Patisserie du Chateau (with extra cuddles for our dog who was welcome at their terrace, and got a bowl of water as well), with sweet and savory options. Next to the patisserie is a nice restaurant, called Chez les Garçons. It was closed on the day I went, but I think it’s worth exploring. 

Looking for other walks close to Le Plan-de-la-Tour? Look at AllTrails, we use this to filter dog & kids friendly walks.

Don’t plan too much, make room for spontaneous activities

On our last full day in Le Plan-de-la-Tour we went on another walk with our dog. We picked the same gravel road close to the villa where we were staying, and this time we met the owner of the donkeys, one of the neighbours close by. He was asking if we would like to pet the donkey. We said yes and we had a little chat together.

Because we didn’t know how to make a rounded walk, the neighbour proposed to show us the way and to walk with us. This was really entertaining, because now we had our private guide, talking about his other animals, turtles and mountain goats, and speaking about his life and the region. The neighbour brought us to a small path through an area where wild boars are active (mostly during the night) and we walked between the wild lavender.  

A last-minute wine stop at L’Ephémère

Pretty last-minute, I also discovered that a wine tasting pop-up in Ramatuelle just reopened for the season. It’s called L’Éphémère and it’s part of Fondugues et Pradugues, a family-owned vineyard with a holistic approach to farming, harvesting and winemaking. They believe in letting nature do its thing, and refrain from using pesticides, herbicides or allergens. I’m not really into wine myself, but this one I would like to try. 

They have a wine truck with a terrace under the pine trees, just on the side of the vineyard, and they serve little bites to share. I ordered some bread with hummus, chicken skewers with herb sauce and we shared the green asparagus with strawberries and ricotta. Before dinner, I played a game of pétanque in the evening sun. A great closure of our holiday in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.

The Gulf of Saint-Tropez, when to go?

When you’re able to choose, avoid the high season when the roads along the beaches will be crowded. I went at the end of April, with promises of sunny days and temperatures above twenty degrees Celsius. 

Spring is a lovely time to go. Trees are in full bloom, and you got beautiful little flowers everywhere. Like our French neighbour of our villa was telling us: ‘it’s the best time to come to the French Riviera (the Côte d’Azur). And a big advantage, the water of your pool will still be refreshing, not lukewarm.’ Editors note- you can see it that way, but I was avoiding the water the first few days, and I was only using the pool area for some sunbathing. Going into the water seems way too cold! 

I think May, June and September are also great months to visit this region. Evenings might be a bit warmer comparing to the end of April. This is completely in line with how we travel, we love slow travel here at Dutchbloggeronthemove and this is exactly why.

Getting around in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez

The best option for getting around in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez and to have maximum flexibility, is by car. We took our own car with us and planned a stopover at Luxembourg. For us this seems the most logic way to get there, also because we took the dog with us and we wanted to make the journey as comfortable as possible, for him, and for the rest of the family.

Other options to get there are the train from Paris (and rent for example a car in Aix-en-Provence) or take a plane and rent a car. The nearest airport is Toulon/Hyères. From there it’s a one-hour drive to Saint-Tropez. The airport in Nice is a bit further away, from there the drive will take about one and a half hour.

FAQ – the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in a slower pace

My final thoughts about the Gulf of Saint-Tropez | on the move

The Gulf of Saint-Tropez is a popular place to go on a holiday, and it’s easy to understand why. You got the wonderful turquoise water of the sea, with pine trees as a natural umbrella, mountains, and scenic medieval villages with small cobblestone streets. Just to be able to step into another world, experience the nature of the Côte d’Azur with wonderful vegetation like cork oaks, palm trees and even cacti, in combination with great food, feels like a big luxury to me. So, if it’s up to me, I’m saying, dear Gulf of Saint-Tropez, let’s meet again ♥

Read more of our French articles:

• Top things to do in Nice, the ultimate guide
• One week in The French Riviera, a complete guide
• Things to do in Saint Tropez, the ultimate itinerary and guide
• 48 hours in Paris, hidden gems
• Cannes travel guide, the ultimate guide for 3 days
• Le Perche France, a slow escape into the Normandy countryside