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A not so kind introduction

Ancient history and
musée de l'Annonciade

Modern history and stars

Perhaps the most surprising thing is how fashionable St. Tropez remains. Like much of the Cote, it tends to be dismissed as over-crowded and over-rated but for a lot of people (the very wealthy ones :-)) it has remained as chic as ever. They still want to be seen in Saint-Tropez. Supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Elle MacPherson stroll barefoot and casual, but never unrecognisable, through the place des Lices. Roger Moore is glimpsed canooing on a yacht. Elton John flies in for a day by helicopter to buy a property like his friend George Michael.
St. Tropez must be seen as a summer alternative to Paris, a barometer of style. Fashion designers, artists and movie stars have always patronised it. It ranks among an elite handful of place-names to have achieved practically mythical status and to large numbers of people and not only French, the myth is still one of the ultra summer chic.
Getting the measure of the St. Tropez look is deceptively complex. You should hang out at the fashionable Senequier café by the port and see who is wearing what. Informality has always been the keyword—but studied informality—St.Tropez is certainly not a place to go if you don’t want to bother how you look like. And since everybody stares at everyone else all the time anyway, it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s out of contempt or admiration.
The eternal clichés about this resort are usually true!! 100.000 visitors come to St.Tropez every year and this population returns to a neighbourly 6,000 in the winter.
For me there is no doubt: in high season the situation is apocalyptic: a city going berserk with his prices, undiscoverable lodging, mostly cramped restoration, guaranteed rip-off in the cafes, monstrous traffic jams in the village and on the roads to the beaches. And most of all an all sham, make believe, an unbearable show off, the kingdom of pretence....Long parade of new rising stars and old worn out ones, parasites of show-business, starlettes with a 300 words vocabulary, " vieux beaux" (can’t find the English translation :-() means "old male beauties" more tarnished and faded as a Christmas tree and thrown away in March. The whole " schmier" sprinkled with complete battalions of fat and prosperous tourists, decalcified young English girls, female typists looking for a one night prince charming etc...
Quai de Suffren, you have a permanent show! Pleasure boats and luxurious yachts that never navigate ravish the simpletons. Sometimes the merchants of daubs and bad paintings (worse as Montmartre! it's a Guinness record) hide the view of the boats.
I can say only this: for a serious visit stay away from Saint-Tropez in the summer months. Parking is unthinkable and you will be stuck firmly in immobile traffic under murdering heat!
What a grunt that Jack must be, I see you all mumble now ;-)….
 Not at all! The city has its hidden, incomparable charms, a little more hidden in the summer than in the fall or springtime. It can be considerable fun, taken in the right spirit, and preferably equipped with a generous budget. It is finally nothing more than a delicious little fisher village with an extraordinary quality of light and a seducing architectural homogeneity.  Just pick the right moment! In low season, you will be ravished. You will meet the real natives before they return to their shells in July-August. And if you have no choice and can only come in the summer, reserve your room long in advance in one of the rare inexpensive hotels (yes, yes! they are listed on this site) and discover the ravishing little picture this city shows early in the morning. Nobody will bother you: in St. Trop' the people go to sleep very late and rise very late also….

Bibliography: 

Mary Blume, "Cote d'Azur. Inventing the French Riviera" (Thames and Hudson, London 1982), Stephen Liégeard, "La Cote d'Azur" (Ed.Serre, Nice 1988 a reprint), " Roman remains of southern France ", by James Bromwich (Routledge London 1993, "Guide du Routard 1999",(ed.Hachette), "Dorpjes rond het St.Tropez schiereiland", by J. Helperszoon (Alk 1996), Calvin Tomkins, “Living well is the best revenge” (E.P.Dutton)

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