The Riviera: Porquerolles, Saint-Tropez, Bandol
7 days · 120 nm · starts in Toulon · France
Saint-Mandrier (Toulon)
The nearest airports are Toulon-Hyères at twenty minutes, Marseille at an hour and Nice at an hour and a half. Take over the yacht at the marina in Saint-Mandrier on the south side of the Toulon roadstead; do the big shop in Toulon or beside the marina.
Saint-Mandrier → Bandol
A short first leg west. Bandol is a resort with a palm-lined seafront and a wine appellation of its own: mourvèdre reds that cost half here what they do in Paris. The small island of Bendor lies opposite the town.
Bandol → Porquerolles
The longest leg of the week: back past Toulon and on east to the Hyères islands. Porquerolles is all but car-free, with vineyards, pines and the Notre-Dame beach that keeps turning up on lists of Europe's best. Berth in the port or anchor in the Courtade bay.
Porquerolles: Port-Cros
A day without a long passage. Neighbouring Port-Cros is Europe's first marine national park: an underwater trail off the Palud beach, forts on the heights and woodland with neither cars nor bicycles. Anchoring is not allowed everywhere, and boats usually come back to Porquerolles for the night.
Porquerolles → Saint-Tropez
East along the Maures coast. From the outside Saint-Tropez is still the same ochre village with a fishing harbour, except that hundred-metre yachts lie in it now; the myth is on the Place des Lices, and the quiet is next door in Port Grimaud, the 'French Venice' built on canals.
Saint-Tropez → Le Lavandou
Back west around Cap Camarat. Le Lavandou is a calm town facing the Hyères islands with a long string of bays around it; after Saint-Tropez the change in volume is immediate.
Le Lavandou → Saint-Mandrier
A last leg past the Hyères peninsula and into the Toulon roadstead. Refuelling and handover.
The Riviera is Provence with a sea attached: an hour and a half to two hours between stops, and ashore the vineyards of Bandol, the Port-Cros national park and Saint-Tropez, which was a fishing village half a century ago and still looks like one. A loop of about 120 nm based at Saint-Mandrier near Toulon, with no leg longer than thirty miles.
Practicalities
- The mistral: a north-westerly that builds to 30–40 knots on this coast and holds for two or three days. It arrives on the forecast and under a clear sky, but nobody crosses to the Hyères islands in a mistral, and west-facing anchorages become untenable.
- Port-Cros and Porquerolles are a national park: anchoring is prohibited over posidonia meadows, several bays have buoys and part of the water is closed altogether. Buoys are booked online and the zoning changes every season — check before you leave.
- Berths: Riviera marinas are the most expensive in the Mediterranean, and Saint-Tropez in August costs several times what its neighbours do. Nights at anchor in the bays of the Hyères islands or off Cap Camarat save a serious share of the budget.
- Logistics: the nearest airport is Toulon-Hyères, but it has few flights; most crews fly into Marseille or Nice and take a transfer. From Nice the coast road takes over two hours — allow for it on handover day.
When to go and what it costs
France is not in our two-year sample: the RYC Rentals fleet works in neighbouring Italy, which is also the closest price benchmark — a median €202 per person per week in spring against €462 in summer. The Riviera costs more than Italy less in the boat than in the berths: an August marina budget here is comparable to the charter itself.
RYC Rentals data, 2,062 offers from 2024–2026, as of 13 Aug 2026 · full breakdown →