43°16'N 6°38'E · Western Mediterranean
St. Tropez Yacht Guide
St. Tropez is quay theater: a small fishing port where stern-to berths on the Quai Suffren face the cafe crowd at point-blank range, and the real operating picture lives around the corner in the Baie de Pampelonne, the most heavily worked beach-club anchorage in the world. The port takes a handful of big yachts; everyone else anchors and runs tenders all day. Master the anchorage logistics and the rest is reservations.
Season & Arrival
Season runs May through September with July and August at maximum density; Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez in late September and early October fills the port with classic and modern race fleets for a final, spectacular week.
The Guide
Marinas
The Vieux Port berths roughly 750 boats with the showcase stern-to positions on the Quai Suffren and Quai Jean Jaures taking yachts to around 70 meters; allocation in high season is part booking, part relationship, all premium. The port office assigns daily and the turnover is constant. Five miles across the gulf, Marina Port Grimaud and Sainte-Maxime offer saner berthing for support boats and crew logistics, and Port de Cogolin handles overflow.
Operating Data
- Vieux Port
- approx. 750 berths, max LOA approx. 70m
- Quai depth
- 3m to 5m, confirm for full-displacement sterns
- Port Grimaud
- 5 nm across the gulf, to approx. 40m
Operating data is updated each season. Confirm critical figures with the operator before arrival.
Captain Notes
- An east wind kills Pampelonne in an hour. Watch for the afternoon shift, have the Canoubiers fallback pre-briefed, and never leave the boat unmanned on the hook there.
- August road traffic into St. Tropez is gridlock from 1000; move people and provisions by tender or before 0800. The sea is the only road that works.
- Quai Suffren stern-to means your aft deck is the town's photo backdrop. Brief crew and guests; everything visible is public.
Local Red Flags
- Posidonia enforcement in the gulf and at Pampelonne is among the strictest in France, with fines and prosecution for anchoring on seagrass. Know the current zoning before the season, it changes year to year.
- Port berths promised verbally in June have a way of dissolving in August. Confirm in writing with the capitainerie and reconfirm 48 hours out.
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Downloadable edition planned for a later phase.