Can a yacht berth directly inside Port de Saint-Tropez?

The new outer quay extension takes hulls up to about 60m alongside; the inner old port is mostly under 35m. Most weekly charters anchor in the gulf and tender in for dinners — the berths inside town fill on long-term contracts.

Which beach club is the office's default lunch?

Loulou Ramatuelle for guests who want the current photographed lunch; Club 55 for guests who want the classic; Cap Pinet for clients with children who prefer quieter sand. The office holds reservation relationships at all three.

How busy is the Pampelonne anchorage in August?

Heavily — forty to sixty yachts in the bay on a typical Saturday. The captain anchors with seventy to one hundred metres of swing room rather than the usual fifty, and the office plans tender drops with the beach club's pontoon assistant the morning of.

Is Saint-Tropez worth a week, or should the itinerary move?

Most weeks the office suggests three to four days at Saint-Tropez, two days at the Esterel calanques and one day east toward the Cannes Lerins. Three full days in the same anchorage is the threshold beyond which clients consistently ask for movement.

What about restaurant reservations — how far ahead?

Eight to twelve weeks for Club 55, Loulou and La Vague d'Or in August. The office handles these when the charter is contracted; standing relationships hold space that's not publicly available.

Yacht Charter Saint-Tropez — A Week Aboard, the Office Way

Saint-Tropez has been the same week for forty years, with the same beach clubs, broadly the same anchorage, and the same rhythm: a morning swim, a long lunch ashore, an afternoon at Cap Camarat, sundown at the bow, a slow run back into the gulf. What the office adds is the booking sequence and the quiet tender slots that make the week feel like one place rather than a logistics chain.

Where the week starts

Most charters embark at Port Camille Rayon in Golfe-Juan — the closest deep-water marina with capacity for 30m+ hulls and a twenty-five-mile run west to the gulf of Saint-Tropez. The alternative is a direct embark in Saint-Tropez itself, on the new outer quay, which carries a premium and a tighter calendar but saves a half-day at the start.

The Pampelonne days

Anchor 100–300 metres off the beach, swim platform down, tender into the dedicated jetty in front of Club 55, Indie Beach, La Réserve à la Plage, Cap Pinet or Loulou Ramatuelle. Each jetty runs a tender system — the marina pontoon assistant calls in tender slots through the morning, and the boat's tender driver clears the run two minutes before guests step off.

Club 55 — the original. Tables fill 8–12 weeks ahead in August; the office holds standing relationships.
Loulou Ramatuelle — Costes group, southern end of Pampelonne. The current photographed lunch.
La Réserve à la Plage — the quieter of the major beach restaurants.
Indie Beach — middle of the beach, kitchen by Jean Imbert in recent seasons.
Cap Pinet — the south end, less photographed, often the office's pick for clients with children.
La Fabrique — inland alternative, dinner only, ten minutes from the beach jetty.

The non-Pampelonne days

Three days at the same beach is the point at which guests start asking for a quieter run. The office's default alternates:

Mid-week run to the Esterel — west to Théoule, anchor in the calanques of L'Esterel (Calanque de Saint-Barthélemy, Anse de la Figueirette). Red volcanic rock, glass-clear water, no tourist boats. Lunch aboard.
Day at Port Grimaud — the canals are a curiosity for first-timers; the lunch is at Le Café in the Place des Lices once the tender drops you ashore in Saint-Tropez town.
Day at the Iles d'Or — eastbound to Porquerolles (12 nautical miles south of Hyères), the Plage de Notre-Dame, lunch at the harbour. A longer steam — only on settled weather.
The Cap Camarat south wall — the eastern point of the Pampelonne peninsula, three-metre depth over sand, sheltered from the prevailing westerlies.

Town nights

The yacht overnights in the gulf, the tender runs guests into the old port for the evening. The current dinner table is La Vague d'Or (Cheval Blanc, three Michelin) or Senequier for the simpler pre-dinner harbour drink. The office books La Vague d'Or eight to ten weeks ahead in season. Sundown drinks at the L'Opéra terrace or aboard.

The weather pattern

Saint-Tropez gulf is open to the south-east. In July and August the prevailing wind is a west-to-south-west thermal building 10–15 knots by mid-afternoon, dropping at sundown. Easterlies are the wind to plan around — they make the Pampelonne anchorage uncomfortable and push the office's west-to-east boats into Cavalaire or back into the Esterel. The Mistral occasionally tips down the Rhône valley and reaches the gulf at 25–30 knots; the captain checks the forecast at 20:00 each evening for the next day.

What it costs

A 25–30m sport flybridge for a Pampelonne week trades at €120,000–€220,000 plus APA depending on yacht and dates; 40–50m superyachts at €300,000–€700,000 plus APA. APA on the Riviera is usually 25–35% of base — restaurant lunches, provisioning and fuel push it higher than an Ibiza week. See our APA explainer for the structure.

How a brief reaches the office

A short note works best: how many guests, which week, which rough side of the budget. The office replies on WhatsApp (+41 79 285 79 79) within the hour, 09–23 CET, with two or three real options rather than a long list.