Saint Tropez Review on French Riviera

St.Tropez is a small town in southern France, in the Var departement and is a part of well known and famous French Riviera. According to the legend "Saint Tropez" is named a martyr St.Torpes, - beheaded for refusionof giving up his faith. His body was thrown in a boat, which was drifted to st.tropez to a place which is today called : the Golfe de (Gulf of) Saint Tropez. Between 1470 to 1672, city of St.Tropez was ruled by captains as independent republic. Each captain had right to raise an army, which was actually used in 1637 to drove away Spanish galleons. This local area was free of French government taxes. However, King Louis XIV brought the city under control of France.

St.Tropez started to grow and attract international stars from 1920, but its international recognition came after 1950, also thanks to the famous star Brigitte Bardot and also due to famous movie series of Le gendarme de Saint Tropez.

During WWII, the allied forces had their central site on the city beach in the Operation Dragoon.

Today the city is popular thanks to its azure waters, luxurious yachts in harbor, famous hotels, cafes and clubs on the beaches. There are many tourists there and many luxury sports cars. Night life is fantastic and you can often see VIP guest arriving by helicopters. A lot of tourists come during summer with hope to meet some stars.

Baie de Pampelonne - part of the coast with best beaches 5 km long. Each beach has own hut, is about 30 metres wide and with public and private tanning area. Most popular activities are windsurfing, canoeing and sailing, other people prefer motorized water sports, like power boats, water skiing or jet bikes. Other beaches are quite, with cafes and restaurants on the water edge. There is a regatta with many great classic yachts (some 50 m long) held each October in the Saint Tropez bay.