We spent the Fourth Day of our Mediterranean Cruise with Celebrity Cruises in St. Tropez. Let’s just say I can see why Brigitte Bardot decided to make this gorgeous town her home. The streets are so colorful and charming, and the town is filled with winding roads leading to squares with blossoming flowers and quaint cafes. St. Tropez is everything you dream the South of France will be.
Perhaps the reason the seaside town is so charming is that it’s so hard to get to. It’s about an hour and a half drive from both Nice and Toulon (which is where our boat docked this day). I’m sure it would be much easier to reach via yacht, but since I am sorely lacking when it comes to European yacht-owning friends, we had to settle for a bit of a drive to get to St. Tropez. Once you get there you realize that the destination makes the journey more than worth it.
The town itself is pretty small and very easy to walk around. There’s a big harbor filled with restaurants and beautiful boats and then the little streets wind back behind it.
I loved all of the colors in St. Tropez! It gives everything such a quintessentially French feel. The light yellows and blues against the sky and the sea look incredible, and make pops of color like the red awning here stand out even more.
Megan wore her off the shoulder blue dress in St. Tropez (the same classic Zara one I wore in Nice)- you can tell we’re sisters because even without coordinating we managed to bring almost identical outfits for this trip!
Loving life in St. Tropez!
I love the architectural details on the buildings in France. Everything being built is so modern and sleek now, which often looks great and I get it from a design standpoint… but the fancy details and ornamentation of these buildings beats a modern glass building any day.
Also while we’re at it, we need more pink buildings, just saying.
See what I meant about these adorable winding streets?! I felt like every corner you turned or every street you looked down was more beautiful than the last!
Outfit Details: Gingham Off-the-Shoulder Top (J. Crew)(only available in petite now), High-waisted jean shorts (BDG), Sandals (Similar from Madewell).
Brigitte Bardot, who seems to occupy a role similar to the city’s patron Saint. Her pictures were everywhere. I hope someday when I’m 80 pictures of me from my ingenue phase will be splashed around my hometown, ha!
Okay, so how cute is this bag?! We were stopping into little boutiques throughout the town, and I saw this St. Tropez straw bag and I stopped in my tracks. I had been seeing so many cute straw bags this summer, and almost bought one a few times, but each time decided against it. When I saw this bag, I knew it would be the perfect souvenir for this trip, and the perfect purse for the rest of the day! I linked a few similar bags at the bottom of this post in case you’re interested!
Sometimes you would turn a corner or look down a street and there would be the sparkling blue sea shimmering in the distance.
There is something so soothing being by the sea. I love everything about it- the smell, the boats bobbing in the distance, the breeze… I could just stare at the water all day long.
We stopped and grabbed crepes at a cute little restaurant by the harbor. How perfectly Provenceal!
One of my favorite parts about the South of France was that it gave me the opportunity to speak French again. I took French for five and a half years, but I haven’t had any reason to use it since I stopped taking it in college. It was so much fun to get to try out my French with the waiters and shopkeepers we encountered. It really came back to me quickly, and it made me want to keep up with it more once I got home. I’ve heard great things about Duolingo and a few other language apps. If only I had more time in the day!
Overlooking the gorgeous harbor of St. Tropez.
One last parting look at St. Tropez!
On our way back, we stopped for a bit at Port Grimaud. It was a little town nestled among several canals. It was cute, but after seeing St. Tropez it didn’t really compare.
As you can tell from my days in Nice and St. Tropez, I loved the South of France. I have dreamed about visiting the French Riviera for as long as I can remember, and now that I’ve been I can’t wait to go back and spend more time there. I have a dream of renting a car and driving around and exploring all the little towns and villages and beaches someday…
If you’re looking for your own straw bag for your next beach trip, I’ve seen a bunch of cute ones lately, linked below!
To see my posts from the first few days of the cruise, check out:
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