3-Day Côte d'Azur Sailing Itinerary: Saint-Tropez, the Esterel & Îles de Lérins

Before You Slip the Lines

Most crews start this route from the charter bases in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez — Port Grimaud, Cogolin or Saint-Tropez itself — though it runs just as well in reverse from Cannes or Golfe Juan, and one-way charters between the two make it an even lazier weekend. Two things shape every decision out here. The first is the Mistral: the cold NW wind off the Rhône valley that arrives with little warning and routinely blows 30–40 knots. This route hides from it well — the Maures behind Saint-Tropez and the Esterel massif give every overnight stop its NW cover — but all three overnight bays are open to some southerly sector, so the Marin, the humid onshore SE wind, is the one that sends you to a marina. The second is Posidonia: the protected seagrass carpets much of this seabed, anchoring on it is illegal with fines up to €150,000, and the DONIA app — which maps sand versus seagrass — is effectively part of your ground tackle.

And form the third habit on day one: in season these are some of the busiest anchorages in the Mediterranean. A boat that drags 30 m off Pampelonne in August doesn't find open water — it finds a superyacht's anchor chain. Drop the hook, back down to set it, then start your anchor alarm before you swim. Each anchorage below links to its full guide with a recommended alarm radius.

Day 1: Saint-Tropez → Pampelonne → Rade d'Agay (18 nm)

Start in the Rade de Saint-Tropez itself — one of the finest natural roadsteads on the Riviera, with excellent holding on sand and mud in 5–15 m and shelter from everything but the south. If you overnighted here before departure, the free outer anchorage gives you the classic view: the ochre village Brigitte Bardot made famous, with the superyachts stern-to in the Vieux Port. Swinging room is generous — a 120 m alarm radius is comfortable.

Round Cap de Saint-Tropez and run two miles down the outside of the peninsula to Baie de Pampelonne for the first swim: 4 km of white sand, Club 55 and the beach clubs ashore, and — rarely for the Riviera — clean sand with no Posidonia in the anchoring area, so holding is excellent in 4–10 m and you can drop almost anywhere (radius 90 m). It is a south-and-east-facing roadstead, though: a lunch stop in normal weather, an overnight only in a truly settled forecast.

In the afternoon, reach NE across the Golfe de Fréjus to the day's overnight, Rade d'Agay — the moment the Esterel's deep-red porphyry cliffs rise over the bow, you'll know why this is the most scenic anchorage on the route. The horseshoe bay gives good Mistral shelter under the massif, good holding on sand patches between Posidonia in 4–10 m (DONIA out before you drop), and a quieter night than anything nearer Saint-Tropez or Cannes. It is open to the SE — move if the Marin is forecast. Set the alarm radius around 80 m. One sombre footnote for the log: Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, was last seen departing Agay on his final reconnaissance flight in 1944.

Day 2: Agay → the Corniche d'Or → Théoule → Île Sainte-Marguerite (10 nm)

The shortest day, and the prettiest sailing. Follow the Corniche d'Or NE along the Esterel — red rock spires, hidden calanques, the road clinging to the cliff above you — standing a sensible distance off Cap Roux. Around the corner, Théoule-sur-Mer at the southern lip of the Golfe de la Napoule makes the natural lunch stop: a small village with a castle and good restaurants, good holding on sand patches in 3–8 m, and far less bustle than anything across the gulf (radius 75 m; settled conditions only — it is open SE and E).

Then cross the Napoule to the trip's best overnight: the north coast of Île Sainte-Marguerite, the larger of the two Lérins islands. Two miles from the Croisette, it is another world — a wooded nature reserve whose only building of consequence is Fort Royal, where the Man in the Iron Mask spent eleven years. Anchor on the sand patches between Posidonia in 4–10 m (good holding, eco-mooring buoys in season, DONIA essential) with good shelter from N through W — proper Mistral cover. The channel between Sainte-Marguerite and the monastery island of Saint-Honorat, the Plateau du Milieu, is the classic day anchorage if you arrive early; the south-coast calanques are spectacular but calm-summer-day stops only (tighter, 60 m, fair holding). On the north shore, set the alarm radius around 80 m. Reserve rules are strict: no camping, no fires, nothing picked or taken.

Day 3: Lérins → Cannes → Saint-Tropez (25 nm)

Two miles north for the morning call at Cannes — coffee off the Vieux Port with the Croisette and the Suquet hill behind it, provisions if you need them, and the film-set view that launched a thousand charters. If you have time in hand, Golfe Juan, one bay further east, adds a final swim on good holding where Napoleon landed from Elba in 1815.

Then comes the payoff leg: 24 nm home, offshore of the whole Esterel in one long board. Leave before midday to carry the calm, watch the red cliffs go by from seaward — the Dramont, Cap Roux, Agay opening and closing — and time your arrival back in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez for the evening light on the Maures. Three days, roughly 53 nm, one iron mask, and (if the alarm stayed quiet) two full nights of sleep.

Variations: One-Way, 2 Days or 5 Days

• One-way weekend: if your charter allows a Cannes or Golfe Juan drop-off, finish there and cut the 25 nm return — the route becomes ~29 nm over three very lazy days, or a comfortable 2-day dash (overnight Agay, overnight Lérins).
• 2 days, loop: drop Théoule and Pampelonne, sail Saint-Tropez → Agay (overnight) → Lérins (early lunch) → home. Long second day; only worth it in a settled westerly pattern.
• 5 days: add a first night in the Rade de Saint-Tropez, a second night at the Lérins (one on the north shore, one on the Plateau du Milieu), and push east to the Rade de Villefranche — the deepest natural harbour on the coast, under the Cap Ferrat lighthouse. Or link west instead: our Hyères Islands 4-day itinerary starts a day's sail down the coast, and together they make a superb week.

Why an Anchor Alarm Matters on This Route

The Côte d'Azur's hazards are not remoteness — help is never far — but density and speed. These bays hold more boats per square metre than anywhere else in the Mediterranean in season: at Pampelonne or the Lérins in August, the gap between you and the next boat is a couple of lengths, and an anchor that drags at 02:00 finds gelcoat, not open water. And the weather here changes on Rhône-valley time: a Mistral can take a flat-calm Agay evening to 35 knots before dawn, while a Marin makes every south-open bay on this route — which is all of them — untenable in hours.

A GPS anchor alarm watches your position all night, even with the phone locked, and wakes you the moment you leave your safe radius — while the problem is still a winch job, not an insurance claim. Radius matters as much as the alarm: work it out from your scope with our anchor scope calculator, and read how GPS accuracy affects anchor alarms to tune it. Every anchorage page linked above carries its own recommended radius.

The Bottom Line

Three days, six stops, and more variety than a coast this famous has any right to: the roadstead glamour of Saint-Tropez, the barefoot sand of Pampelonne, the red-rock drama of the Esterel, a lunch village under a castle, and a night at anchor off a prison island two miles from the Croisette. Watch the Mistral, respect the Marin and the Posidonia, keep the DONIA app open, and run your anchor alarm every night — in bays this crowded, it is the difference between a story and a claim form.