Beaches in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

The French Mediterranean from the Camargue to the Italian border, and it divides at Toulon into two coasts with almost nothing in common. West of the town the Calanques are limestone inlets bitten into a white massif, reached on foot or by kayak and almost never by road, inside a national park that closes the massif entirely on high fire-risk days — a decision taken each morning by the prefecture and published before the walks begin. East of Toulon the Riviera proper is built, pebbled and heavy with concessions, a shore where the promenade came first and the beach is its lower edge. The Saint-Tropez peninsula sits between them and belongs to neither: it has the sand, and a coastal plan that requires every structure on Pampelonne to be demountable and taken away each winter, which is the rule that sent this register's questions about beach clubs to the House. The Camargue at the western end is a different country again, a Rhône delta of lagoon, salt pan and grazing with kilometres of empty sand behind it. Practically: the Calanques walks are long, rough and unshaded, and two litres of water a person is the standard advice rather than a cautious one. The mistral blows hard for days at a time and flattens the sea on the Riviera while making the exposed western coast unpleasant. July and August fill every road and car park on the coast; May, June and September are the months this coast is actually pleasant, and the sea stays swimmable into October.

They spread across three beach worlds, the largest group being two beach-club shores. Together they account for 12 km of shore. · computed from the 4 records below