Saint-Raphaël
Saint-Raphaël is a seaside town at the western end of the French Riviera, about 40 km from Cannes and 50 km from Nice. With around 33,000 residents it is a manageable size, and considerably cheaper than the resorts further east.
It runs into Fréjus, the older Roman town 3 km inland, and the two form one agglomeration — but each has its own railway station, which is worth knowing when you book.
The town became fashionable in the later nineteenth century under the mayor Félix Martin and the writer Alphonse Karr, who publicised its mild winters. Artists, athletes and politicians followed, and the Belle Époque villas along the front date from then.
Getting to Saint-Raphaël
Unusually for a small Riviera town, Saint-Raphaël is easy to reach without a car — which is why it works as a base.
By train
Saint-Raphaël-Valescure station is in the centre, and the bus station is directly behind it. The town is on the main coastal line:
- Cannes — about 25 minutes
- Nice — under an hour
- Marseille — about 1 hour 40
- Fréjus — 3 or 4 minutes
TGV services from Paris also stop here. See trains in France.
By air
Nice Côte d’Azur is the nearest airport, with a direct coach to Saint-Raphaël taking around an hour and a quarter. Marseille is further but often comparable once you add the train.
By boat
From April to early November Les Bateaux de Saint-Raphaël run several sailings a day to Saint-Tropez across the gulf. In summer this is by far the best way to get there — the road round is one lane and jammed.
What to see
The old quarter
Behind the seafront: the twelfth-century Romanesque church of San Rafeu, built by the Templars, with a watchtower you can climb, and the archaeological museum beside it holding amphorae recovered from Roman wrecks in the bay.
Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire
The neo-Byzantine basilica from 1883, with its ochre-and-brick bell tower — the landmark you navigate the town by.
The seafront and the port
The Promenade des Bains runs along the Plage du Veillat, the main town beach — sand, not shingle, which is unusual on this coast and one of the reasons families come here rather than to Nice.
Walking routes through the town
The town marks several signposted routes through the centre, taking in the old quarter, the artists’ district around Rue Waldeck-Rousseau and the port. The map above shows them; the tourist office by the basilica hands out the printed version.
Beaches
The coast here runs for about 30 km, and the character changes as you go east:
- Plage du Veillat — the town beach, sand, right in the centre and busy
- Beaumont, Aigues-Bonnes, Les Sablettes — smaller sand and shingle beaches spread eastwards
- The Esterel coast — red porphyry rock, small coves and clear water, towards Agay and Le Dramont
The calanques of the Esterel
East of the town the Massif de l’Esterel drops straight into the sea in red volcanic rock — the most striking stretch of coastline between Marseille and Italy. The corniche road follows it, with dozens of small coves below. Le Dramont beach is where the American forces landed in August 1944; there is a memorial and a view out to the Île d’Or.
See also the best beaches in the region.
Fréjus, next door
Three minutes by train, and a completely different town: Forum Julii was founded by Julius Caesar, and Fréjus has the remains to show for it — an amphitheatre, an aqueduct, a theatre, and one of the oldest baptisteries in France, from the fifth century, beside the cathedral cloister.
If Saint-Raphaël is where you swim, Fréjus is where you go when it rains.
What to eat
Fish from the port, and the standard Provençal repertoire — bouillabaisse, aïoli, tapenade — at prices noticeably below Saint-Tropez across the water. The morning market on Place Victor Hugo is the good one. More in Provençal cuisine.
Around Saint-Raphaël
- Saint-Tropez — by boat in season, and much the best way; see the guide
- The Esterel — hiking trails through the red massif, with views down the whole coast
- Cannes — 25 minutes by train
- Gorges du Verdon — about two hours inland; see the gorge
- Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud — around the gulf; see Port Grimaud
When to go
The season runs from May to October. July and August are busy and the beaches fill, though never to Saint-Tropez levels. May, June and September are the best months. The mild winter that made the town’s reputation still holds — it is a reasonable place to be in February, when much of the coast has closed.
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