Île de Porquerolles

Porquerolles is the largest of the Îles d’Hyères, 7 km by 3, lying a few kilometres off the coast near Toulon. It has white sand beaches on the north side, cliffs on the south, pine and eucalyptus in between — and no private cars.

Most of the island belongs to the Port-Cros national park, which is why it looks the way it does rather than like the rest of the Var coast.

How it stayed empty

In 1912 a Belgian engineer named François Joseph Fournier bought the entire island at auction as a wedding present for his wife, having made a fortune in Mexican silver mines. His family held it until 1971, when the French state bought most of it to prevent development.

That accident of ownership is the whole reason Porquerolles is not covered in villas.

The beaches

The north coast has the sand; the south has cliffs and small rocky inlets.

• Plage Notre-Dame — the famous one, 3 km east of the village, backed by pines and regularly named among the best beaches in Europe. Shallow, sheltered and slow to reach, which keeps it manageable.
• Plage d’Argent — the closest to the village, 15 minutes on foot, with a beach restaurant; the busiest.
• Plage de la Courtade — long, sandy, and the easiest for families
• The south coast — Calanque du Brégançonnet and the cliffs; swimming here needs care and there are no facilities

See the most beautiful beaches in France.

Getting around the island

Bicycles. There are a dozen hire shops in the village and everyone uses them: the tracks are flat sand and gravel, the distances are short, and it is the only sensible way to reach the far beaches. Book ahead in August or arrive early.

Walking works too — the island is small enough to cross in an hour — and there are marked paths round the whole coast.

The village

A single square with plane trees, a boules pitch, a church, a handful of restaurants and the harbour — built in 1820 as a garrison village and still looking like one. Everything on the island passes through it.

Also on the island

• Fort Sainte-Agathe — sixteenth-century, above the village, with the view over the whole island
• The lighthouse at the southern tip, at the end of the best walk here
• Conservatoire Botanique National — a national collection of Mediterranean fruit varieties, including several hundred kinds of fig and olive kept from extinction
• Villa Carmignac — a contemporary art foundation in a converted farmhouse, opened in 2018, where you walk the galleries barefoot
• The vineyards — three domaines make Côtes de Provence on the island

Getting to Porquerolles

• By boat from La Tour Fondue, on the Giens peninsula south of Hyères — the crossing takes 15 minutes and boats run every half hour in season, less often in winter. Park at La Tour Fondue; the car parks fill early in August.
• From Toulon, Le Lavandou and La Londe — longer seasonal crossings.
• By train to Toulon or Hyères, then bus 67 to La Tour Fondue.

See transport in Provence.

Practical notes

• Bring water and food if you are going to the far beaches — there is nothing beyond the village except one or two seasonal kiosks, and prices on the island are high.
• Fire risk closes the interior on high-risk days in summer, exactly as in the calanques.
• Day trip or stay? The day boats bring several thousand people in summer and take them away at six. If you can stay the night, the island afterwards is a different place.
• No cars, and no cash machines worth relying on.

Around

• Port-Cros — the next island east, wilder and stricter
• Île du Levant — the third of the group, half military and half naturist
• Hyères — the mainland town, with a medieval centre most people drive straight past
• Toulon — 30 km west

When to go

May, June and September. July and August bring the day boats at full capacity and the beaches fill. Out of season some restaurants and the boat frequency drop away, but the island is at its best — and the water is warmest in September.

See the best beaches in the region.

Weather in Île de Porquerolles

Updated: 17 September 2026