South of France
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Day 0 – Fly to Agde.
Agde is in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.
Day 1
35Nm to La Grande-Motte still in the Hérault département in Occitanie in southern France. It is a popular seaside resort and port, built in the 1960s and 1970s. La Grande-Motte is characterized by homogeneous architecture; many of the prominent buildings are pyramidal in form.
Day 2
21Nm to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department by the Mediterranean Sea. Its 2012 population was 2,495, though it can swell to 500,000 during the summer holidays
Day 3
30Nm to Martigues is northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte
Day 4
30Nm to Marseille, a port city in southern France, has been a crossroads of immigration and trade since its founding by the Greeks circa 600 B.C. At its heart is the Vieux-Port (Old Port), where fishmongers sell their catch along the boat-lined quay. Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde is a Romanesque-Byzantine church. Modern landmarks include Le Corbusier’s influential Cité Radieuse complex and Zaha Hadid’s CMA CGM Tower
Day 5 & 6
40Nm to Toulon. Toulon is a port city on southern France’s Mediterranean coast, lined with sandy beaches and shingle coves. It’s a significant naval base and the harbour is home to submarines and warships, as well as fishing boats and ferries. The grand Musée National de la Marine in the Port of Toulon exhibits maritime artifacts. Rugged limestone mountains form a backdrop to the city, and a cable car shuttles visitors up Mont Faron.
Day 7
22Nm to Hyères. Its hillside old town features the remains of a medieval castle and centuries-old walls. Nearby is the modernist arts center, Villa Noailles, set in a 1920s building with gardens. Salt marshes on the Giens peninsula attract scores of waterbirds. Just offshore, Porquerolles is one of the Golden Isles, a group of islands with beaches, trails and underwater shipwrecks.
Day 8
15Nm Le Lavandou in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. It derives its name either from the flower lavender that is prevalent in the area, or more prosaically from the local form of the Occitan name for lavoir, lavandor. Spend a day or two exploring the islands.
Day 9 & 10
25Nm to Saint Tropez. Café’s and artists in the most famous and infamous of the southern French ports.
