Anchorage

Plage de Grimaud

3.6FranceVar

Shelter: N, SW, W, NW
Seabed: sand, algae
Anchoring: Allowed

Open anchorage off the beach of Port-Grimaud at the head of the Golfe de Saint-Tropez.

Water
Pontoon
Beach
Seagrass

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the east across the gulf. The bay is dotted with yellow buoys marking swim zones, access lanes, speed limits and no-entry areas, plus some local mooring buoys; anchor clear of them in the open part on sand in 6 to 12 m, aiming for a clear patch as the weed holds poorly. Good shelter from the W and NW mistral, holding well over 30 knots. Open to the E and SE, where the summer breeze and boat wash roll the anchorage by day; it calms at night, but a night easterly is dangerous and boats have been driven ashore.

Practical

Water point ashore at Port-Grimaud, but no services on the anchorage. Fuel and full facilities at Port-Grimaud marina, 0.3 NM SW, or at the Marines de Cogolin, 0.6 NM south. Port-Grimaud has a market, two small Super U and a larger Auchan for provisioning, a Zou bus to Saint-Tropez and Saint-Raphael, and a free shuttle to Cogolin.

Ashore

Port-Grimaud, the lakeside town designed by architect Francois Spoerry from 1966, is reached by tender through the main channel; land near the church by the ferry dock, with a supermarket a few steps away. A ferry to Saint-Tropez runs from outside the capitainerie, and a dog-friendly beach lies behind it. Medieval Grimaud village with its castle ruins is 4 km inland, by bus from the roundabout at the Port-Grimaud entrance.