Above the beaches of Saint-Tropez, Ramatuelle coils around its hilltop like a snail shell, its houses forming a wall around the old village, with narrow lanes and arches leading up to the church. Below it, the long sweep of Pampelonne beach curves for kilometres along the bay, and the vineyards of the Côtes de Provence climb the slopes between.
The actor Gérard Philipe, one of the great stars of French cinema and theatre, loved Ramatuelle and is buried in the village cemetery. A theatre festival held every summer in an open-air amphitheatre was founded in his memory. The village is beautiful, but in July and August it is crowded, and parking is scarce.
The road over the hills from Ramatuelle to Gassin, the other hilltop village of the peninsula, passes the old windmills of Paillas, with views over the whole of the Saint-Tropez peninsula and the sea. It is a narrow, winding road through cork oak and pine, with a few tight bends and steep climbs. In summer, traffic is heavy, and the roads into Saint-Tropez can be blocked for hours.
At Cap Camarat, south of Pampelonne, a lighthouse stands on a headland above the sea, and the coastal path around the cape offers some of the most beautiful walking on the Riviera. The beaches below are clear and blue, ideal for a swim, but the crowds are heavy in summer.
Come in May, June or late September if you possibly can. The light is softer, the beach clubs half empty, and the hill road becomes the playground it should be rather than a car park with views. Fuel is easier down on the main roads towards La Croix-Valmer than in the village, and the cafés under the plane trees by the gate are worth an hour of anyone's day.