Most Beautiful Villages Near Toulon & in Provence

Provence keeps its best villages off the main road. Behind the coast and up the back valleys, you find the stone perched towns the postcards promise: cooled by fountains, shaded by plane trees, a glass of rosé on every terrace and a view that opens up just when you stop expecting one. The country around Toulon is unusually rich in them, from the dramatic clifftop hamlets of the Haut Var to the gentle hilltop lanes above the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.

Here are the ones we send guests to, grouped by the kind of day they make.

The hilltop villages of the Haut Var

This is where Provence shows its quiet, inland face. Cotignac is the one to start with: a village built beneath a towering tufa cliff riddled with old cave dwellings, its streets cooled by fountains and made for an unhurried afternoon. A short drive away, Tourtour earns its nickname, the village in the sky, perched at 635 metres with views that reach to the Mediterranean on a clear day. Nearby Villecroze hides troglodyte caves and a waterfall park behind its lanes, while Sillans-la-Cascade has a 42-metre waterfall at the end of a short forest path. For Renaissance grandeur in a working village, Entrecasteaux and its château reward a slow morning.

Two more are for travellers who like their villages dramatic. Châteaudouble clings to a ledge above the Nartuby gorges, and Bargème, at 1,097 metres, is the highest village in the Var, gathered around its castle ruins with half of Provence laid out below.

The Bandol wine villages

Twenty minutes west of the villa, two villages crown the Bandol vineyards. Le Castellet is the immaculately preserved one, a medieval film set of ramparts and arched gateways above the vines, touristy in high summer and worth it anyway. Across the valley, its working neighbour La Cadière-d'Azur is just as handsome and a touch more lived-in, ringed by some of the finest vineyards in Provence. Pair either with a tasting at Domaine Tempier and you have a perfect day.

Above the Gulf of Saint-Tropez

You can have the views of the gulf without the marina crush. Gassin sits on a narrow ridge above Saint-Tropez, whitewashed and quiet, officially one of France's most beautiful villages and a welcome escape from its famous neighbour. A few minutes inland, Grimaud offers cobbled lanes, flower-draped façades and castle ruins made for sunset, with a fraction of the crowds.

The coast and the doorstep

Some of the best villages are barely a detour. Bormes-les-Mimosas blooms all year, its pink-tiled rooftops cascading toward the sea, regularly named one of France's most beautiful villages. Le Lavandou is the lively fishing town just below it, twelve beaches fanning out along the coast. And closest of all, half an hour from the villa, Belgentier stays firmly off the tourist trail: medieval lanes in a green valley, a square made for pétanque, and chestnuts in autumn.

Mauricette's Tip

Don't try to chain villages together the way you would beaches. One in the morning, a long lunch, one more in the late afternoon when the light goes golden and the day-trippers head home, that is the right rhythm. The Haut Var villages cluster naturally, so pair Cotignac with Tourtour or Sillans; on the coast, fold Bormes into a beach day; and save Le Castellet for a Bandol wine run.

Make Provence your back garden

Every one of these is within easy reach of the villa, most of them an hour or less. Use the house as your base and pick a different village each day. See more in our guide to things to do around Toulon and our day trips from Toulon, and book the house direct for the best rate.