The boules
Locals playing most evenings under the trees.
Niels Elgaard Larsen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Francesco Bini — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jacek Wieski — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Itto Ogami — CC BY 3.0
Yes — it is among the best on the Riviera. It runs **Tuesday and Saturday mornings** only, finishing around midday, and combines two things: **food** (seasonal vegetables, olives, cheeses, spices, olive oil and cured goods) and **goods** (Provençal fabrics, baskets, leather sandals and summer clothes). People come from neighbouring towns, so it is not only a tourists' market. Go **early**, before nine, to see it actually working and avoid the crush, and take cash.
Sitting on the square's **public benches** under the planes is entirely free, the shade is plentiful, and watching the boules costs nothing — which is the best thing to do here. If you want a drink, the cafés facing the square are the **most expensive**, and the lanes running off it towards the old town are clearly cheaper for the same coffee. And a practical rule for all of Saint-Tropez: **buy from the market or a bakery** and sit in the square — you eat better for a fraction of a restaurant bill.
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The square where Saint-Tropez stays itself however much changes around it. A rectangle of dirt shaded by enormous **plane trees** in the middle of the town behind the harbour, with old cafés, benches and a **boules** pitch the townspeople play on most evenings. The sight of boules players under the planes is the true picture of Saint-Tropez — not the yachts: older men, waiters and sometimes celebrities, playing the same game they have played for decades. On **Tuesday and Saturday** mornings the square fills with a **market** among the best in Provence: vegetables, olives, cheeses, spices, olive oil, fabrics, baskets, leather sandals and clothes. It starts early and is over by midday, and people come to it from the neighbouring towns. Around the square are **historic cafés** where artists and actors have sat since the 1950s, the best known being the Café des Arts. ⚠ Prices here are high like the rest of the town — but sitting under the planes watching the game costs no more than a coffee.
Locals playing most evenings under the trees.
Among Provence's best — food, crafts and fabric.
Where artists and actors have sat since the 1950s.
Place des Lices, 83990 Saint-Tropez