Musée de la Marine

Saint-Tropez is known today for its yachts and its celebrity visitors, but the town was a working maritime community long before the glamour arrived, and the Musée de la Marine tells that earlier story. The museum is installed in the keep of the Citadel, the star-shaped fortress that crowns the hill above the old town. Built in the late sixteenth century to defend the coast, the Citadel offers wide views over the bay, the rooftops and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, and the climb up to it from the port is part of the visit.

The collections follow the sea-going history of the town over several centuries. For a long time Saint-Tropez lived from fishing, coastal shipping and shipbuilding, and from the nineteenth century its captains sailed on long-distance lines to the Atlantic and the Far East. Displays include ship models, tools, charts, paintings and documents that recall the working lives of sailors, shipwrights and fishermen. Several local industries connected to the sea are also covered, including a torpedo factory, which operated in the town in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and a hydrographic school that trained navigators.

The museum also honours local heroes. The Bailli de Suffren, the eighteenth-century admiral who won fame in naval campaigns in the Indian Ocean, is remembered in the town, and a statue of him looks over the harbour. General Allard, a native of Saint-Tropez who served as a military officer in India under the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth century, is another figure from the town's history. These stories link a small Provençal port to the wider world and explain how a place of fishermen produced such far-travelled men.

The building adds to the experience. The Citadel's thick walls, ramparts and its parade ground give a sense of the town's defensive past, and the walk around the ramparts offers views of the Gulf and the hills of the Maures behind the town. Photography is easy and rewarding, particularly in the late afternoon when the light turns soft on the sea. Guided visits may be available at certain times and may need booking in advance, so check the Citadel's information before you go.

The museum is a good counterweight to the town's glossy side. After a visit, a walk down to the Port de Saint-Tropez and the old fishing quarter of La Ponche shows where the crews lived and worked, and the Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption with its bell tower is a short walk away. The Place des Lices, with its plane trees and market, is a natural stop for refreshments. The museum suits history enthusiasts, families with older children and anyone who wants to look beyond Saint-Tropez's reputation for beaches and nightlife.