{"id":39736,"date":"2025-11-29T17:21:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-live-in-france-this-little-known-seaside-town-is-as-charming-as-other-famous-french-riviera-spots-and-less-pretentious\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T17:21:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:21:45","slug":"i-live-in-france-this-little-known-seaside-town-is-as-charming-as-other-famous-french-riviera-spots-and-less-pretentious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-live-in-france-this-little-known-seaside-town-is-as-charming-as-other-famous-french-riviera-spots-and-less-pretentious\/","title":{"rendered":"I live in France. This little-known seaside town is as charming as other famous French Riviera spots and less pretentious."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a73f3599d46a4ccc17a17?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Author Rachel Hosie in Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>I&#039;ve fallen in love with the charm and beauty of Sanary-sur-Mer, a small coastal town in France.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Sanary-sur-Mer, a small port town, is one of my favorite places on the French Riviera to visit.<\/li>\n<li>I love watching yachts bob in the harbor, and enjoying the beauty of the pastel buildings and shops.<\/li>\n<li>It feels authentically French but doesn&#039;t seem particularly well known or too crowded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Though millions of people visit the French Riviera each year, many travelers set their sights on famous spots like Nice, Cannes, Antibes, and Saint-Tropez.<\/p>\n<p>But since moving to the C\u00f4te d&#039;Azur a few months ago, I&#039;ve discovered a few lesser-known but, in my opinion, much better spots to visit in the area.<\/p>\n<p>One of my absolute favorites is a small coastal town called Sanary-sur-Mer. I&#039;ve been a few times now and have been utterly charmed by it each time.<\/p>\n<p>Sanary-sur-Mer is a lesser-known gem along France&#039;s south coast.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a72da599d46a4ccc179de?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Boats in harbor at Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>Some of the smaller boats could be rented.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Situated between Marseille and Toulon, Sanary-sur-Mer is a port town along the Mediterranean Sea with a population under 20,000.<\/p>\n<p>Many locals I&#039;ve spoken to where I live half an hour away have agreed that Sanary is considered the nicest place in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Though it&#039;s popular with the French, it&#039;s seemingly not on many international tourists&#039; radars. It can get a bit overshadowed by popular nearby spots like Cannes and Saint-Tropez.<\/p>\n<p>When my husband and I have visited Sanary-sur-Mer, I didn&#039;t hear any language other than French spoken around me, which is rare to find in the south of France during the summer (and a far cry from a September Sunday in Antibes, where I could barely move among British, Irish, and American tourists).<\/p>\n<p>It&#039;s surrounded by beautiful blue waters.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a7310c007ca8c2738419d?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Boats in waterfront area in Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The town is based around a wide, clean-looking harbor full of bobbing yachts and other boats.<\/p>\n<p>There may not be as many superyachts as you&#039;d find further up the coast, but there are still plenty of huge ones to admire and imagine floating around in.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the smaller boats are even available for visitors to rent.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever we visit, the area feels quiet and peaceful.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a732dc007ca8c273841a4?format=jpeg\" alt=\"View of lighthouse at end of dock in Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On one trip, we walked along the port and up to a charming lighthouse and were surprised by how quiet it was despite being a summer Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>There were only a few other people and some children splashing in the nearby fountains. It was refreshing compared to the more touristy spots that are always heaving with crowds.<\/p>\n<p>There are also lovely pedestrian areas.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a7403c007ca8c273841d3?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Esplanade in Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>The esplanade in Sanary-sur-Mer felt so clean.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lined with caf\u00e9s and restaurants, the waterfront is so clean I thought I was on a film set when we first visited.<\/p>\n<p>My husband and I especially enjoy getting ice cream in one of the caf\u00e9s on the wide esplanade \u2014 a wonderful place to sit and watch the world go by.<\/p>\n<p>I&#039;m also pleased to say that we&#039;ve found many public toilets in the area that are actually free to use <em>and<\/em> in decent condition.<\/p>\n<p>We love taking in the beautiful buildings and boutiques.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a738cc007ca8c273841b6?format=jpeg\" alt=\"People walking along streets in Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>The pedestrianized streets were lovely to walk along.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Narrow cobbled streets full of chic boutiques snake up from the harbor, dotted with tropical palm trees and pastel-colored buildings with blue and green shutters that offer traditional Proven\u00e7al charm.<\/p>\n<p>Sanary-sur-Mer is also packed full of little stores selling chic clothes and interesting homewares \u2014 I&#039;ve treated myself to a plant pot in Maman &amp; fiston and some linen trousers in Serendipity.<\/p>\n<p>There aren&#039;t big designer shops like you&#039;d find in Cannes or Nice, but Sanary feels all the more authentic for it. The town is less fussy and certainly not pretentious at all.<\/p>\n<p>I&#039;ve already made a mental note to come back here before Christmastime.<\/p>\n<p>The area is rich with history, too.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a73c0c007ca8c273841c4?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Retro-style light pink and blue cinema in Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The &quot;regular&quot; buildings in Sanary-sur-Mer, like most of Provence, are beautiful, but one building that stood out to me was the cinema, Cin\u00e9ma A.b.c.<\/p>\n<p>Dating back decades, the building&#039;s retro facade features striking and beautiful pastel colors. Although it has been updated to better function as a theater, its exterior has changed very little.<\/p>\n<p>The town also has walking tours for visitors who want to learn more about the local history. For example, this coastal town was a refuge for German and Austrian authors and artists who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.<\/p>\n<p>Little beaches offer perfect swimming opportunities.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/690a73da599d46a4ccc17a0e?format=jpeg\" alt=\"View of stairs leading into sea at Sanary-sur-Mer\"\/><figcaption>I loved the stairs that led into the sea.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Hosie<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You don&#039;t have to go far out of Sanary to find large beaches, such as Plage de Portissol, a big white-sand one that curves around the coast.<\/p>\n<p>I especially enjoy the areas with staircases right by the harbor. I don&#039;t love getting sandy, so being able to go straight down some stairs from the rocks and into the clear blue water is my idea of heaven.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, I already can&#039;t wait for my next trip to Sanary-sur-Mer to experience more of it. I&#039;d definitely recommend visiting if you want to authentically experience the south coast of France.<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#039;ve fallen in love with the charm and beauty of Sanary-sur-Mer, a small coastal town in France. Rachel Hosie Sanary-sur-Mer, a small port town, is one of my favorite places on the French Riviera to visit. I love watching yachts bob in the harbor, and enjoying the beauty of the pastel buildings and shops. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}