What a huge event! And a first for us! Next September, the city of Toulon and its surroundings are going to welcome the worldwide elite of sailing. Toulon will be the 5^th and only step in France of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (LVACWS), a preliminary trail regrouping the six hopefuls of the America’s Cup. An opportunity for the area to reunite those who have a passion for sailing as well as a large public to support the French team, Groupama Team France, and to participate in a festive and spectacular event!

Groupama Team France – 35th America’s Cup – © Eloi Stichelbaut / GroupamaTeamFrance

Six prestigious teams are signed up for this 35^th edition (the defender of the title and his 5 competitors) and will come face to face next September in Toulon’s harbor; a site chosen for its lake adapted to ideal racing conditions. During the press conference organized in Toulon on February 19, 2016, Hubert Falco, mayor of Toulon and president of the conglomeration committee TPM said he is “proud to welcome this prestigious worldwide sailing competition. This demonstrates the interest, influence and attraction of our harbor, one of the most beautiful in Europe. This also shows the capacity of our region to welcome and organize such international events.”

Franck Cammas, skipper on Groupama Team France who was also present at the press conference, declared “it is truly spectacular to be able to sail in front of our audience, at home. It is a great opportunity to show everyone the new format of the America’s Cup.” On request from Groupama Team France, we found two sailors on the charts who are just as outstanding as Franck Cammas: Michel Desjoyeaux and Olivier de Kersauson. Three sailors with complementary talents who have the common goal of bringing back the “Holy Grail of sailing”: the America’s Cup. “For this project, we wanted to develop a national reunion and mend the rift between individual challenges and group races” Franck Cammas goes on.

Franck is back – First Training in Oman par groupamateamfrance

The best competitors will sail in Toulon harbor

On the water, they are the fastest boats in the world, with the best personnel and managers that you have ever seen! The six competing groups are going to measure themselves on their flying catamarans – real “racing cars” when it comes to their technology – in front of the beaches from Mourillon to Toulon. Starting with this edition of the competition, the boats are shorter (they are now 15 m from a previous 21.6 m) and faster (more than 70km/h). The fleet of AC45, powerful “foil monotype” catamarans, propulsed by one rigid sail, promises spectacular and quick races that the audience can admire from the beach, which is pretty rare!

A large, popular and free party

Hubert Falco announced that “we are going to organize a large, popular party that is free!”. On top of the races which will take place from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the harbor by the beaches of Mourillon (that will also be broadcast on giant screens) many cultural and sporting events will be organized on sea and on land. For three days, it will be a city vibrating with the rhythm of America: on the beaches in the Mourillon neighborhood where the village will be set up, but also the center of town will have several animations, and local expertise will be emphasized. With strong experience from the two Tall Ship’s Races, Toulon will come alive by participating in this exceptional event.

The beaches of Mourillon in Toulon

A dedicated organization

Groupama Team France, who is in charge of this step in Toulon, entrusted the organization to an association specially for creating this opportunity: “Association Cup Toulon Organization.” On request, Franck Proffit, an experienced sailor and big specialist of the multi-hull says, “the Cup signifies excellence. The reflect that this excellence will shine on Toulon, the region, the Var,…” With his team, they are in charge of designing, optimizing and organizing all of the event in collaboration with the city of Toulon and its surroundings. The president of the ACT Organization, Bruno Luisetti, specifies that the stakes are important on an athletic and technological leve. “Our challenge is to bring the public to love sailing as a team the same way they love individual sailing.”

In terms of economic aftermath for the area, this kind of event is incredible and its impact in the media is very strong; the competition is followed across the whole world and broadcast in more than 200 countries that will be able to discover the harbor of Toulon. “We all have the same goal here: to make everyone want to come and register for Toulon’s individual and group races!” concludes Bruno Luisetti.

The meetup is set for September!

During one week, get out the hiking shoes and walk the hiking paths in the heart of the Var. It is an exploration that offers you a week of hiking in the Var, from Saturday, September 24 to Sunday, October 2, 2016.

Organized by the Departmental Committee of Pedestrian Hiking and their associations of hikers, the tourist offices of the department, and by Var tourism, this year the event will bring together more than 100 walks, all free and accompanied, destined for lovers of walking, athletes, amateurs of all levels, families or even botanists who want to discover new things.

The walks are often the occasion to discover a traditional and developed heritage, such as chapels, old clay ovens, mills, menhirs and even an air well.

Hike across the Verdon, Estéral, Sainte-Baume and the Maures, where out of the 200 km of coastal pathways you will discover walks between white sand and steep cliffs…

Hikes: Three levels of difficulty

To avoid any bad surprises, the hikes are divided into three categories: the easy hike is by definition for hikers of all levels (uphill hike of less than 200 m, 5 km and maximum 2-3 hours of walking on nearly flat paths.)

The medium hike is more challenging: it’s for all hikers in good physical condition (uphill hike of 200-400 m, 10-15 km and maximum 3-5 hours.)

As for the difficult hike, it is more geared towards experienced trekkers who have a good physical condition (uphill hike of 400m and more, minimum 15 km and maximum 5-8 hours of walking.)

In any scenario, it is recommended to bring waterproof shoes, food or a picnic, a large bottle of water, a warm clothing item and one for rain, a hat, and sunglasses. If you are well equipped, you will be prepared for any situation.

19 Hikes in Dracénie and Pays de Fayence

If you don’t wish to make such a big trip out of the Var department, Dracénie and the Pays de Fayence have a vast program where 19 hikes are given all throughout the week: from AIguines to Bagnols-en-Forêt (2 trails) which includes Draguignan, Villecroze (5 trails), Flayosc, Tourtour, Saint-Antonin-du-Var, Lorgues (2 trails), La Motte, Le Muy, Seillans, Sillans-la-Cascade, and Mons.

Be careful, you need to register to all walks and hikes in advance and some of them are forbidden to dogs even on a leash. Please be aware that they may be canceled if the weather conditions aren’t good or if there are warnings of fire.

A schedule of all the hikes is available in brochures in tourist offices and on www.visitvar.fr/svrp or http://var.ffrandonnee.fr/

Conceived by the visionary architect François Spoerry in the 1960s, Port Grimaud is a lakeside city residing at the end of the Saint-Tropez Golf. This unique architectural ensemble deeply fits into the heritage of the 20^th century.

Colored facades, roman tiles, houses that blend into each other, back alleys full of charm: here a birdhouse above the porch, there a fresco with window dressing, further along a pediment inspired by ancient architecture… Port Grimaud is a unique Provençal neighborhood, perfectly integrated into the countryside of the Var, constructed in the 1960s, on a plot of land located at the hear of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. This lakeside village, dotted with shops and all necessary commodities, is spread out over 13 hectares of lake and 22 hectares of land.

The houses and small buildings, each one unique, can be accessed on land and via canal. Divided into three areas, Port Grimaud houses 2,500 accommodations, most of which have their own mooring. The apartments consist of studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom apartments and the villas are divided into 4 types.
The smallest one, called Balandrine, offers a livable surface of 60-70 m2 and a morning of 10 x 4 m. Its price is €800,000 on average.
The Ostale and the Cassine, slightly bigger, consist of 3 bedrooms. Because they are rare, they are generally listed for more than a million euros.
Finally, the fisherman house, at 100 m2 and more, has three floors. Because of the length of its dock and its space, it goes for between €950,000 and €1,800,000.

All options told, the turn-over of accommodations put up for sale is from 1 to 3 % per year.

On average, apartments are listed according to their location and, depending on whether they are equipped with a mooring between €7,000 and €10,000 euros per square meter (they have been slowly decreasing for 2 years) and the houses are between €14,000 and €15,000 euros per square meter. The exceptional units that offer a carefully researched thought-out location, a large mooring and services of high standing can reach 17,000 euros per square meter.

The clientele is mostly made up of families and retirees searching for a way of living on the seaside with optimal security. A lot of these retirees used to be CEOs of large companies who have a large estate and prefer the discretion of Port Grimaud over the glitter of the neighboring village, Saint-Tropez.

Port Grimaud, which is a co-ownership at the interior of Grimaud, certainly imposes important charges but the quality of life there is exceptional. Security guards make their rounds 24/7 and each street possesses its own caretaker in charge of maintenance and upkeep of public spaces and private gardens.

Half of the buyers are not French. Among our clientele, there are many Brits, Germans, Belgians and Dutch, for example.

The wealthiest among them do not hesitate to ask for two or even three attached houses in order to transform them into one large unit and so obtain a larger size mooring to accommodate the increased size of the boats.

The owners only have a small possibility of exterior modifications as the specifications are very restrictive. Any project of transformation has to be submitted to the cabinet of architecture of Xavier Bohl, successor of François Spoerry. Nevertheless, each person can transform his interior the way he likes.

Port Grimaud is a great choice for those who like mixing a « pleasure purchase » and a good property investment. By becoming the owner of your property in Port Grimaud, you will be able to take part in enjoyable vacations with your feet in the water with friends or family, and most of all you will benefit from exceptional surroundings on the Côte d’Azur in a preserved and protected environment.

If you are considering a family holiday in the south of France, but are hesitant because of travelling with young children, worry no more. Here are a few useful tips on travelling with children:

1. Take your time

Children like to explore, so plan for extra time whether you are travelling by plane or car. If you are travelling by plane, make sure to arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare so you aren’t stressed out by time constraints and your little one not cooperating. If you are travelling by car, make sure to make lots of stops so your children can stretch their legs, explore, and spend some energy.

2. Book ahead

Once you have children, your days of spontaneous travel and figuring out where you will sleep once you get there are behind you. Booking your accommodations ahead of time takes away the stress of looking for a place to stay while your littles ones have a meltdown because they are tired and hungry. It also allows you to choose a place to stay which will most suit your family’s needs (this house is perfect for a family vacation for instance).

3. Pack an “entertainment bag”

The easiest way to keep children happy is to keep them entertained. To this effect, pack a bag full of whatever your child enjoys. This can be colouring books, stickers, word searches, activity books, etc. Technology is a God-send when it comes to entertaining children on holiday. These days, most planes have in-house movies and TV channels to watch, which keeps many children entertained for hours at a time. However, if you are driving to your holiday destination in or around Port Grimaud, downloading cartoons, movies, and kid-friendly apps onto an iPad or other device is an extremely easy and simple way to keep your children entertained.

4. Involve them in the planning

This is especially true for older children. Asking them what they would like to do and see while on holiday makes them feel valued and more likely to enjoy the trip. Knowing that they will be seeing and doing things that interest them will also make them look forward to the trip.
If you want to know what to do with your young ones in Port Grimaud, be sure to read this article.

5. Let them pack their own bag

Again, this is especially true for older children. Allowing them to pack their own bag makes them feel that you trust them and in control of themselves. However, we recommend that you go through what your younger children have packed to make sure that everything they selected is, in fact, useful to the trip.

6. Remember: you know your children best

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that no one knows your child better than you do. No amount of tips or advice can replace your instincts when it comes to travelling with your children. You know what kind of entertainment will keep them happy. You know how long they can stay focused on one thing, and how to calm them down when they need it. Do whatever works best for your family, and enjoy a wonderful trip.

On this blog, we tout the joy of spending your vacation with your feet in the water in one of France’s most prized regions for a dream holiday.

Today, we wanted to make you discover Port Grimaud through the eyes and words of charmed tourists and residents.

So here is a small selection of holiday videos.

30 years of vacation in Port Grimaud! Introduction in French.

If you are one of the lucky people whose apartment or house has a patio, you most likely enjoy spending hours on it lounging in the sun and finding the solutions to life’s problems with your friends and family.

It is therefore important to take your patio’s decoration as seriously as you do your home’s.

Here are our 7 tricks to decorate your patio in Port Grimaud without breaking the bank.sh

1. Instal a parasol or a sunshield

Found on langiusdesign.nl

These two items are essential to provide some shade to your sunny patio. Furthermore, they usually offer beautiful lively colours which will brighten up the atmosphere.

This picture demonstrates 2 affordable decoration tricks:

2. Use a sheet in lieu of a sunshield

You can also use a sheet to protect yourself from the sun and give your patio a bohemian look. The best idea is to use a sheet that has already been used or dye it… Depending on the style you want to create, you may also buy a new sheet, or an old one in a garage sale.

and…

3. Position old oriental carpets to create a gypsy patchwork on the ground

If your patio is well protected, recycle your used carpets in order to create an inviting patchwork which will bring a touch of sophistication to your patio without spending anything!

In France, we have a website called leboncoin.fr (the equivalent of Craiglist in the US) which will allow you to buy these carpets for close to nothing in an around Port Grimaud.

4. Hang decorative garlands, bunting, pompoms and Chinese lanterns

Found on www.souslelampionblog.com/fr. Photography by Julie Abreu

These affordable decorative accessories, often made of paper, are little charming elements which will bring a festive note to your patio. Do not hesitate to install light strings which will create a calm environment once the sun goes down. To do this, you can use the lights you put on your Christmas tree! Even better, if you do not want to or cannot plug in the light strings, find some powered by solar energy.

5. Collect sand, stones, and seashells at the beach

No matter which neighbourhood of Port Grimaud you live in, the beach is never far. To give your patio a beach atmosphere or a zen garden look, do not come back from your trip to the beach empty-handed: white sand, stones, and seashells work just fine!

6. Arrange flower pots, boxes, and vases

Decorate your patio thanks to plants and flowers, and draw attention to their containers. Whether it be a flower box, pot, or vase, choose them coloured, glossy, matte, made of zinc, etc. Your patio’s style is up to you!

You will certainly find what you are looking for at Rocchietta de Grimaud garden centre.

7. Instal beach chairs, tanning chairs, lounging chairs, or hammocks

Found on abeautifulmess.com

Decoration stores specialized in outdoor furniture now stock very comfortable yet affordable seating. As for hammocks, you can find some for all tastes and adaptable to all patios: suspended, on a support, or to hang between 2 trees.

For custom-made patios with the best material, we suggest you contact the Rafflin carpentry store in the neighbouring village of Cogolin.

Most residences in Port Grimaud are not very big. As we have previously mentioned on the blog, the average surface of the properties sold last year is less than 50 square meters.

That is sufficient for a secondary residence I hear you say, and I would agree, but if you want to invite people, you may as well optimise every square centimeter to fully enjoy your idyllic vacation.

So here are our 10 tips to optimise your studio or apartment’s space in the lakeside city.

1. Favor light colours

Light colours have the virtue of expanding the space and making the walls almost disappear.

White pieces of furniture make the space come alive without crowding it, and light fabrics allow more light to come in and insure that there is a continuity with the white walls, which makes the room appear larger than it actually is.

2. Define the space’s limits with carpets

You have a studio? We suggest you decorate the different living spaces (bedroom side and living room side) with different coloured carpets to define them clearly, and thus give an illusion of size.

3. Choose a “strong” decorative element

Beautiful tiles. Found on marianneevenou.blogspot.fr

To avoid crowding a small apartment, one must avoid encumbered decoration and focus on one “strong” element that will attract all eyes.

This can be as simple as brightly coloured bed linen if you live in a studio for example, an original light fixture, or even a piece of art.

4. Use and abuse mirrors

Found on theberry.com

Mirrors are a small space’s best friend! Disperse them throughout the space (in the bedroom, the living room…) and even go for an XXL model to enlarge the room and give it an original touch. Just because the apartment is small does not mean one should settle for small pieces of furniture, quite the contrary!

5. Avoid the abundance of colours

Found on blog.westelm.com

If you cannot imagine your small spaces without strong colours, keep this principle in mind: do not mix too many colours so as to avoid giving your apartment an unfinished and crowded look. Focus on two colours, one ideally being white as we see here, to give the room a lightness, and the other colour that inspires you.

6. Remove partitions

Found on bloglovin.com

One must open the space as much as possible by avoiding obstacles and separations in small apartments, and by replacing a solid door by a French door or a stained-glass partition.

7. Dare to be transparent

Found on tecnisa.com.br

Nothing is lighter than transparent furniture! Chairs, coffee table, or dinner table, completely transparent furniture or associated to metal: thanks to transparency, your decor will be as light as a feather!

8. Go for clever furniture

Found on cdn.stylisheve.com

No space, no problem thanks to clever furniture! Liftable coffee table, sofa bed, nesting tables, office shelving, extension table… Your furniture must have many functions so it doesn’t clutter your small apartment for nothing.

9. Free the space

Found on avenuelifestyle.com

We know, every single cm² has its importance in a small room, thus, ensure to free the space as much as possible by hanging shelves and by placing your furniture close to the wall: you will have more space in the centre of the room and will obtain a more fluid circulation.

10. Focus on mixed storage

To open your space and avoid a suffocating aspect, alternate between open and closed storage. And if it can be white, that is even better!

If you want to decorate your vacation villa in local colors, you have two possibilities: either go for a Provençal decor, or go for a navy decor with the Mediterranean’s colors.

Here are our 3 tips to make your home a peaceful Mediterranean haven.

1 – Choose a wooden, illuminated, or refreshing decor!

Inspired by fishermen’s cabins and Mediterranean houses, seaside decor can be done in many ways. When it comes to the walls, if you are not a fan of untreated wood, we suggest you favor neutral tones such as white or white paneling. This will give you more luminosity and will give your interior a more modern look. For those who prefer a seaside atmosphere, choose turquoise, sky blue, ultramarine, or even lagoon blue, which are all much softer than navy blue. For your bathroom, the addition of wall tiles, whether they are glazed stoneware or faience, will give you a beautiful washroom. On the ground, we recommend that you choose light flooring or to opt for seagrass. This decor will allow you to create a natural and relaxing atmosphere, typical of seaside homes.

2 – Choose furniture adapted to seaside decor!

If you wish to have the perfect seaside atmosphere, you will have to choose your furniture with care. We suggest you choose furniture made of natural materials: wooden chairs, wooden tables, rattan chairs, wooden shelves, etc. to enhance the natural aspect of your rooms. For a chic seaside decor, a mix of contemporary and industrial styles can also integrate itself very well to a more classical navy decor. Another option for the handymen among us is to repaint a few pieces of furniture or incorporate old industrial shelves in your interior. To complete your decor, you can associate various accessories to the furniture in order to accentuate the marine atmosphere.

3 – Accessorize your furniture by taking your inspiration from the aquatic world!

There is a multitude of accessories related to the aquatic world that can live on the walls and furniture of your home: rope rames, striped cushions, lighthouse sculptures, boat models, starfish, paintings of sailboats or shorelines, marine prints, etc. Be careful, however, because these elements must be carefully chosen if you don’t want to venture into “too much” territory. Concerning fabrics, go for linen. This material is ideal and will give you a cocooning style that will be the envy of many.

To perfect this decoration, we recommend a visit to Stéphanie le Nouveau in her eponymous boutique on l’Amarrage street in Port Grimaud.

We also recommend stores such as La Redoute or Maisons du Monde where you will find all the furniture and accessories necessary for a successful marine decor. You can order online and receive your order at home.