Gassin – the watchtower over the Bay of Saint-Tropez

Two hundred metres up on a cliff above the bay lies a village with a town wall, a lane that is 29 centimetres wide and a view that guidebooks have praised for over a hundred years. Gassin is the peninsula's quietest secret.

In 1902, Paul Joanne wrote in a guide to the Mediterranean's winter resorts about a road that climbed up through the forest to the village of Gassin, “right at the top of a headland”, and about “an admirable panorama from the church terrace”. More than a hundred years later, the description still holds true. Gassin sits on a rocky headland 200 metres above sea level, less than four kilometres from the beach, and from the ramparts you can look straight down over the Bay of Saint-Tropez.

It's a village that many drive past on their way to Saint-Tropez or Pampelonne – and that's precisely why it has remained so slow-paced. Facts about the municipality can be found on VERA PI's page about Gassin.

The village on the cliff

The area has been inhabited at least since the Neolithic, was within the sphere of influence of Greek Marseille and has traces of several Roman farms. The village itself was built up on the rock after the Saracens were driven away in the 900s, to get away from the unrest on the coast. Until the middle of the 18th century, it was called Garcin, and the name is believed to come from pre-Indo-European words for "a raised stone" and "a hill".

A map from 1516 shows a fortified village built around a single street, today's Rue de la Tasco, with a castle and a church. Remains of a medieval tower still stand along the street. During the 20th century, the commune shrank when two of its parts became independent communes, Cavalaire in 1929 and La Croix-Valmer in 1934, and in the 1990s a new residential area was built below the village. But the old village remains unchanged.

The ring wall and the view

Gassin's greatest asset is the circular wall, which functions as one long viewing terrace. A classic description of the village lists what you can see from there: Grimaud, Sainte-Maxime, the Bay of Saint-Tropez, the Bay of Cavalaire and the islands of Port-Cros and Le Levant, with the Alps in the background. The town planner Henri Prost simply noted on his map of the coast: “outstanding vantage point over the Bay of Saint-Tropez”.

Walk the whole loop slowly. At Place des Îles d'Or, named after the very islands visible from here, the view is at its best in the evening light.

Androuno and the alleys

Inside the village, the alleyways are narrow, cobbled and shaded. Gassin is proud of what the village itself calls "the world's narrowest street", Androuno – the word simply means alley in Provençal. At its narrowest point, it is just 29 centimetres wide, and an adult cannot pass through it facing straight ahead. Similar alleys once existed in many Provençal villages; this one remains.

The village church, Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, has a square bell tower at the top of the hill, with the 17th-century presbytery standing alongside it. A street sign commemorates the wind: Montée Ven Terraou, named after the mistral, the land wind from the north-west that tends to bring fine weather.

The chapel from 1090

Below the village, in a small park among the trees, lies Gassin's oldest building: the chapel Notre-Dame-de-la-Compassion, sometimes called Notre-Dame-de-la-Consolation. It dates from 1090 and was the village's parish church before the present church was built. The threshold stone is a reused ancient gravestone of a sailor. A 4.1-kilometre walking trail, Chemin de la chapelle, runs through forest and vineyards and past the chapel. Those who want to walk further can take the Boucles de l'Arlatane, a 3.5-kilometre loop through Provençal forest with botanical signs.

Place deï Barri – dinner by the wall

Gassin is known for its restaurants, particularly around Place deï Barri, the square along the wall where Provençal hackberry trees shade the tables. This is where you dine with the whole bay beneath you. The square has also lent its name to the area's oldest art gallery, Galerie deï Barri.

From the village you can drive on to the windmills at Moulins de Paillas or down to Ramatuelle and Pampelonne and Saint-Tropez out of season. More Riviera destinations can be found at metromode.co.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.