Var coast
Bodyboarding at La Nartelle, and the bracelet did not come back in with you
An east-wind day at Sainte-Maxime and a pedalo outing in Cassis raise different questions, so the beach and the sea come first.
A bracelet lost in the waves at La Nartelle can be searched for. Where a detectorist starts depends on the stretch of sand you paddled out from, and on how deep the water was when you noticed your wrist was bare.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone on the Var coast or in Cassis with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Before you walk up off the beach
Shake nothing out on the sand. Fold the towel in on itself and open it, and the bag, on a bench or the promenade. For a loss in the sea, return to your entry point and pick out what stands directly behind you on land: a lifeguard post, a terrace, a tower. Save your position on your phone's map before you leave, and note the time and whether there were waves.
In Hyères, and on the islands, name the beach first.
Places we cover on the Var coast and in Cassis
- Saint-Tropez
- Plage de la Ponche and Plage de la Fontanette
- Plage des Graniers
- Plage des Canoubiers
- Plage de la Bouillabaisse
- Plage de Pampelonne, Ramatuelle
- Sainte-Maxime
- Plage Luc Provensal, the town centre beach
- Plage de la Nartelle
- Plage de la Croisette
- Plage des Éléphants
- Plage de la Garonnette
- Hyères
- Plage de l'Almanarre
- Plage de la Capte and Plage de la Bergerie
- Plage du Ceinturon
- Plage de l'Ayguade
- The port of Hyères
- La Tour Fondue
- Porquerolles: Plage d'Argent, La Courtade and Notre-Dame
- Port-Cros
- Parc Olbius Riquier and Parc Saint-Bernard
- Toulon
- The Mourillon beaches and the Promenade Henri Fabre
- Anse du Lido, Anse Mistral, Anse de la Source and Anse des Pins
- Plage de la Mitre
- Cassis
- Plage de la Grande Mer
- Plage du Bestouan
- The port of Cassis
- The calanques of Port-Miou, Port-Pin and En-Vau
Where each of the five towns goes to swim
Named beaches, coves, quays and parks in each of the five towns, and what you would find there.
La Ponche and La Fontanette, Saint-Tropez
These two beaches join up on the edge of the oldest district of Saint-Tropez, at the foot of the fishermen's houses, between the Portalet tower and the Tour Vieille. The sand is grainy, and a tower stands at each end.
Graniers, the Canoubiers, La Bouillabaisse and Pampelonne
Graniers is a little sandy cove at the foot of the Citadel, reached along the coastal path. The Canoubiers are sandy beaches lined with umbrella pines, reached on foot or by boat from the port. La Bouillabaisse, at the entrance to the town, has fine sand and shallow water. Over the hill in Ramatuelle, Pampelonne is four and a half kilometres of fine sand, reached from Route de Tahiti, Chemin des Moulins and other public ways down.
Plage Luc Provensal and La Croisette, Sainte-Maxime
Plage Luc Provensal is the beach in the middle of Sainte-Maxime. It faces south, with Saint-Tropez and its bell tower across the water. West of the centre, La Croisette mixes sand with areas of pebbles, the sea there is usually calm, and the Jardin Botanique des Myrtes lies opposite.
La Nartelle, the Éléphants and La Garonnette, Sainte-Maxime
La Nartelle, to the east of the town, comes alive in summer with swimming, beach volleyball and water sports, and windsurfers, surfers and bodyboarders use it, especially when the east wind gets up. Plage des Éléphants, not far from the centre, is wild and away from the bustle, with the De Brunhoff house facing the sea. La Garonnette is fine sand below a natural area of umbrella pines.
The Mourillon and La Mitre, Toulon
The Mourillon beaches are sand won from the sea, split into distinct coves, with a large wooded park and the Promenade Henri Fabre. Swimmers use the Lido, Mistral, La Source and Les Pins; the Anse Tabarly is for water sports. Plage de la Mitre is a wild tongue of shore between the Fort Saint-Louis and the Tour Royale, on foot from the Mourillon.
The Grande Mer, the Bestouan and the calanques, Cassis
The Grande Mer lies in the middle of the village and can be walked onto straight from the fishing port. It is a mix of sand, pebbles and gravel, and pedalos and kayaks go out from it. The Bestouan is a small beach of pebbles and rock looking across at Cap Canaille. About a quarter of an hour on foot from the centre, Port-Miou is the first calanque, lined with moored sailing boats, and the path goes on to Port-Pin and to the small pebble beach of En-Vau between tall limestone cliffs.
L'Almanarre, La Capte and La Bergerie, Hyères
Two strips of sand join the Giens peninsula to Hyères. L'Almanarre follows the western one beside the Route du Sel and the old salt marshes, and fills with kitesurfers and windsurfers when the mistral blows. La Capte runs down the eastern one from the village of La Capte, shallow, sheltered from the mistral and edged with umbrella pines, and carries on south as La Bergerie, a long, narrow beach reached from its car park by a wooden boardwalk.
Le Ceinturon, L'Ayguade, the islands and the parks, Hyères
Le Ceinturon, sand and pebbles facing the islands, runs along the Boulevard de la Marine from the port of Hyères to L'Ayguade, a town beach beside L'Ayguade village with beach volleyball on the sand. Boats for Port-Cros leave from the port, and from La Tour Fondue it is ten minutes to Porquerolles, whose beaches, Plage d'Argent, La Courtade and Notre-Dame, are mostly on the north coast. In town, the Parc Olbius Riquier has a pond and a play area.
Your side of it, and ours
All of it in writing
The whole case runs in one WhatsApp chat, so your pin, your photos and what you told us on day one are there for the detectorist to read.
Flat sea or breaking waves
A calm morning at the Croisette and a day of surf at La Nartelle lead to different first questions.
Odds, plainly
If your pin lands far out in open water off Cassis or La Nartelle, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Holiday or second home
We explain the costs before any search is booked. Say whether you are here for a week or own a place on the coast.
Grainy sand, pebbles and east-wind days
Two things to tell us besides the name of the beach.
Beaches that mix sand and stones
At the Grande Mer in Cassis, sand, pebbles and gravel lie together, and the Bestouan is pebbles and rock. La Croisette in Sainte-Maxime, and Le Ceinturon and L'Ayguade in Hyères, have both sand and pebbles. Say which you were sitting on.
Board days at La Nartelle
If you were out on a board, say where along the beach you came ashore and where you left the board.
Questions about the Var coast and Cassis
Does it matter where along La Nartelle I was bodyboarding when the bracelet went?
More than anything else you can tell us. La Nartelle lies east of the centre of Sainte-Maxime, with beach restaurants spread along it. Say which terrace was behind you when you paddled out, whether you came back in at the same place, and what the bracelet is made of.
Our wedding band went in the water at the Mourillon in Toulon. What should we tell you first?
The name of the cove. The Mourillon beaches are separate sandy coves, the Anse du Lido, the Anse Mistral, the Anse de la Source and the Anse des Pins. If the name has gone, pin the place on the Promenade Henri Fabre where you stepped down onto the sand.
I swam out towards the rock at Plage de la Mitre in Toulon, and my chain is gone.
La Mitre takes its name from that rock, which stands in the water and looks like a bishop's mitre. Tell us whether you reached the rock or turned back short of it, how deep the water was when you realised it had gone, and what the clasp is like.
Somewhere between the pedalo and the Grande Mer in Cassis, my ring went into the sea.
Then the distance from the beach matters most. The Grande Mer sits in the heart of the village, reached on foot straight from the fishing port, and looks out towards the Château, so there is plenty on land to line the spot up with. From the beach, take a photo towards where the pedalo was and send it with the time you went out.
Which end of La Ponche should I describe for a watch lost in Saint-Tropez?
The end nearer to where you lay. La Ponche and La Fontanette run together between the Portalet tower and the Tour Vieille, on grainy sand below the fishermen's houses. Tell us which tower you were closer to, and whether the watch was on your wrist in the sea or lying with your things.
Graniers or the coastal path: where would one missing earring be?
It could be either. Graniers is a small sandy cove at the foot of the Citadel, reached along the coastal path. Tell us which part of the sand you were on, where on the path you stopped for photos, and how the earring fastened.
A wedding band went missing on the sand at Pampelonne.
Pampelonne runs for four and a half kilometres, so name the public way you came down, such as Route de Tahiti or Chemin des Moulins, and the nearest lifeguard post. Say whether you lay on a free stretch or in front of a beach restaurant, and whether you swam.
My wedding ring came off while I was kitesurfing at L'Almanarre in Hyères.
Start with where you rigged the kite and where you came ashore,. L'Almanarre runs beside the Route du Sel, with a northern and a southern lifeguard post in summer and a big car park at the roundabout at its north end. Tell us which of those was nearest, how deep the water was, and whether you wore gloves.
Beach volleyball at L'Ayguade in Hyères, and afterwards no phone.
L'Ayguade is a town beach in Hyères, close to the Place Daviddi in the village of L'Ayguade, and beach volleyball is played on its sand and pebbles. Say where the game was along the beach, whether the phone was in a pocket or left with the bags, and its make and colour.
Var coast
Write while the day is still clear in your head
Holidaymakers and second-home owners write to the same number.
On WhatsApp, say which beach or quay it was, what the piece is and roughly when it went. We reply with the questions that matter for that beach.