BOAT-COMPARATOR Guide
Boat Hire in Cavalaire-sur-Mer: The Bay, Cap Lardier and Cap Taillat
A quiet base near the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, Cavalaire-sur-Mer opens onto one of the most unspoiled stretches of the Var coast: the Bay of Cavalaire, Cap Lardier, Cap Taillat and Gigaro. Where to cruise, where to anchor, at what price.
Wedged between Le Lavandou and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, Cavalaire-sur-Mer is an often underrated departure point: a proper, well-equipped marina, active rental operators all summer, and above all an immediate cruising ground that ranks among the best preserved of the Var coast. No need to log miles to find clear water — the wild capes start right outside the bay.
The cruising ground: three protected capes within easy reach
Leaving the harbour, head east: Gigaro beach, then Cap Lardier, Cap Taillat with its sandy spit, and finally Cap Camarat before tipping over towards Pampelonne and Saint-Tropez. Much of this shoreline belongs to France’s coastal conservation agency and its waters are monitored by the Port-Cros National Park: roadless coves, intact pine forest, Posidonia seagrass beds. That is Cavalaire’s big advantage over more urban bases: the first wild anchorage is less than half an hour’s cruising away. To the west, the Bay of Cavalaire runs towards Le Rayol and Pramousquier, well sheltered in an easterly.
Anchoring properly: Posidonia is not a footnote
The seabed between Gigaro and Cap Taillat holds some of the best-preserved Posidonia meadows on this coast — and some of the most closely watched. Research carried out in the Port-Cros National Park showed that repeated anchoring by recreational boats directly degrades the meadow, tearing out shoots every time the anchor is raised (Ganteaume, Bonhomme, Bernard, Poulain & Boudouresque, Impact de l’ancrage des bateaux de plaisance sur la prairie à Posidonia oceanica dans le Parc national de Port-Cros, Scientific Reports of Port-Cros National Park, 2005, see the study on Google Scholar). In practice: drop the hook on patches of pale sand, never on dark areas, and retrieve the anchor vertically — our guide to Posidonia anchoring rules covers the regulations, which now ban larger boats from anchoring in the meadow altogether.
Which boat to rent in Cavalaire?
- License-free boat (€100–250/day): enough for the bay, Gigaro and Le Rayol in calm seas — see the license-free boats in Cavalaire.
- RIB (€200–600/day): the right pick for stringing together Taillat, Camarat and Pampelonne in a day.
- Motorboat or day-cruiser (€250–900/day): family comfort, sundeck and swim ladder at anchor.
The 300-metre band is heavily patrolled in summer around the Gigaro and Cavalaire beaches: 5 knots maximum, and the marked crossing channels are mandatory for landing a tender or a paddleboard.
When to go, and in which wind
The bay faces south-east: in an easterly, the Bay of Cavalaire builds up chop and the Rayol anchorages turn uncomfortable — the fallback is to tuck in behind Cap Lardier. In a mistral (westerly), it is the opposite: the coast between Gigaro and Taillat becomes a superb shelter. June and September offer the best crowd-to-weather ratio, as almost everywhere on this coast — our guide to the best anchorages of the French Riviera puts the area in context.
Compare before you book
Boat-Comparator queries Boataround, SamBoat and Click&Boat live for boat rental in Cavalaire-sur-Mer: the same RIB can show up at noticeably different prices depending on the platform, and the neighbouring ports of Le Lavandou or Sainte-Maxime can round out the offer on busy dates.
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