Porquerolles is the largest of the Hyères islands, within the Port-Cros national park, twenty minutes by boat from La Tour Fondue. Seven kilometres long, no cars, fine sandy beaches to the north and cliffs to the south. You explore it by bicycle, and the boat must be booked ahead in summer.
That is the first thing to understand: on Porquerolles there is no traffic. A few service vehicles, and that is all. You land at the harbour, hire a bicycle from one of the shops in the village, and set off on dirt tracks between the pines and the eucalyptus.
The island has largely belonged to the State since 1971 and forms part of the Port-Cros national park. That means rules: no camping, no fires, no picking, no leaving the paths in protected zones, and dogs banned from most beaches. Those constraints are precisely what has preserved the island from what the mainland coast has become.
This is the sheltered side, the sandy one.
Plage Notre-Dame, to the east, eight hundred metres long and fringed with pines, regularly named among the finest beaches in Europe. Twenty minutes by bike from the village, then a few minutes on foot.
Plage d'Argent, to the west, the closest to the harbour, ten minutes by bike, with a beach restaurant and some shade. The most practical with young children.
Plage de la Courtade, the largest, between the two, also ten minutes away.
All are pale sand, gently shelving, in turquoise water. None has any facilities apart from Plage d'Argent.
The island's other face. The south coast is jagged and wind-battered, with forty-metre cliffs, inaccessible coves and a coastal path along them. You go for the walk and the view, not for a swim: the swell and the currents make swimming dangerous there and it is not advised.
Along the way, the nineteenth-century military forts, among them Fort Sainte-Agathe above the village, which can be visited, and the vines of the island estate, one of the more surprising island vineyards in France.
Opened in 2018 in a former farm building, the Villa Carmignac shows a collection of contemporary art in an unusual setting: you visit barefoot, through partly buried rooms beneath a ceiling of water, with a sculpture garden around. It is charged, must be booked, and bears no relation to the rest of the island, which is exactly what makes it interesting. Open April to October only.
This is where days go wrong. The ferries leave from La Tour Fondue, at the tip of the Giens peninsula, an hour and a quarter by road. The crossing takes twenty minutes.
In July and August, book the boat in advance, and arrive early: the car park at La Tour Fondue fills from nine in the morning, and the morning sailings sell out. The number of daily visitors is capped to protect the island, which makes booking all the more necessary.
Hire the bicycle as soon as you land, before the shops run out, or book that too.
This guide is part of the address book of a private estate in Puget-sur-Argens, 75 minutes away, available for weddings and family stays. It is not open to visitors.
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