Sainte-Maxime to Saint-Tropez boat: a 20-minute hop to the Old Port

Sainte-Maxime sits on the northern shore of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, in the Var département, looking across the water at Saint-Tropez on the southern side. The Bateaux Verts shuttle links the two directly, with no intermediate calls, and the company quotes 20 minutes from the Sainte-Maxime pier to Quai Jean Jaurès in the Old Port. If you are staying in Sainte-Maxime, it lets you leave the car behind: according to the company, every car park in central Saint-Tropez charges.

The low-season timetable is easy to remember. Boats leave Sainte-Maxime on the hour from 08:00 to 18:00, with no 14:00 sailing, and come back from Saint-Tropez on the half hour from 08:30 to 18:30, with no 13:30. The first boat each way does not run at weekends and the last one does not run on Sundays. Over Christmas and New Year, from 19 December 2026 to 2 January 2027, an extra evening sailing is added at 19:00 from Sainte-Maxime and 19:30 from Saint-Tropez, Monday to Saturday.

Tickets on this line are "OPEN": you buy them for a date and then take whichever of that day's boats suits you, out and back. An adult return is €16.30, and the company says buying on the day or the day before is enough here because sailings are so frequent.

On the hour from Sainte-Maxime, on the half hour back

Les Bateaux Verts timetable from 1 November 2026 to 2 January 2027 (2026 brochure and company website). No timetable is published beyond 2 January 2027. Checked 29 October 2026.   Les Bateaux Verts – 2026 brochure, Ste-Maxime – St-Tropez timetable (p. 8) · 2026-10-29

One fare all year: €9.20 single, €16.30 return

The direct crossing has one price for the whole of 2026, whatever the day or the month. Children aged 4 to 11 pay €5.00 single and €9.20 return; under-4s go free, though the terms of sale say they must still hold a zero-fare ticket, so ask for one when you buy yours.

At the ticket office you can pay in cash, by bank card (but not American Express) or with paper ANCV holiday vouchers, on which no change is given. Online sales are card only. If the office is closed, tickets are sold on board.

Two cheaper passes exist, but neither is meant for visitors: the Pass Résident is for people whose main home is in Sainte-Maxime, Saint-Tropez, Grimaud, Cogolin, Roquebrune-sur-Argens or Les Issambres, and the Pass Pro for people who work around the gulf. Both are listed below with their return prices.

Les Bateaux Verts 2026 fares (brochure and website), checked 29 October 2026   Les Bateaux Verts – 2026 fares (brochure, pp. 5–6) · 2026-10-29

Which pier: Quai Léon Condroyer and the Old Port, not the Estacade

Straight across, with no stops on the way

The route links two fixed points: the Bateaux Verts pier on the Sainte-Maxime waterfront, on the north side of the gulf, and Quai Jean Jaurès inside the Old Port of Saint-Tropez on the south side. The 20-minute figure comes from the company's brochure; its terms of sale add that crossing times are approximate and depend on the boat and the sea. The operator does not publish a distance.

Bikes, bags, dogs and wheelchairs

• Bikes

  Only the captain can accept a bike, depending on how busy the boat is, and none are taken on Tuesdays or Saturday mornings. It costs €3 per journey; in busy periods the brochure caps bikes at two per boat and bike trailers are refused.

• Bags

  Under the terms of sale, crew may visually check bags before you board.

• No cars

  Fares exist only for passengers, bikes and dogs, so a hire car stays on the Sainte-Maxime side. The harbour car park is the closest to the pier.

• Dogs

  Dogs travel free as long as they are kept on a lead.

• Wheelchairs

  Manual wheelchairs only, no wider than 80 cm and no more than two per sailing. Passengers with reduced mobility board first, and every boat has an accessible toilet.

• Refunds

  Tickets are valid for the date printed on them and cannot be exchanged or refunded, unless the company itself cancels the sailing.

A gulf boat company since 1961

Les Bateaux Verts date from 1961. Their 2026 brochure lists 14 boats carrying between 9 and 175 passengers, and since 2016 the company has been linked with Vedettes Îles d'Or et Le Corsaire. Its shuttles also reach Port-Grimaud, Marines de Cogolin and Les Issambres, but the Sainte-Maxime line is the one it advertises as running all year. In 2025 it put the Espadon III into service, its first fully electric boat, without saying which routes it works.

Saint-Tropez holds its Provençal market on Tuesdays and Saturdays on Place des Lices, the brochure notes, while Sainte-Maxime's is on Thursdays and Fridays; remember that bikes are refused on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. Elsewhere in the Var, separate pages cover the boat from La Tour Fondue to Porquerolles and the water bus across Toulon harbour.

Crossing to Saint-Tropez out of season