You'll find Cap Camarat just south of the famous St Tropez Peninsula's Plage de Pampelonne.
But Cap Camarat has little sand and no beach bars or restaurants. It is a protected site, owned by the Conservatoire du Littoral and managed jointly by CEEP and the commune of Ramatuelle.
In its raw form, Cap Camarat is a block of cream and rusty granite, cracked and thrust above the sea. Along the Sentier du Littoral path that climbs up and down around the cape, Camarat displays its rocks in an assortment of shapes: in rectangular pitons with sides so smooth they appear sheared, in thin slices like layers of a wafer, in triangular wedges, in folds.
The below hiking loop of 1.5 hours takes you around Cap Camarat from the Plage de Bonne Terrasse, alongside cliffs of granite, up to the Camarat Lighthouse and down through inland side of the cape, back to the beach. Not recommended for small children due to cliffs.
Getting there:
From Ramatuelle, follow the signs to "Les Plages": Pampelonne, Camarat, Bonne Terrasse.
At an intersection, turn left towards La Bonne Terrasse.
Follow the signs to Baie de la Bonne Terrasse. Park in the lot before the stretch of road that leads to the gated community "Domaine de Bonne Terrasse," and head by foot towards the sea.
Hiking:
You take the path of white gravel that leads to the beach "Plage de Bonne Terrasse," walk over the crescent of beach heading south or right. Hike up on the A27 path to the Sentier du Litttoral, pass a tiny house with a broken tile roof.
Climb over white and caramel granite sheets of rock on the yellow-marked path. Notice the plants of Jupiter's Beard or in french, Barbes de Jupiter (Anthyllis barba-Jovis) growing seemingly on blocks of granite. They dig their roots in narrow cracks in the rock. In the spring, these silvery shrubs are covered in pale yellow flowers.
Continue your hike up the path carved into the rock, surrounded by bruyères and more Jupiter's Beards. You enter a forest of white oaks that leads to a panoramic view of the Plage de Bonne Terrasse, Pampelonne, even Saint-Raphael and l'Esterel.
After hiking among the maquis vegetation of arbousiers, green oaks, mistletoe, salsepareille, you reach a rocky path that takes you up to the Phare Camarat, the Camarat Lighthouse. Note that the lighthouse is closed to the public since early 2006.
Return by heading down the paved road inland towards Ramatuelle and turn right in the well-indicated A27 fire road. While a fire burned parts of the hill in 2006, re-growth appears healthy. Beyond the hill, a clear day offers views of the Maures, Les Issambres, St Raphael, l'Esterel.
The A27 path takes you back to the sentier du Littoral, by the beach de Bonne Terrasse.
