St Tropez & Monaco Road Trip
Wednesday, 9 September 2026
After our trip to Champagne in July, we were hooked on the idea of another Ferrari road trip. Unsurprising.
This time, we left London with no idea where we were going.
There was a loose idea of going to Lake Como, but that was scrapped the minute we saw lightning on the weather forecast. So, naturally, we followed the sunshine and that too us to the French Riviera instead.
The first leg took us from London, to Folkstone, under the chanel and as far as Lyon which was as far as we could manage for the day. Ten hours later, we arrived, during a thunder storm to a cute little converted barn complex in the middle of a field; which I found from the passengers seat along the way.
We spent hardly any time there as we knew the sun was further south so from Lyon, we got up early and made our way to Monaco, taking a wrong turn and a very unnecessary detour through Paris.
There was a momentary consideration of staying there and heading to soho house but we were both desperate for some sunshine so Monaco prevailed.
Monaco was awesome, and so was the trip there. Twisting turning roads, carved into the side of the mountain, roof down, sun shining. Perfect.
We did a couple of laps of Monte Carlo to get a feel for the place, tick off all the necessary sights and try to work out which hotel we wanted to stay in. We settled on the Fairmont, and were lucky enough to get upgraded to a sea view room, so there was a brief moment of stillness whilst we just took in the views from the balcony but it wasn't long before we were ready to go again.
We grabbed a couple of rooftop cocktails and some dressed oysters at Amazonico and headed down to the harbour for yacht watching with champagne and a fresh seafood dinner.
Waking up to the sound of the ocean; again there was no real plan for the day so we decided to go hang out by the pool and work out what we were going to do.
Conveniently enough, the pool at the hotel was part of Nikki Beach, so what started as a quiet matcha on the roof turned into a day party so we ended up staying there. I'm not usually a fan of beach clubs, but on a city rooftop, it was much more my vibe! Our bed was set back from the pool so away from all that chaos and it was 5pm before we realised we should have left hours ago.
When the time finally came to leave (6 hours after we had imagined) we jumped back in the car and headed west towards St Tropez - catching golden hour along the coast as we arrived.
It was late and we didn't make a room reservation so we hoped for the best and got lucky. A very cute boutique hotel, with one ocean view garden room left.
We dumped the bags and headed straight to the hotel restaurant as the sun dipped down behind the mountains. The food, the views, and so it turned out, the hotel itself were all incredible - another very good find!
Refreshed and raring to go, the next morning started with a quick swim before heading out to explore St Tropez town. I didn't really have any expectations but what we found was a cute little cobbled old town, lined with designer shops and seafood restaurants.
We spend hours wandering around from shop to shop before finally stopping for a late lunch - a bowl of fresh mussels and a glass of champagne at one of the waterfront spots. It was a awesome day.
I'd been saving for a pair of designer flats all summer and the opportunity to buy them in St Tropez was not wasted on me. RE below: very pleased with my new shoes.
I had wanted to go to Club 55 but by the time we were bored with the old town, we'd been there all day and we're well and truly spent (lol) so we drove down to have a look but couldn't be bothered to get out of the car so skipped that and went back to the hotel.
I had another swim and then we had the most dreamy sunset cocktail situation by the pool during what felt like a never ending golden hour.
We were back by the pool early for a swim and a croissant. The pastry in France, as suspected, is next level! The playlist this morning was whimsical piano music which set the perfect scene for a peaceful morning. Again, we were very delayed leaving; I definitely could have spent a few more days there!
The drive back north was much longer than predicted because of traffic but by 8:30, we finally arrived (back) in the middle of nowhere at another very cute little chateau where I promptly fell asleep. The next morning we were woken up by natural daylight streaming in and the sound of songbirds which was quite nice.
It was our last day, and although we were slightly tight on time, I was able to make the most of the roll top bathtub that sat in the middle of the bathroom and have a lazy breakfast (and a croissant snuck into my bag) before we left.
Our journey home took a detour via Maison Moet to restock on that delicious imperial nectar we tried last time we were there, and the rest of the drive home was wonderful. No traffic meant long stretches of empty roads and not seeing another person as we drove through countryside. There were a couple of close calls with the petrol, arriving at the tunnel with about 5km left in the tank but it all worked out fine! The train got us back to the UK in 35 minutes which meant I was back at home and in bed by 9 o'clock.
And thus, another awesome road trip in the bag!
