Sanary-sur-Mer (France Riviera)

Sanary-sur-Mer is a port town on the French Riviera (Western Mediterranean Sea) part of Var department (Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, southeastern France). The town covers an area of approx 19 km2 (7 mi2) and has population around 18,000. Sanary-sur-Mer is approx 13 km (8 mi) from Toulon and 49 km (30 mi) from Marseille. It can be reached by TGV trains from Paris in less than 4 hours. During high season, there are direct flights to Toulon from Oslo Norway, Brussels Belgium, Rotterdam Holland and London England UK.

In March 2021 was officially inaugurated a new mooring buoy in Port Sanary. The new mooring facility allows berthing for cruise ships with max LOA length 224 m (735 ft) and max GT 56000 tons. The EUR 0,5 million project was co-financed by L'agence de l'eau Rhone-Mediterranee-Corse (one of France's six agencies responsible for combating pollution and protecting aquatic environments), Region Sud, Var Departement, and by Sanary City.

Following the Coronavirus crisis, in 2021, the cruise port handled a total 11 ship calls. The visiting boats are mainly small-sized luxury ships and superyachts operated by premium-brand travel companies like Azamara, Crystal, Seabourn, SeaDream, Silversea, Windstar.

The settlement was founded in the 16th century as a fishing village (Ollioules) clustered around a watchtower. The port was built and its harbor deepened in the mid-16th century. As a tourist destination, the town underwent major developments in the 1980s.

Sanary has a beautiful coastline with small cozy beaches. Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Pitie (1560-built chapel) overlooks Sanary's bay. Unlike most small Mediterranean port towns, it is active the whole year-round.

The regular Mistral (strong wind from Rhone Valley) brings gusts of wind up to 81 mph (130 kph). Strong winds make Sanary one of the French Riviera's best windsurfing destinations.

The French explorer-filmmaker-scientist Jacques Cousteau (1910-97) had a house here - named Villa Baobab. The invented by him deep-sea diving equipment was created and developed around Sanary.