Le Plan-de-la-tour
Casa Blanca is placed in a very nice villa area in Plan-de-la-Tour, an idyllic village 7 km outside Saint Maxime. The village lies at the foot of the Maures, which is a mountain area perfect for hiking. The village is surrounded by tens of vineyards, and is mainly a village based on wine industry. The village is relaxed, typical french village with little tourism compared to many of the Côte d’Azur cities near by. Still you will find many good restaurants, butcher, several small grocery stores, bakers and several wine whole sellers and wine stores.
Some restaurants worth mentioning are:
- “Le Tour du Plan“, 5 Rue Jean Jaurés (beginning of main street Plan-de-la-Tour). High class restaurant with good food and nice atmosphere
- “L’Aioli“, 1 avenue du Général Leclerc
- “Le Déjà Vu” (“Frogoroo”), place de la Maine
Walking directions to Plan-de-la-Tour center from the villa:
Walking directions to village center from Casa Blanca with Google Maps
Useful telephones:
Local doctors in Plan-de-la-Tour:
Frédéric Pavia, 12 place du Maréchal Foch,
tel: 04 94 43 70 07
Marie Naeye, avenue Levlerc,
tel 04 94 43 73 82
Local pharmacy, Plan-de-la-Tour:
13 Rue Jean Jaures,
tel: 04 94 43 71 06
Useful telephones
Boat rental, “l’Espace Bleu”: 04 94 96 48 85
Port Grimeaud
Port Grimeaud is a small and very picturesque village built after the model of Venice in Italy, with impressive architecture built around several canals. Cars are not allowed in the village, so you must take ferry or park outside the entrance of the village. You can rent boats for trips around the canals, and there are nice beaches and several good restaurants and stores for shopping.
Saint Tropez
Saint Tropez needs no introduction and is not long away from Casa Blanca in distance. But it can be difficult to park and there can be a lot of traffic to Saint Tropez in the high season. We could therefore recommend considering to take a ferry from Sainte Maxime to Saint Tropez, which only takes 10 minutes.
La Garde Freinet / Fort-Freinet
La Garde Freinet is a lovely mountain village 10 km north from Plan-de-la-Tour. The village has some nice restaurants and shops, and from the village you can also visit the medieval fortress “Fort-Freinet”. The fortress was built in 890, in a time when Saracens and Vikings were trying to take control over the area.
Gorges du Verdon
Gorges du Verdon is a spectacular canyon 1 hour drive noth of Plan-de-la-Tour.
“The Verdon Gorge is narrow and deep, with depths of 250 to 700 meters and widths of 6 to 100 meters at the level of the Verdon river, and 200 to 1500 meters from one side of the Gorge to the other at the summit.”
The canyon is great for hiking, and you can also rent paddle boats for exploring the canyon from river.
Nice
Nice is the closest “big city” to Casa Blanca, about 1 hour drive east. Nice is a historic city, and is considered to be the second most popular french city for tourist, after Paris, and has many great museums, plazas, beaches.
Nice Airport Côte d’Azur is also the best airport to travel to, when visiting Casa Blanca.
Monaco
Casino, Rally Monte Carlo, Grace Kelly… 1,5 hour east from Casa Blanca.
Les Alpes de Haute-Provence
1,5 hours drive north from Casa Blanca you can find several skiing resorts. At 3.000 meter altitude the season lasts from October to April. We have not tested the resorts yet, but they look promising. Leave us a message if you have experience with the skiing facilities!