The place is ridiculous. In the morning, the megayachts leave St Tropez, Cannes and Antibes and race to anchor in front of this 3-mile beach. From further afield, i.e., Cap Ferrat and Monaco, fast boats in the 30 to 80-ft range zoom in at 20 knots-plus to make it before lunch time. And for the people unwilling to lounge on a fully crewed yacht for an hour to make the trip, the helicopters come in all day from Monaco, Menton, and other points.
The beach then hums with activity, but it is crowded. Think Central Park on a sunny late spring weekend.
Then in mid afternoon, everyone commutes back to their harbours and villas, and only a handful of boats remain at anchor to watch the sunset, there where were hundreds of vessels laid at anchor just a few hours before.
And this is what we saw each day for three days at Pampelonne. And let's not even talk about the nudist sectors of the beach.
Pampelonne before noon, only about 3/4ths full, looking south from Tahiti Beach. Each flag marks a different "beach." 27 June 2016, iPhone 6 Plus.