Travel Guide Saint Raphaël

Three important episodes in the life of Napoleon Bonaparte took place in Saint-Raphael. In 1778, as a young scholarship student from Corsica, he disembarked to attend the Brienne school, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant. On October 9, 1799, as a young general returning from his Egyptian campaign, after having escaped the pursuit of the English squadron, he set foot on French soil in Saint-Raphaël. An obelisk commemorates this event at the northeast corner of the port. After his abdication, he left France from the port for the island of Elba in April 1814. A fishing port, Saint-Raphaël acquired in the 19th century the notoriety of a resort town thanks to the presence of many artists and writers. In 1878, its mayor and polytechnician Félix Martin gave it its definitive profile as a seaside resort, reinforced by the arrival of the railroad. The Valescure district then welcomed an elegant and well-to-do society, which had many luxurious villas built in the Palladian style. A seaside and tourist resort bathed by the Mediterranean, Saint-Raphaël is divided into different districts that offer great diversity: the old town and its narrow, shady streets, the city center, the ports, Valescure, and its two golf courses, Boulouris, Dramont, an emblematic place with its beach where the landings took place on August 15, 1944, Agay, the natural gateway to the Estérel Massif, Antheor and its creeks and Trayas on the edge of the Alpes-Maritimes. The city extends over 36 km of coastline and offers 30 beaches.