Gassin
• Var (83580) • Population: 2,622
Gallery of 12 photos for Gassin
See map
Gassin is a lovely little village, perched in the wooded hills of the peninsula just southwest of Saint-Tropez.
Gassin is one of the Most Beautiful Villages (Plus Beaux Villages) of France.
Gassin village is perched on a hilltop in the center of the St-Tropez Peninsula, with a view across the entire peninsula and out over the Gulf of St-Tropez to the north.
The village is laid out in a tight north-south ellipse with the narrow, medieval streets aligned along the ridge. The streets are narrow and picturesque, with pretty stone-facaded houses, remnants of the 13th-century walls and entry portes.
The center of the old village of Gassin has some nice terrace café-restaurants, a few shops and a couple of hotels. This historic center is the best place to explore the old streets and medieval remnants of the village, and enjoy the views out across the peninsula.
Just south of the historic center, the Saint-Jean quarter has more shops, restaurants, and residential and apartment housing.
The territory of the commune of Gassin is quite large, about 25 square km, extending north to the Gulf of St-Tropez and including the length of beach front between Port Grimaud and St Tropez village.
History of Gassin
Name
First record, 1097 Garcinum, Garcinum or Garci; probably from Garcia Sinu, Gardian of the Gulf.
Gallo-Roman: Numerous signs or Roman occupation have been discovered in the hills around the village, including L'Escalet, St-Julien, Ville-Vieille, Montjean and Bertaud.
Medieval: An early, primitive village was located on a hill 1.5 km north of its current location, now called Ville-Vieille. The villages moved south in the 11th century to be protected by the Templiers post located there to protect against the Saracens. The defensive village walls were added in the 12th century.
Hiking
• GPS: 43.229441, 6.584922
Maps
IGN (1/25,000) #3545 OT "St. Tropez, Ste. Maxime, Massif des Maures"
Transportation Gassin
Department 83, Var Buses
- See Beyond's Var Department Bus Schedules for downloading the Var bus-lines map [Plan du Reseau] and bus-line schedules [Horaires] (link for PDF files).
- Schedules for the Var bus lines are on the VarLib Horaires-Ligne page (http://www.varlib.fr/horaires_ligne/?rub_code=6") - type the line number in the Numéro ... ligne box to access the bus schedule PDF link. (Type a couple of digits in the box to get a list of route numbers.)