Collioure is a town of about 2,500 people on the Cote Vermeille, the last stretch of French Mediterranean coast before Spain, where the Pyrenees come down into the sea. It is Catalan rather than Provencal: the street signs are bilingual, the sardana is still danced, and the Spanish border is twenty-five kilometres down the road.
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The shape of the place is unusual. A thirteenth century royal castle sits directly on the water, built by the Kings of Mallorca and later reworked by Vauban, splitting the bay into two small shingle beaches. Above the other side the church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges has a cylindrical bell tower that was a lighthouse before it was a steeple and still looks like one. Behind the town the vineyard terraces climb almost vertically, held up by dry stone walls.
What made Collioure known beyond the coast was a single summer. Matisse and Derain painted here together in 1905 and took the results back to Paris, where the critical reaction gave Fauvism its name. The Chemin du Fauvisme now sets reproductions on stands at the spots where the canvases were painted, so you can hold the painting up against the view. It is free and it takes an hour and it is the best thing to do here.
The other local specific is the anchovy. Collioure salt-cured anchovies are a protected speciality and two salting houses still work in the town.
What you pack is set by the tramontane, a strong cold wind off the mountains, by pebble beaches, and by steep paths.
The Castle, the Fauvist Trail and the Coast
A castle in the sea, a bell tower that was a lighthouse, and paintings held up against the view.
The Chateau Royal takes an hour and the interior is sparse, but the walls and the views over both beaches justify it. Notre-Dame-des-Anges is free and worth going into for the enormous gilded Catalan Baroque altarpiece, which is out of all proportion to the size of the building. Behind it the old fishermen's quarter of Le Mouré is a grid of narrow streets with the boats pulled up at the end of them.
The Chemin du Fauvisme is signposted and starts near the tourist office. Twenty reproductions, Matisse and Derain, each where it was painted. It makes the colour make sense: the light here genuinely does that to a white wall.
Above the town, Fort Saint-Elme is a sixteenth century star fort on the ridge with a view down both sides, reachable on foot in about forty minutes uphill or by road. The Moulin de Collioure, a restored fourteenth century windmill, sits on the way up among olive trees. Further out, the Tour Madeloc is a thirteenth century signal tower on the summit at 650 metres, and the walk to it is a serious one.
The coast path, the sentier du littoral, runs south towards Port-Vendres and Banyuls along the Cote Vermeille, with coves, slate cliffs and vineyard terraces. It is exposed and rocky, and the sections beyond Port-Vendres are proper walking rather than a stroll.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Vineyards, Spain and the Beaches
Banyuls terraces, the Spanish border, and shingle rather than sand.
The vineyards above Collioure produce two appellations: Collioure, a dry red and rose, and Banyuls, a fortified sweet wine made the same way as port. The terraces are among the steepest cultivated in France and are worked largely by hand because no machine can get onto them. Several domaines in Collioure and Banyuls-sur-Mer do tastings and the Cellier des Templiers in Banyuls runs tours.
The beaches are shingle and pebble, not sand. Plage Boramar beside the castle is the postcard one and is small and crowded in August; Plage du Faubourg on the other side of the castle is slightly bigger. Port-Vendres, ten minutes away, is a working fishing port rather than a resort and is where the trawlers actually land. The snorkelling along the rocky sections is good because the water is clear and deep close in.
Spain is close enough to be a morning. Cerbere and the border are twenty minutes by train, Portbou just beyond it, and Cadaques and Figueres with the Dali museum are reachable in a day by car. Inland, Ceret has a Museum of Modern Art with Picasso and Chagall, and Perpignan is forty minutes with trains and the airport.
Getting around: Collioure is tiny and entirely walkable, and that is just as well because parking is genuinely difficult from June to September, with the town's lots filling by mid-morning and the streets too narrow for comfort. The train is the sensible way in: the station is a ten minute walk from the centre and the regional line runs along the coast to Perpignan, Port-Vendres, Banyuls and Cerbere, which makes car-free days easy. Everything in the old town involves steps and slopes.
When to Go
May, June, September and October. August is hot, full and expensive.
The Cote Vermeille is dry and warm with daytime highs from about 14C in January to 29C in July and August, and more than 2,500 hours of sunshine a year. The sea is swimmable from June into October and warmest in August and early September.
May and June are the best months: the vineyards are green, the coast path is comfortable, the water is warming and the town is still a town. Late September and October are nearly as good, with the vendange on the terraces and the sea still warm.
July and August are hot, and Collioure is small enough that the crowding is a real factor rather than a grumble: a town of 2,500 takes a very large number of day visitors, and the beaches, the restaurants and the parking all feel it. The Saint-Vincent festival in mid-August, with a firework display fired from the water and a sardana in the square, is the best reason to accept that.
Winter is mild, bright and very quiet, with many restaurants closed and the tramontane at its strongest. It is a good time for the walking and a poor one for the town.
The tramontane is the thing to plan around in any season. It is a strong, dry, cold northwesterly that funnels down between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central, it can blow for three days at a stretch, and it regularly reaches gale force. It is why the trees lean. It also clears the sky, so the brightest days here are often the windiest.
Is Collioure Safe for Women Travelers
Collioure is a very safe small town, and its risks are the wind, the sea and the paths.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in France, and its terrorism wording is the strongest it uses: terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in France, with shopping centres, entertainment venues, sporting events, transport hubs and crowded gatherings named as possible targets. The everyday risks are more specific than that sounds. Pickpocketing is organised on the Paris Metro and on trains, typically in pairs with one person distracting you, and the FCDO records SERIOUS ASSAULTS on RER lines B and D, which matters because line B is the train most visitors take from the airports. Drink spiking is named with the drugs rather than hinted at: be alert to the possible use of date rape drugs including GHB and liquid ecstasy. Strikes and demonstrations happen at short notice and can stop trains and close roads, usually peacefully. And wildfires affect the south in hot dry summers.
Almost none of the urban part of that applies here. There is no metro, the RER assault warning is a Paris matter, and a town of 2,500 has very little street crime. What does carry over is petty theft on beaches and in car parks in high season, which is opportunistic and answered by not leaving a bag on the shingle while you swim, and the drink-spiking caution, which applies in any bar anywhere and is worth knowing is named explicitly by the FCDO rather than implied.
Day to day this is about as easy as solo travel in France gets. Eating alone is unremarkable, the old town is busy and lit in the evening through the season, and walking back to accommodation at night is routine. In winter the town empties and the streets are quiet early, which is a different atmosphere rather than a risk.
France is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which means you pay the same patient share a French resident pays rather than nothing. That is not the same as free and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. French hospitals are excellent and a pharmacie, marked by a green cross, handles minor problems without an appointment and will tell you where the duty pharmacy is out of hours. Tap water is drinkable everywhere. Dial 15 for a medical emergency or 112 for anything.
The real hazards are physical and specific. The tramontane makes the coast path genuinely dangerous in places, because the sentier du littoral runs along slate cliffs with drops and no railing, and a gale is not the day for it: check the forecast and turn back rather than pushing on. The beaches are steep shingle with a shelf that drops away fast, so the water is deep close in, and there is no lifeguard outside July and August. The Mediterranean here has no real tide but it does get short, sharp swell in a tramontane, and swimming in it is unwise. Finally, the old town and every path above it are steep, cobbled, stepped and uneven, which is the everyday way visitors turn an ankle.
The Collioure Packing List
A real windproof layer, which is the first item here
The tramontane is the defining condition and most visitors underpack for it. A packable rain jacket for women doubles as the windproof and is worth having in every month, because the wind can take ten degrees off a warm day and makes the coast path unpleasant without one. Rain itself is infrequent; wind is not.
Base layers, for wind off the mountains
Wind strips heat far faster than still cold air, which is why a thin wool layer works so well here: merino at 160gsm insulates without bulk under a windproof and keeps working when you have been sweating up to Fort Saint-Elme. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron with no synthetic blend. A long sleeve merino wool base layer for women covers a windy spring morning and an evening on the water.
Shoes with grip, for cobbles and slate
Walking shoes with grip. The old town is steep and cobbled, the climb to the fort and the mill is loose stone, and the coast path is slate. Merino wool socks, which handle a hot climb without blistering.
Something for the shingle
The beaches are pebbles, not sand, and they hurt. Water shoes or any sandal with a sole makes the difference between swimming and not, and they also suit the rocky snorkelling spots. Worth knowing before you arrive expecting sand.
Sun protection, seriously
A wide brim sun hat with a chin cord, because an uncorded hat will be in the sea within a day, plus high factor sunscreen and sunglasses. This coast gets over 2,500 hours of sun, the coast path has no shade at all, and the wind hides how much you are burning.
A light cover for the vineyard walks
A long sleeve sun hoodie is more useful than sunscreen alone on the terraces and the Tour Madeloc climb, where you are exposed for hours.
A warm mid layer for the shoulder season
A fleece mid layer from October to April. Evenings cool fast once the sun drops behind the ridge, which happens early here because of the terrain.
The small things
Cash in euros for the market and the smaller cellars. A European two-pin adapter. A refillable bottle; tap water is drinkable. Your passport if Spain is in the plan. And book accommodation early for July, August and the Saint-Vincent festival, because the town is small and fills completely.
Essential Resources for Women in Collioure
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: dial 17 for police and 112 for any emergency. Collioure has a municipal police post and the Gendarmerie covers the commune from Argeles-sur-Mer nearby. A theft needs an in-person report, the declaration de vol, to produce the document an insurer requires. English is spoken in the tourist office and in most accommodation, less so at the gendarmerie, so a written note of what happened helps.
Main hospital or clinic: the nearest emergency department is the Centre Hospitalier de Perpignan, about forty minutes away, and there is a smaller clinic at Argeles. Dial 15 for the medical emergency service, SAMU, or 112. A pharmacie, marked with a green cross, handles minor problems and posts the duty rota for nights and Sundays.
Official health authority: Sante publique France, the national public health agency. France is in the EU, so a UK GHIC or EU EHIC gives you state-provided care on the same terms as a resident, which means paying the same patient share rather than nothing, and does not cover repatriation
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Paris. Paris, with a consulate general in Marseille, and note that Barcelona is closer to Collioure than either if you are travelling on through Spain
Official tourism authority: Atout France, the national tourism body. With the Collioure tourist office for the Chemin du Fauvisme map, the Saint-Vincent festival dates in August and which cellars are open for tasting out of season
The tramontane: a strong cold northwesterly that can blow for days and reach gale force. It makes the clifftop coast path dangerous rather than merely unpleasant, and the sensible response is to check the forecast and change the plan.
The beaches: steep shingle that shelves away quickly, so deep water is close in, and no lifeguard outside July and August. Swell builds fast in a tramontane.
High season parking: the town lots fill by mid-morning from June to September and the streets are too narrow to improvise. The coastal train from Perpignan is the better answer.
US State Department travel advisory: the France advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Solo women safety assessment: Collioure is one of the easier places in France to travel alone. It is a town of 2,500 where the old town stays busy and lit through the evening in season, eating alone is completely unremarkable, and walking back to your accommodation at night is routine. Most of the FCDO's France warnings are written for Paris and do not reach here: there is no metro, and the serious-assault note for RER lines B and D is a capital matter. What does carry over is opportunistic beach and car park theft in high season, answered by not leaving a bag on the shingle while you swim, and the drink-spiking caution, which the FCDO names explicitly with the drugs rather than hinting at it and which applies in any bar anywhere. In winter the town empties and the streets go quiet early, which is a change of atmosphere rather than a risk. The genuine dangers here are environmental. The tramontane is a strong cold wind that blows for days and reaches gale force, and the clifftop coast path south towards Port-Vendres has drops and no railings, so a windy day is a day to change the plan rather than push on. The beaches are steep shingle that shelves into deep water close to shore, with no lifeguard outside July and August, and swell builds quickly in that wind. And the old town and every path above it are steep, cobbled and stepped, which is how most visitors here actually get hurt.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the France travel guide for women. For why a thin wool layer works better than a thick one under a windproof, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
