Toulon is a city of about 180,000 on the Mediterranean, and the first thing to understand is that it is a naval base with a city attached rather than a resort. It is the principal port of the French Navy, the home of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, and defence is a large part of the local economy. Grey ships are the view from the waterfront.
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The second thing is that it was bombed very heavily in 1943 and 1944, so the centre is substantially postwar and Toulon is the least conventionally pretty large town on this stretch of coast. Most visitors drive past it on the way to Hyeres or the Var hill villages, and the town has a reputation among French people as somewhere to pass through.
That reputation undersells it. The harbour, the Petite Rade, is one of the finest natural anchorages in the Mediterranean and the reason the navy is here. Behind the city Mont Faron rises 584 metres almost vertically, with a cable car to the top and the best harbour view on the French Mediterranean coast. The old town has been substantially regenerated over the last fifteen years, the Provencal market on the Cours Lafayette is one of the best in the region, and the islands offshore are extraordinary.
Toulon also holds a piece of history that is barely known outside France. In November 1942, as German forces moved to seize the fleet, the French Navy scuttled 77 of its own ships in this harbour, including three battleships and seven cruisers, to keep them out of German hands. The wrecks were in the water for years.
What you pack is set by serious Mediterranean heat, a steep mountain and a lot of walking on stone.
The Harbour, Mont Faron and the Old Town
A naval port, a cable car, and the best market in the Var.
The Mont Faron telepherique is the thing to do first and the thing to time for a clear day. It climbs from the Super-Toulon district to 584 metres in six minutes, and the view takes in the whole double harbour, the fleet, the Giens peninsula and the islands. At the top are walking paths through pine and scrub, a zoo specialising in big cat breeding, and the Memorial du Debarquement de Provence, a museum in a fort on the 1944 Allied landings in the south of France, which is the less-remembered counterpart to Normandy. Note the cable car closes in high wind, which happens often enough to be worth checking.
The harbour front, the Quai Cronstadt, is where the town meets the water, with ferries and harbour tour boats running from it. A boat tour of the Petite Rade is the only way to see the naval base properly and passes the carrier and the frigates; the Musee National de la Marine at the harbour gate covers the fleet's history and has the scuttling.
The old town behind it is a dense grid of narrow streets that was semi-derelict twenty years ago and is now largely restored, with painted shutters, small squares and fountains. The Cours Lafayette market runs every morning except Monday and is the real thing: produce, fish, olives, soap, with the Provencal calendar on display. The cathedral of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Seds is Romanesque with a Baroque front, and the Place Puget has the Fountain of the Three Dolphins, which is the most photographed thing in the city.
Up the hill, the Villa Noailles in Hyeres nearby is a modernist house by Mallet-Stevens that now hosts design and photography exhibitions.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Islands, the Calanques and the Var
Three islands, a national park, and hill villages inland.
The Iles d'Hyeres are the main reason to use Toulon as a base. Porquerolles is the largest and most visited, car-free, with white sand beaches on the north shore and cliffs on the south, and bikes are the way to see it. Port-Cros is a national park both on land and underwater, with a marked snorkelling trail, and visitor numbers are limited. The Ile du Levant is mostly military with a naturist village at one end. Ferries run from Hyeres and the Giens peninsula rather than from Toulon itself, which is about forty minutes away, though some seasonal services go direct.
West of the city the coast runs to Les Sablettes, Le Brusc and the Calanques of Cassis beyond, and the Massif du Faron and Mont Caume give hill walking immediately behind the city. The Gorges d'Ollioules and the hill village of Evenos are twenty minutes out.
Inland, the Var is full of villages: Le Castellet, La Cadiere-d'Azur and Bandol with its vineyards are within half an hour, and the Bandol appellation does tastings. Hyeres has a medieval old town above a modern resort and the salt flats of the Giens peninsula hold flamingos.
Marseille is fifty minutes by train, Aix an hour, and the Verdon Gorge about ninety minutes.
Getting around: Toulon's centre is flat along the harbour and climbs steeply behind, and the bus network plus two ferry lines across the harbour cover it cheaply. The little boats across to La Seyne and Les Sablettes are ordinary public transport and the cheapest harbour tour you will get. The station is ten minutes from the harbour with trains along the coast and to Marseille, Nice and Paris. Mont Faron's cable car is reached by bus. A car helps for the Var villages and the ferry ports.
When to Go
May to June and September to October. July and August are hot and full.
Toulon is one of the sunniest cities in France with around 2,900 hours a year: daytime highs from about 13C in January to 29C in July and August, and heat spells past 35C. Rain comes in short autumn episodes and winter is mild.
Spring, May and June, is the best balance: comfortable for Mont Faron and the hill walking, the islands open and not yet crowded, and the sea warm enough by mid-June.
July and August are hot, and the islands and Porquerolles in particular are at capacity, with ferry queues and visitor caps. The city itself is quieter than the resorts because it is a working port.
September and early October is excellent: warm sea, thinner crowds, the Bandol vendange and the light at its best.
Winter is mild, bright and quiet at 13 to 16C, and the city functions normally all year because it has a real population and a navy. Island ferries run a reduced service.
The mistral is the local wind and it matters here in a specific way: it blows hard down this coast, it closes the Mont Faron cable car, and it can cancel island ferries. If either is central to your plan, keep a spare day.
Is Toulon Safe for Women Travelers
Toulon needs more ordinary urban care than the rest of this coast, concentrated in specific streets.
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.
There is no metro here and the RER warning is a Paris matter. Pickpocketing applies at the station, on busy buses and in the Cours Lafayette market crowds, and a closed bag worn in front handles it. The drink-spiking caution the FCDO names explicitly is relevant in a port and garrison town with a substantial late bar scene.
The honest picture is this. Toulon has carried a poor reputation within France for decades, for petty crime and for the deprivation in parts of the city, and French crime statistics do put it above the regional average. It has also been substantially regenerated: the old town that was genuinely to be avoided twenty years ago is now largely restored, busy in the evening around the Place Puget and the harbour, and perfectly normal. What has not changed is that there are streets, particularly in the lower old town west of the Cours Lafayette and the area immediately around the station, where a visitor has no reason to be after dark and where street drinking and drug dealing are visible. The outer estates of La Beaucaire and Sainte-Musse carry the city's serious problems and are nowhere a visitor would go.
Day to day, the harbour front, the regenerated old town, the market and the Mont Faron side are comfortable, eating alone is unremarkable, and there is nothing unusual about a woman travelling here alone. It is simply a real working city rather than a resort, and it rewards the same care you would use in any port town of that size.
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 physical risks are heat, the mountain and the sea. Mediterranean heat here is serious in July and August and Mont Faron has little shade on the upper paths. The mountain roads are extremely steep with hairpins and the cycling up them is for the fit only. The coast has strong currents around the Giens peninsula and lifeguards only in summer on patrolled beaches. And the mistral builds sea conditions and closes the cable car with little notice.
The Toulon Packing List
Sun and heat protection first
A wide brim sun hat, high factor sunscreen and sunglasses, plus an insulated water bottle. Toulon gets around 2,900 hours of sun a year, the Mont Faron paths and the island beaches have little shade, and Porquerolles in particular has long stretches with nowhere to buy anything.
Shoes for a steep mountain and old stone
Walking shoes with grip. Mont Faron's paths are loose limestone on steep ground, the old town is cobbled and climbs hard behind the harbour, and the island coast paths are rocky. Merino wool socks, which handle a hot climb without blistering.
Base layers, for the mistral and the altitude
The mistral takes ten degrees off how a day feels and Mont Faron's summit is noticeably cooler than the harbour, which is the swing to dress for rather than any cold. Merino at 160gsm handles it without bulk, breathes in real heat better than a synthetic of the same weight and resists odour across several days. 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 summit and a cool evening on the quay.
A windproof and light waterproof
A packable rain jacket for women, as much for the mistral as the rain. It is windy on the summit and on a boat in any season, and the autumn rain here is short and violent.
A long sleeve sun layer for the islands
A long sleeve sun hoodie for Porquerolles and Port-Cros, where you will be out on bikes or coast paths for hours with no cover.
Swimwear and snorkelling in mind
A swimsuit, and worth knowing that Port-Cros has a marked underwater trail that is one of the best snorkelling experiences in France, so a mask is more useful here than on most of this coast.
The small things
Cash in euros for the Cours Lafayette market and the island kiosks. A European two-pin adapter. A refillable bottle; tap water is drinkable. Island ferry tickets booked ahead in summer, because Porquerolles has visitor caps. And a spare day in the plan if Mont Faron or the islands matter to you, because the mistral closes both.
Essential Resources for Women in Toulon
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. Toulon has a Police Nationale commissariat and a municipal force with a visible presence in the regenerated old town. A theft needs an in-person report, the declaration de vol, to produce the document an insurer requires. For anything on the water, 196 reaches maritime rescue, which matters around the islands and the Giens currents.
Main hospital or clinic: the Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal Toulon La Seyne-sur-Mer, principally the Hopital Sainte-Musse, has a full emergency department. 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.
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 about an hour away by train, which is the relevant one for this coast
Official tourism authority: Atout France, the national tourism body. With the Toulon tourist office for the Mont Faron cable car, which closes in high wind, the harbour boat tours and the island ferry departure points, which are mostly from Hyeres and Giens rather than Toulon itself
The streets to skip after dark: the lower old town west of the Cours Lafayette and the area immediately around the station. Normal and busy by day.
The mistral: closes the Mont Faron cable car and cancels island ferries with little notice. Keep a spare day if either is central.
Porquerolles: visitor caps in summer and ferry queues. Book ahead, and note the ferries leave from Hyeres and the Giens peninsula, forty minutes from Toulon.
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: Toulon is a working naval city rather than a resort and it asks for the same ordinary urban care you would use in any port town of 180,000, which is more than the rest of this coast needs. The honest position is that it has carried a poor reputation within France for decades and French crime figures do put it above the regional average, and also that it has been substantially regenerated: the old town that was genuinely to be avoided twenty years ago is now restored, busy in the evening around the Place Puget and the harbour, and entirely normal. What has not changed is that there are specific streets where a visitor has no reason to be after dark, in the lower old town west of the Cours Lafayette and immediately around the station, where street drinking and dealing are visible; the outer estates of La Beaucaire and Sainte-Musse carry the serious problems and are nowhere a visitor would go. Eating alone is unremarkable and the harbour front, the market and the Mont Faron side are comfortable. The FCDO's pickpocketing warning applies at the station, on busy buses and in the Cours Lafayette market crowds, and the drink-spiking caution it names explicitly is worth reading in a port and garrison town with a substantial late bar scene. The physical risks are heat, which is serious here in July and August with little shade on the upper Mont Faron paths, strong currents around the Giens peninsula with summer-only lifeguards, and the mistral, which closes the cable car and cancels island ferries with little warning.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the France travel guide for women. For why fine wool suits a hot harbour and a windy summit in the same day, 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.
