Saint-Raphaël, Var Département, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France

🇫🇷 Saint-Raphaël is a commune in the Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, south-eastern France. Immediately to the west of Saint-Raphaël lies a larger and older town, Fréjus; together they form an urban agglomeration known as Var Estérel Méditerranée, which also encompasses the smaller communes of Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel, Puget-sur-Argens and Roquebrune-sur-Argens. In the second half of the 19th century, the township came under the influence of Mayor Felix Martin and writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr; owing to their efforts and its beneficial climate the commune developed into a seaside resort popular with artists, sportsmen and politicians.

It is the seat of the canton of Saint-Raphaël, also encompassing Fréjus and Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel, which is the economic and cultural centre of Eastern Var, within the arrondissement of Draguignan. Its inhabitants are called Raphaëlois in French generally, or Rafelencs in Provençal Occitan.

History In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces arrived by ship from Egypt, prior to his coup d'état in Paris, and landed at a fishing village that was the commune of Saint-Raphaël.

The coastal double-track rail link between Saint-Raphaël and Nice passes over a substantial viaduct constructed right on the shoreline at Anthéor. These tracks were of strategic importance to the Axis forces during World War II for supplying material to units in France.

There were three separate air raids made on this viaduct from England, between September 1943 and February 1944, involving a total of thirty-one Lancaster bombers operating some seven hundred miles from base. Aircraft of the second raid flew on to Rabat, and from the third raid on to Sardinia. One Lancaster from the first raid was lost, and a flight lieutenant bomb aimer on the third raid was killed by enemy fire, some of which came from ships at sea. All the raids failed in their objective and the rail link was not severed.

During World War II, on August 15, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France.

Adjacent places Immediately to the west and north-west of Saint-Raphaël lies the ancient town of Fréjus. To the north lie the hamlets of Saint-Jean-de-l'Esterel et Saint-Jean-de-Cannes, both within the Fréjus commune. To the extreme north-east, beyond Le Trayas, is the small resort of Miramar, lying within the commune of Théoule-sur-Mer. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south of the whole Saint-Raphaël commune.

Rail The town's modern rail station is named Saint-Raphaël-Valescure and offers national, regional, and local train services: • High-speed TGV and Ouigo trains - from Paris-Gare de Lyon (destination Nice) • Night trains - from Paris-Gare d'Austerlitz (destination Nice) • Lines 03 and 06 of TER Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - from Marseille-Gare Saint-Charles (destination Nice) • TER Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - local stopping service to Cannes from Les Arcs

Air International scheduled air passenger services are available at: L'aéroport Nice Côte d'Azur: forty-five km (28 miles). L'aéroport de Marseille Provence: 118 km (73 mi). Private, commercial and freight services are conducted at: L'aéroport de Cannes - Mandelieu: twenty km (12 miles). L'aéroport de La Môle - Saint-Tropez: thirty-four km (21 miles).

Bus Saint-Raphaël is well served by bus routes, and has a busy bus station in the town centre. Express service by LER PACA - Route 21: Aix-en-Provence to Nice.

Fast service (1 hour 15 mins) to Nice Airport by S.V.A. (Société Varoise d'Autocars) Departement (County) services by SodeTrav (La Société Départementale des Transports du Var) Routes 27, 28, 31, 53 and 104

Town services by AggloBus Fréjus/Saint-Raphael - Routes 1a, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.