The French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) — the 180km stretch of Mediterranean coastline between Toulon and Menton on the Italian border — has been Europe's most glamorous holiday destination since the early 19th century, when British and Russian aristocrats discovered its warm winters and built the villas and grand hotels that still define its built character. The combination of reliable Mediterranean sunshine (300+ days per year), a coast of dramatic limestone cliffs, sheltered bays and private beaches, the cultural richness of Nice (France's fifth city, with a distinct Nice-Niçois culture shaped by three centuries of Savoyard and French and Italian influence), and the extraordinary concentrations of wealth and celebrity at Cannes and Monaco has made the Côte d'Azur a byword for pleasure and luxury since the Belle Époque.
Nice — the Riviera's capital and most substantial city — rewards more exploration than its reputation as a beach resort suggests: the Old Town (Vieux-Nice) behind the Promenade des Anglais has a genuinely Baroque Italian character (Nice was Italian until 1860) of pastel-painted buildings, flower-filled markets (Cours Saleya, with the finest flower and food market on the Riviera), baroque churches and labyrinthine streets. The Promenade des Anglais itself — the 7km boulevard along the beach, built by the English community in the early 19th century — is one of the great seaside promenades of Europe, best walked at dawn when the Mediterranean light turns the water from charcoal to silver to blue.
Monaco, Cannes & the Coast
Monaco — the world's second-smallest sovereign state (2 square kilometres) and its most densely packed with wealth — is an extraordinary anomaly: a city-state of 38,000 people (of whom only 9,000 are Monégasque citizens) perched on a rocky promontory above the Mediterranean, its architectural character a mix of Belle Époque grandeur (the Casino de Monte-Carlo, the Hôtel de Paris, the Salle Garnier opera house) and glass-and-steel luxury towers. The Casino de Monte-Carlo — which opened in 1863 and was designed to rescue Monaco from bankruptcy — is the most opulent gambling room in Europe and charges entry to its European rooms (€17 during the day, free after 5pm with passport). The F1 Monaco Grand Prix circuit runs through the streets of Monte-Carlo; walking the circuit on foot out of season is free and gives a visceral sense of the extraordinary challenge of the world's most famous race.
Cannes — 32km west of Nice — is known primarily for the Cannes Film Festival (May) but rewards visiting year-round: the Croisette (the grand boulevard of palace hotels along the beach), the old port with its yachts and restaurant terraces, and the hilltop village of Suquet (above the old port) have a beauty independent of the film industry circus. The Îles de Lérins — two islands accessible by ferry from the Cannes old port — include the Île Saint-Honorat (a working monastery producing wine and liqueur) and the Île Sainte-Marguerite (with the fort where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned).
Antibes, Villefranche & the Corniche Roads
Antibes — the most walkable and least pretentious of the Riviera's towns — has the finest old town (Vieil Antibes) west of Nice: rampart walls above the sea, a Picasso Museum (in the castle where Picasso worked briefly in 1946, donating 23 paintings and 44 ceramics to the city), and the daily Marché Provençal with its extraordinary produce. The Cap d'Antibes peninsula, south of Antibes town, has the most beautiful villa gardens and views on the Riviera and the legendary Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Villefranche-sur-Mer, immediately east of Nice, has one of the deepest natural harbours on the Mediterranean and a citadel above a fishing village of remarkable beauty — less crowded than Nice and consistently rated among the Riviera's most attractive communities. The three Corniche roads above Nice — Grande Corniche, Moyenne Corniche and Basse Corniche — are among Europe's most spectacular coastal drives, with successive views over Monaco, Menton and the Italian coast beyond.
Practical Riviera Visiting
Nice is the most practical Riviera base — Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) has direct UK flights, the city has excellent accommodation at every price point, and the regional train (TER) connects Nice to Cannes (40 minutes), Monaco (22 minutes) and Menton (35 minutes) at frequent intervals and low fares (€4–8 for most journeys). The Riviera's beaches are predominantly pebble (particularly Nice and Cannes) rather than sand — those expecting fine-sand beaches should look at specific sandy coves (Plage de Passable in Cap Ferrat, beaches in Juan-les-Pins) rather than the main resort beaches. The summer crowd (July–August) is substantial and accommodation prices peak; May–June and September–October offer better prices and more bearable crowds.
