French Riviera

Beach life drives a summer stay here, and the choice of shore is wide. Nice and Menton face the sea with long pebble beaches. The sand is further west, along the Croisette in Cannes, at Juan-les-Pins on the Cap d'Antibes and on the long curve of Pampelonne near Saint-Tropez. In between, the red rocks of the Esterel break into small coves with very clear water, and Villefranche and Cap Ferrat have sheltered bays.

The sea is warm enough to swim from June to early October and reaches about 24°C in August. Much of the best sand is taken up by private beach concessions, and the public stretches get very crowded in July and August. Pick Cannes or Juan-les-Pins for easy sandy swimming, or the Saint-Tropez peninsula for the finest beaches.

Nice has a cuisine of its own, and it is the best place on the coast to eat it. Socca, a chickpea pancake, is baked in wood ovens. You also find pissaladière with onions and anchovies, stuffed vegetables, pan bagnat, and daube served with ravioli. The morning market on the Cours Saleya and the smaller markets in Antibes and Menton sell olives, herbs, citrus and goat's cheese. The cooking leans on olive oil and is shared with nearby Liguria.

At the top end, the stretch from Menton through Monaco to Cannes has a high density of serious restaurants, many of them tied to the grand hotels. Provence rosé and the small Bellet appellation above Nice are the wines to drink. The weak spot is the seafront, where set menus aimed at passing visitors are often dull. For the best meals, go a street or two inland, or up to the hill villages.

The coast's great cultural strength is modern art, much of it made here. Nice has museums dedicated to Matisse and Chagall. Antibes keeps a Picasso collection in the Grimaldi castle above the sea. Vence has the chapel Matisse designed, and the Fondation Maeght near Saint-Paul-de-Vence pairs its building with a sculpture garden. Smaller museums to Léger in Biot and Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer complete the circuit.

The architecture is older and more mixed. Nice has a baroque old town and Belle Epoque villas and hotels along the Promenade des Anglais. Monaco has the Prince's Palace, the casino and the Oceanographic Museum on its cliff. There is the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and its gardens on Cap Ferrat, the Roman trophy at La Turbie, and Roman remains at Fréjus. Most visitors build their sightseeing around Nice.

Nights out here are seasonal and showy. From June to September, Saint-Tropez and Monaco draw a jet-set crowd to beach clubs that run from long lunches into the evening, and to clubs where table service matters more than the music. Cannes keeps late bars along the Croisette, and Juan-les-Pins has a compact strip of bars and clubs that stays busy into the small hours in summer.

Nice is the more ordinary and more varied option. The narrow lanes of the old town and the port area fill with pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars, and the student population keeps some life going out of season. Outside summer, the resorts go quiet early, and going out anywhere on the coast costs a lot.

The setting is the draw: mountains drop almost straight into the sea. Coastal paths circle Cap Ferrat, Cap d'Antibes and Cap Martin past pines and villa gardens. To the west, the Esterel massif has volcanic red rock above a deep blue sea, with good walking and sea kayaking. Inland, the Gorges du Loup and the Vésubie valley lead up to the Mercantour National Park. Its high trails, larches and chamois are about one and a half hours from Nice, and its ski stations open in winter.

The Verdon gorges are a long day out to the west. On the water, there is sailing, diving off the Esterel and the Lérins islands, and paddling along the capes. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for hiking. In summer, the heat and wildfire closures shut some massifs.

Day trips here are short and easy, and there are a great many of them. From a base in Nice, the coastal train reaches Villefranche, Monaco and Menton in well under an hour, each a different kind of town: a fishing harbour, a tiny city-state on its rock, and a lemon-growing resort with a steep Italianate old quarter. Inland, Eze and Gourdon perch above the sea and the Loup valley. Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Tourrettes-sur-Loup suit an unhurried afternoon of ramparts, lanes and lunch, and Grasse has its perfume houses and old town. Off Cannes, a short boat crossing reaches the Lérins islands, where the monks of Saint-Honorat have farmed vines for centuries.

The outings that feel most different lie at the edges. Across the Italian border, Ventimiglia's market, the medieval bridge at Dolceacqua and the old quarters of Sanremo and Bordighera are under an hour from Menton. In summer, boats run from Nice and Cannes to Saint-Tropez. To the west, the Côtes de Provence vineyards make a wine day by car, and Aix-en-Provence is about two hours away. What the list lacks is a single great heritage excursion, and many days are variations on a pretty village. It suits travellers who like filling a week with small places close together.

A family vacation here is built around the sea. The sandy beaches at Juan-les-Pins, Cannes and Fréjus shelve gently and suit small children better than the pebbles of Nice, and the sea is usually calm in summer. The aquarium in Monaco's Oceanographic Museum is the main attraction made for children. Nice adds Parc Phoenix with its glasshouse and animals, there are water parks near Antibes, and boat trips to the Lérins islands go down well.

The drawbacks are practical. July and August bring heat, crowds and slow traffic. Hotel family rooms are expensive. The hill villages are all steps and cobbles that a pushchair cannot manage. Early summer and September are easier.

The coast between Cannes and the Italian border is easy without a car. A regional railway runs along the shore through Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton. Nice has a tram line to the airport and a walkable centre, and the old towns of Antibes, Cannes and Menton are compact.

Beyond that line, the trip gets harder. The hill villages and Grasse are reached by buses that are slow and full in summer. Saint-Tropez sits on a peninsula with no railway, and the road in jams in high season, so the summer ferries are the better choice. A car pays off for exploring inland, but parking in the resorts is scarce. Base yourself near a station on the Nice to Monaco stretch.

Luxury shopping here is resort shopping. Boutiques line the Croisette and Rue d'Antibes in Cannes, the streets around the Monte-Carlo casino, and the lanes behind the port in Saint-Tropez, where tropézienne sandals are a local speciality. Nice has the region's department stores and the widest everyday range along Avenue Jean-Médecin.

The crafts are more distinctive. Grasse makes and sells perfume. Biot is known for bubbled glass and Vallauris for pottery. Provençal markets sell olive oil, soap, lavender and printed fabric, with Nice's Cours Saleya the best known. On Mondays, the same square fills with an antiques and flea market. The hill villages are thick with galleries and souvenir shops of mixed quality.

This is an expensive place for a summer vacation. In high season, rooms in Saint-Tropez, Monaco and Cannes cost as much as anywhere in Europe, and a sunbed at a private beach or a seafront lunch adds up quickly. Nice is the more reasonable base, with a wider range of hotels and apartments and plenty of simple places serving socca and pizza.

Getting around is the one real bargain, because regional trains and buses are cheap. Public beaches and the coastal paths are free. Travelling in May, June or September eases prices noticeably. Monaco and Saint-Tropez in August are better saved for a day visit than a stay.

Monaco has the most performing arts for its size. The small, gilded opera house in the Monte-Carlo casino building has a long history of premieres, and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo perform through the winter season. Nice adds its own opera house in the old town, a symphony orchestra, and theatre in the city's larger venues.

Summer brings the outdoor festivals. Jazz in the pine grove at Juan-les-Pins is one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals, and the Nice Jazz Festival fills Place Masséna. Open-air concerts are held in village squares and on palace terraces along the coast. Outside these seasons, there are few small venues for live music or jazz.

Wellness here means seawater therapy and hotel spas, not public baths. The coast has a long tradition of thalassotherapy, using heated seawater pools and treatments, and the best centres are in Monaco and on the capes between Cannes and Antibes. Grand hotels on Cap Ferrat, Cap d'Antibes and Cannes run large spas in quiet gardens.

A slower pace is easy to find outside the summer crowds. Spring and autumn suit long lunches under the plane trees of the hill villages, garden walks and empty promenades. In July and August, the resorts are loud and busy, and travellers who want rest do better inland.