Europe · France
Nice & the Côte d’Azur
The promenade that invented the palm-lined seafront, with Italy for lunch.
The Riviera is where the idea of a warm-weather holiday was invented, by aristocrats who came for the winter light and stayed for the palms. Nice is the anchor: a Baroque old town, a flower market, a promenade you can walk for an hour, and trains east to Monaco and Menton and west to Antibes and Cannes. It is expensive and it is worth it in May and September.
The palm: Canary Island date palm
The English colony that wintered in Nice paid for the first Promenade des Anglais in the 1820s, and the palms followed. Today the four kilometre seafront is one continuous line of Phoenix canariensis. In Menton, the Val Rahmeh garden and the villas of Garavan hold Europe’s biggest range of subtropical species.
When to go
Sights
Promenade des Anglais
Walk it at seven in the morning from the port to the airport end, when the joggers own it and the sea is glass.
Vieux Nice and Cours Saleya
The flower market by day, the socca stalls and Baroque churches, and the castle hill for the view.
Èze and the Corniche roads
A medieval village on a rock 400 metres above the sea, with an exotic garden of cactus and palms.
Menton gardens
The warmest town in France, with lemon groves and gardens like Val Rahmeh and Serre de la Madone.
Beaches
Plage de la Salis, Antibes
A sandy family beach with a view of the old town walls and the Alps behind.
Paloma Beach, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
A sheltered pebble cove with a beach club and villas on the cape.
Plage du Midi, Cannes
Free sand west of the old port, quieter than the Croisette and with the same sunset.
Events
- Feb
Nice Carnival
Two weeks of floats and flower battles on the promenade in February.
- May
Cannes Film Festival
Twelve days in May when the Croisette closes to the world and opens to the press.
- Feb
Menton Lemon Festival
Sculptures built from 140 tonnes of citrus in the Biovès gardens.
For remote workers
A comfortable month: about €2,400
Nice has a tram to the airport, fast fibre, the Sophia Antipolis tech park up the hill and coworkings from the port to Libération. It is pricier than Spain but the winters are mild and bright, and Italy, Monaco and the Alps are day trips by train.
Compare as a baseFor families
Nice’s beaches are pebbles, which children find either brilliant or unacceptable. Cannes, Antibes and Juan-les-Pins have sand, and Marineland, the Parc Phoenix and the train along the coast keep everyone moving. Water shoes solve the pebble problem.
Rank for your familyThree things to know
- Fly to Nice and use the train: Monaco is 20 minutes, Cannes 30, Menton 35, Ventimiglia in Italy 45.
- Socca, the chickpea pancake, and pissaladière are the local snacks; eat them standing at the market.
- May and September have 24 degree days and a sea you can swim in, without the August traffic.
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