Walk
Promenade des Anglais sunrise walk
The curve of the bay is almost unreal before the sun climbs — empty café chairs, pebble beach, and the entire Alps-Maritimes turned coral at the far edge.
From the terracotta rooftops of Nice to Monaco's gilded harbour and the hidden coves of Antibes, the Riviera seduces with a quality of light that had Matisse and Picasso abandoning their northern studios and never quite recovering.
A timing note — The French Riviera's best window is Apr–Oct: coast season; September keeps the warmth and loses the crowds
Where you'll base yourself
NiceAntibesCannesMonaco
Things to do
Mornings
Market
Cours Saleya morning market
The covered and open market at the heart of Vieux Nice spills colour from every stall — socca vendors, herb sellers, and Niçois grandmothers shopping alongside each other in the morning cool.
Museum
Matisse Museum Nice
Installed in a 17th-century Genovese villa above the city where Matisse spent his last decades, the collection shows the great experiments with colour and cut-outs in the building he loved.
Hike
Cap d'Antibes coastal path
The Sentier du Littoral hugs the limestone shore around the cap, passing fishing coves and sea-spray viewpoints accessible only on foot — the villa gates of the wealthy remain firmly to one side.
Wander
Monaco harbour walk
The principality is best at nine in the morning when the superyachts are moored in silence and the palace guards are changing on the Rock — walk from Port Hercule up to the old town before the Grand Prix crowds.
Boat
Île Sainte-Marguerite boat trip
A twenty-minute ferry from Cannes brings you to a pine-scented island where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned; the water around the fort is extraordinarily clear for swimming.
Culture
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild gardens at dawn
A pink Belle Époque villa sits amid nine themed gardens on a promontory between two bays, its fountains and topiary at their best before the cape fills with visitors.
Afternoons
Beach
Plage de la Croisette beach day
A sun lounger at one of the private beach clubs on the Croisette — the Mediterranean at its bluest, chilled rosé, and the ritual of the Riviera afternoon played out exactly as it has been since the 1950s.
Village
Èze village perché
The medieval village balanced on a 400-metre needle of rock commands a panorama across Monaco to the Italian Ligurian coast — the cactus garden at the summit is a quiet reward after the steep climb.
Casino
Monte Carlo Casino & gardens
Even non-gamblers should walk the gilded salons of Garnier's opera house-casino and then sit in the Café de Paris across the square watching the sports cars circle.
Museum
Picasso Museum Antibes
Picasso spent the autumn of 1946 in the Château Grimaldi overlooking the sea, producing an entire room of joyful Mediterranean paintings and ceramics that now form one of the best small museums on the Riviera.
Art
Saint-Paul-de-Vence galleries
The walled hill village that housed Chagall and Léger is now a circuit of serious contemporary galleries and the extraordinary Fondation Maeght, one of France's finest private art museums.
Tasting
Grasse perfume workshop
The hilltop town that supplies the noses of Paris lets you compose your own fragrance in a 90-minute workshop at one of the great parfumeries — Fragonard, Molinard, or Galimard are all excellent.
⏰ Needs advance booking — reserve about a week ahead
Neighborhoods
Marché Provençal & ramparts of Antibes
A covered market of olives, socca, and cut flowers gives way to narrow lanes and sea walls built to keep out Barbary raiders, now a quiet counterpoint to Cannes down the coast.
Evenings
Aperitivo
Sunset drinks at Hotel Negresco
The pink dome of the Negresco is a Promenade landmark; its bar serves impeccable cocktails to a crowd of locals and guests watching the sun drop below the Esterel hills from the terrace.
Nightlife
Casino evening in Monte Carlo
Dress the part and try the minimum-bet tables in the ornate casino; the experience of the gold-leaf salons under Venetian chandeliers is worth the entry fee alone, regardless of what the chips do.
Dining
Dinner at a Niçois restaurant
A table on a cobbled alley in Vieux Nice for bouillabaisse or pan bagnat and a carafe of Bellet white — the local table wine that almost never leaves the département.
Music
Beachside summer music
The Jazz à Juan festival in July or an open-air concert at the Théâtre de Verdure means the Riviera summer evenings have a soundtrack that drifts across the water long into the night.
Music
Live jazz night in Juan-les-Pins
The pine-shaded seafront of Juan-les-Pins has drawn jazz musicians for decades, and informal sets still spill from its bars on warm nights. It is a low-key way to spend an evening between beach days.
Views
Sunset over Cap Ferrat
The coastal path around this pine-covered peninsula offers a string of sea views that turn gold and pink as the sun drops. Villa lights begin to flicker on among the trees as you walk back.
Food & drink
Bouillabaisse dinner in Nice's old town
Vieux Nice's tight lanes hold a handful of kitchens still making the saffron-scented fish stew the slow, traditional way. It is a rich, unhurried dinner best paired with a chilled rosé.
