The sunny town of Menton is famed for its citrus and Italian influence.
Courtesy of Ellena McGuinness/Unsplash
This article was originally published in 2022 and most recently updated on June 13, 2026, with current information.
Vacationers flock to the French Riviera for pastel-painted buildings, ancient hill towns, and water in the dreamiest shades of turquoise and ultramarine. But that’s just the beginning of what this region has to offer. I’ve lived here for four years, and I travel up and down the French Riviera in every season. There’s so much to do, eat, and experience around France’s Mediterranean coastline, especially in shoulder season. From west to east, these are my picks for the French Riviera’s most charming towns and villages—and even one country.
Menton
Menton, one of Afar’s picks for where to go in 2026, is a Franco-Italian border town where candy-colored buildings fill the hillsides between the Alpes-Maritimes and the glittering Riviera beaches. The air is always fragrant with lemons, which Menton is famous for growing and which are celebrated during the annual Fête du Citron every February.
After getting lost in the old town’s winding streets, discover 137 rare citrus varieties at the two-and-a-half-acre Jardin d’agrumes du Palais Carnolès, surrounding a former Monaco royal summer residence. The Jardin botanique Val Rahmeh-Menton has 1,800 species planted around an ochre-colored 1920s villa, including enormous lily pads, Chilean wine palms, and a grove of olive trees that was planted in the 17th century.
Where to eat
At Pasta Piemonte, Luisa Delpiano Inversi serves lemon ravioli and other fresh pastas, and at JR Bistronomie, chef Jérôme Rigaud creates traditional Gallic dishes with Italian influences, such as a caramelized tomato tart and red mullet fillets with fennel, tomato confit, and basil. Italo-Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco has a mini empire in Menton: the three-Michelin-starred Mirazur; Mitron Bakery for breads made with ancient-wheat flour; La Pecoranegra, for wood-fired pizzas; and Casa Fuego, for grilled meats and seafood. An 11-suite luxury hotel next to Mirazur’s garden is in the works for an early-2027 opening.
Where to stay
Hôtel Princess et Richmond is right on the Mediterranean shore, and guests have the option to select a sea- or mountain-view room. From the seventh-floor solarium terrace (complete with Jacuzzi), you can take in a panorama that stretches from Italy to Cap Martin peninsula.
Housed in an elegant 1885 neoclassical building designed by architect Hans-Georg Tersling, the sumptuous Villa Genesis has sea-view terraces, a pool, and impeccable service.
In Menton’s historic center, the boutique Hôtel Gabriel reopened in 2025 with 35 beachy-modern rooms and a patio bar.
Monaco is the world’s most densely populated country, with nearly 48,000 people per square mile.
Photo by vichie81/Shutterstock
Monaco and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
Monaco, a moneyed sovereign city-state in the Mediterranean between Éze and Menton, is the world’s most densely populated country, with nearly 48,000 people per square mile. Yet walking around the harbor past bright white yachts, it doesn’t seem particularly crowded. Tiny Monaco spans less than one square mile but is packed with excellent museums and a beautiful garden, the Monaco Exotic Garden, which sits on a steep cliff overlooking the Mediterranean and includes 1,000 succulents.
The family-friendly Oceanographic Museum, inside the stunning baroque revival headquarters of the Oceanographic Institute, has one of the world’s oldest aquariums, home to sharks, tropical fish, sea turtles, and fluorescent corals.
Some 100 cars collected over three decades by Prince Rainier III (husband of Grace Kelly) make up the car collection of the Prince of Monaco, which includes a cherry-red Alfa Romeo 1600 Giulia Spider from the 1960s.
Between Menton and Monaco is Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, which can be reached by train in 5 to 10 minutes. Hike along the peninsula’s Sentier du Corbusier coastal path, stopping at the summer cabin of modern architect Le Corbusier (now a museum), then go directly next door to E-1027. Roquebrune’s most impressive architectural work, E-1027 is a villa built in 1927 by modernist pioneer Eileen Grey (for background on the space, watch the documentary E.1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea).
Where to eat
For a casual meal in Monaco, Chez les Grecs has great gyros, while Panino Club offers nearly 30 varieties of its namesake sandwich. Go to Le Fernet for formal (but not stuffy) traditional northern French fare (beef tartare, eggs mimosa, cod with lentils), or eat seafood towers mere inches from the water at Les Perles de Monte Carlo, on a harbor pier. The food at beach club La Môme Riviera won’t blow your mind, but dishes like lobster tagliolini and chicken skewers with crushed pistachios are solid, and the setting—a cluster of Aperol-orange– and white-striped umbrellas on the southern edge of the Cap Martin peninsula—is gorgeous.
Where to stay
The Maybourne Riviera, on a cliff nearly 1,000 feet above Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, offers panoramic views of Monaco, the Mediterranean, and the coastline curving into Italy. From every vantage point—the glass-enclosed restaurants, the infinity-pool loungers, the suite terraces—the visual montage is on full display. The 65 guest rooms and suites are done up in a contemporary style, and the suites feature furnished terraces that seem to float between the sea and the sky.
The most intimate of the grande dame hotels in Monaco, Hotel Metropole, Monte Carlo has 125 rooms with mahogany furniture and fabric headboards backed by matching wallpaper, a two-Michelin-star restaurant, and a heated seawater pool.
Èze
Follow in the footsteps of Nietzsche in the medieval hilltop village of Èze.
Courtesy of Chelsea Essig/Unsplash
The medieval hilltop village of Èze is a warren of narrow cobblestone lanes that snake up and down stone staircases. To hike here from Èze train station, take the short but steep chemin de Nietzsche (Nietzsche’s path), which the philosopher was rumored to walk in search of inspiration and which climbs 1,300 feet over 1.3 miles. Once you’ve reached the top, enjoy a sweeping vista of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Èze’s sister village, Èze-sur-Mer.
The main activity in Èze is losing yourself in its labyrinth of pedestrian-only streets, one of which will lead you to Notre Dame de l’Assomption, designed by Italian architect Antoine Spinelli in 1764 and decorated with baroque paintings (its thick stone walls make it a good place to escape the heat). For an unparalleled scenic view, walk through the Jardin Exotique d’Èze in an ancient fortress 1,400 feet above the sea. The hilltop space is filled with dozens of succulents, as well as sculptures by Jean-Phillipe Richard that are known as “the earth goddesses.” The garden looks out over the Mediterranean, with Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to your right.
Because Èze is so tiny and its streets narrow, if you’re visiting during summer I recommend coming to Èze either in the morning or in the evening after most day-trippers have left.
Where to eat
Book a reservation for dinner at boutique hotel Château Eza’s one Michelin-starred restaurant, La Table Gastronomique, where the tasting menu begins with an array of such amuse-bouches as yuzu-infused oysters and flower-topped razor clams served on a coral-shaped platter. In May 2026, the hotel opened a less formal restaurant, L’Horizon, which is open for lunch on a terrace overlooking the surrounding wildflower-dotted landscape and the sea. The two-Michelin-starred La Chèvre d’Or is another nearby option; it serves tasting menus at lunch and dinner with the same sweeping views as Château Eza.
In my experience, the mid-range restaurants in Èze are mediocre, with a couple of exceptions. In upper Èze village, Deli’ is an olive oil shop that has a nice shaded terrace and serves good pizza and salads. In the lower part of Èze, where you’ll get dropped off if you take the bus from Nice, L’Echoppe Provençale‘s terrace is a calm place to tuck into tasty sandwiches on focaccia and salads.
Where to stay
Walk through a stone archway and wind along cobbled lanes to find Château Eza, an intimate, 14-room hotel built into walls dating back 900 years. In the early 20th century, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden purchased several village houses to create a residence once known as “the Prince of Sweden’s Castle,” which then became this hotel in 1987. Timber beams and stone fireplaces preserve the sense of history, while suites and junior suites open onto terraces or balconies with 180-degree views. The hotel’s focal point is its terrace—perhaps the best place on the Côte d’Azur to watch the sunset, Negroni in hand.
Villefranche-sur-Mer has much of the charm as some of its coastal neighbors, with fewer crowds.
Photo by Kerenby/Shutterstock
Villefranche-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Set on a hillside one bay east of Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer has a very pretty harbor lined with pastel-painted buildings facing bobbing white boats. If you’ve based yourself in Nice and are making side trips, this is an easy one; you can even walk here along the coastal road in about an hour (or 15 minutes on an e-bike, which you can rent from Nice Cycle Tours.)
The Chapelle Saint-Pierre, a fisherman’s chapel that dates back to the 16th century, is a must-see for art history aficionados: Avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau, who spent a lot of time all over the Riviera, painted its facades and interiors, which look more like contemporary street art than the typical church frescoes. Try to visit this chapel as the sun comes up; the rays turn the town golden. Wander up to the ancient Citadelle de Villefranche-sur-Mer, built in 1554 to defend the city after pirate attacks and today an art center showing mostly contemporary work.
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, a ritzy peninsula studded with villas, is ringed by a fairly flat hiking trail and beautiful beaches. There are three calm bays on the promontory on the east side of the peninsula, where you can spread your towel on a mix of pebbles and sand and swim in the cool, shallow waters. Plage de la Fosse and Plage des Fossettes are right next to each other, and Plage Paloma is just on the other side and has a restaurant.
At the northern end of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat are two must-visits: Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, an early-20th-century Renaissance style palace packed with antiques and surrounded by nine gardens, and Villa Kérylos, the early-20th-century villa of a French archaeologist so passionate about ancient Greece that he had a Greek Revival house built by the sea and filled it with copies of ancient Greek furniture and art (this is technically in neighboring Beaulieu-sur-Mer, which you can reach on foot in 30 minutes or by bus in about 15).
Where to eat
Bistro de l’étoile in Villefranche-sur-Mer’s old town has a pleasant terrace full of locals who come here for a reasonably priced, fairly simple bistro lunch with a side of sea view. Expect a dozen (mostly meat and fish) pan-French and Provençal dishes such as daube (slow-cooked beef stew) with olives and gnocchi. On the edge of the harbor is the town’s most upmarket restaurant, La Mère Germaine, specializing in seafood.
The restaurant I always cycle to from Nice is a cheery red-and-white striped kiosk in the hills above the town center: La Corne d’or snack-restaurant. It has a gorgeous sweeping view of the sea and assorted gardens and peninsulas and a menu of easy Provençal and Ligurian foods—pan bagnat and a panini with tomato and mozzarella, salad Niçoise, gnocchi with pesto, and omeletes.
There are two restaurants at Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel—Le Cap, open for dinner only, and La Veranda, open all day.
Otherwise, head to the port where there are a few places to eat. La Musa is popular for its tacos and spritzes. If you want to eat next to Villa Kérylos, book a table at Circé, a maximalist Mediterranean restaurant in an early 1900s Renaissance mansion complete with cupola and sea-facing terrace.
Where to stay
Expect scenic vistas and a perfect location at the 35-room Welcome Hotel in Villefranche-sur-Mer, which often appears in photos overlooking the city. The building dates back to 1710, and guests over the years have included Cocteau and the dancer Isadora Duncan.
The Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel, at the southern end of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, stands on 15 acres of manicures gardens by the Mediterranean. The hotel has 74 rooms and suites, eight of which have private pools, plus a heated saltwater infinity pool overlooking the sea.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Vence
Artists have been attracted to the beautiful medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence for centuries.
Photo by EyesTravelling/Shutterstock
High in the hills to the west of Nice, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and its sister commune Vence have always attracted celebrities: Churchill once sat down to paint the fountain off the main square; Sammy Davis, Liza Minnelli, and Elizabeth Taylor all spent time here. Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Miró—this town has seen them all come to take advantage of the famous Mediterranean light.
Art remains central to the two towns. In Vence, visit La Chapelle Matisse, a chapel and small museum with stained glass panels by Matisse, who lived nearby. In Saint-Paul-de-Vence, contemporary-art museums Fondation Maeght and FONDATION CAB face each other. The former has a sculpture garden, a courtyard with Giacometti pieces, and a permanent collection that spans a who’s who in 20-century art, like Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth, and Hans Hartung. The latter is a much smaller space, with temporary exhibitions on architects such as Jean Prouvé and artists such as Nassos Daphnis and Rita McBride.
Where to eat
The small menu at Café Timothé, in an ancient stone building on a narrow street in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, includes pasta with wild garlic and burrata, quiche, and a salad of the day.
Come for a sunset drink or dinner at Les Remparts, which overlooks hills dotted with terracotta-roofed white houses. On the menu are a dozen or so cocktails and mocktails such as lime juice with fig confiture, ginger beer, and fleur d’oranger, along with mostly light, southern French-ish/coastal Italian fare—think artichokes with hazelnuts and parmesan-and-spinach ravioli with ricotta cream and lemon.
NacL in the center of Vence, named for the chemical formula of salt, has a one-page menu of dishes such as saffron risotto and cantaloupe soup with feta and peach.
Where to stay
Le Saint Paul, with 16 rooms in a 16th-century mansion in the center of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, is an exercise in luxury and refinement. It’s been a Relais & Châteaux hotel for more than three decades, and its restaurant is well worth booking for dinner, thanks to dishes like foie gras with currant and verbena chutney and roasted local trout. In Vence, 20 minutes’ walk from Fondation Maeght, Les Orangers is a lovely five-room bed-and-breakfast with a pool and lush garden. In the hills above Vence, the 42-room Château Saint-Martin & Spa sits on nearly 35 acres of olive and stone pines trees; take in the surrounding greenery from the hot tub after hiking up the 2,200 foot Baou des Blancs.
Antibes and Juan-les-Pins
Though not truly under the radar, Juan les Pins, one town east of Cannes, is a less crowded destination on the French Riviera.
Photos by Alexandre Rotenberg/Shutterstock
Though the train takes just two minutes, you can walk between neighboring towns of Juan-les-Pins and Antibes in about 20 minutes. A century ago, Juan-les-Pins—once the countryside of Antibes—was the playground of American expats who swam in the crystal-clear Mediterranean, drank way too much, and, in the case of one F. Scott Fitzgerald, produced two novels: The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night.
Today, Juan-les-Pins is the less touristed, more lived-in sister to Antibes, and both are particularly popular in July during Jazz à Juan (July 9–20, 2026). One of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe, it’s been bringing musicians to town since 1960. Performers, who include Tom Jones, Fatoumata Diawara, and Keziah Jonesperform with the Mediterranean as the backdrop. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of opening of the Picasso Museum in a 14th-century waterfront castle in Antibes.
Juan-les-Pins has a two-mile long sandy beach right in town (you can rent umbrellas). For a little hike and more rugged beach, take the no. 2 bus from Antibes to Cap d’Antibes, a beautiful peninsula ringed by fragrant pines and lots of little beaches, some sandy, others more pebbly.
Where to eat
Book for dinner at Jeanne in Antibes, which has 400 varieties of wine, mostly natural, in cellar and a menu that changes based on what’s at market, with bonito crudo with artichoke and tapioca-parmesan croquettes served on dishware made by a local ceramicist.
Nearby is the Frenglish Bakery, serving Antibes’ best pastries Friday through Sunday. L’Epicerie Italienne, about halfway between Juan-les-Pins and Antibes, is a good spot to get beach picnic supplies. Italo-Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco isn’t just in Menton; he has two restaurants inside luxurious boutique hotel Villa Miraé—Amarines for dinner and Miraé for lunch and dinner. Just off the beach is La Crique - Snack, a kiosk serving sandwiches and a couple of salads with a shaded seating area.
Where to stay
The 43-room Hotel Belles Rives in Juan-les-Pins is an art deco mansion that was once home to Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The hotel has retained a number of original details, including its 1920s elevator. Slip right into the Mediterranean from Belles Rives’s private beach or from rows of chaise lounge chairs on a long dock.
Set amid green Mediterranean gardens on Cap d’Antibes, Villa Miraé is a 35-room Relais & Châteaux hideaway that channels serene Riviera elegance. Guests linger on the solarium sundeck with tequila-spiked palomas, swim in the garden-ringed pool, or follow the Sentier de Tirepoil, the scenic coastal trail that skirts the protected Natura 2000 zone.
Grasse
Leave room in your suitcase to take home a custom scent from your visit to Grasse, the perfume capital of France.
Photo by Stockbym/Shutterstock
Grasse is the world capital of perfume, and that’s actually thanks to leather. In the 16th century, the hilltop town was best-known for the production of leather, a laborious process that was also pungent. One tanner in particular, a man named Galimard, began to scent his products—originally a pair of gloves that he gifted to the visiting Catherine de Medici, who reportedly loved them. The perfume industry then grew in parallel with the existing leatherworkers, and some of the oldest perfume houses in Europe still source their scents from the nearby flower fields. Chanel and Dior, for example, have flower farms not far away.
No visit to Grasse is complete without a tour of one of the many perfume houses, including Galimard, Molinard, and Fragonard. All offer tours and perfume-making workshops, where you can create your own scent (from €$36).
Where to eat
Hotel La Bastide Saint-Antoine is home to Restaurant Gastronomique, where you can sit for a multi-course menu of dishes such as roasted European hake with tarragon, crispy swiss chard and risotto. Monday to Friday there’s the option of a smaller two-course menu at lunch, ideal if you’ve got a packed afternoon. The cellar holds a cool 1,000 varieties of wine spanning 25,000 bottles. FALAFEL +, five minutes walk from the Fragonard perfume factory, fills an important niche in Grasse: healthy, inexpensive takeaway including falafel, shawarma, and salads. You can eat it on a bench across the street or perhaps on the train to your next destination.
Where to stay
The 17th-century La Bastide Saint-Antoine, located just outside the city, was once a private country estate that welcomed the likes of the Kennedys and the Rolling Stones and is now run by Odette Chibois and her chef husband, Jacques. It has 16 rooms with 18th-century terracotta floors and traditional embroidered bedspreads.
Best time to visit the French Riviera
The best time to visit the French Riviera is mid April to July and September to November. Summer is peak season; it’s very crowded and temps can top 90°F. If you want fewer crowds, lower rates, and cool weather for hiking, cycling, or visiting museums, consider coming to the French Riviera in November or from late February through March. This is when the days are sunny and temps hover around 55°F.
How to get around the French Riviera
Travelers can fly into Nice, the region’s capital, which has seasonal direct flights from half a dozen U.S. cities. The buzzy port city of Marseille also has an airport, but no direct flights from the U.S.
Once you’re in the area, getting around the Côte d’Azur is easy. As someone who lives here, heed my warning about parking and traffic: don’t rent a car. Do take the train. The TGV high-speed train runs to and Marseille and Nice from Paris and between the two. The TER, a slower train that doesn’t need to be booked in advance, runs from Marseille to Menton, stopping at most towns in between.
Related: The 14 Dreamiest Hotels on the French Riviera
Chloe Braithwaite, Jenn Rice and Mary Winston Nicklin contributed to the reporting of this story.
