Things to do in Côte D’azur
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Cours Saleya Markets
Split between its beautiful flower market and rightly famous food market. On Mondays from 6am to 6pm, flowers and food make way for an antiques market.
reviewed
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Parc du Château
On a rocky outcrop towering over Vieux Nice, this park offers a cinematic panorama of Nice and the Baie des Anges on one side, and the port on the other. The 12th-century castle was razed by Louis XIV in 1706; only the 16th-century Tour Bellanda remains. It is a fabulous place for picnics.
Other attractions include Cascade Donjon, an 18th-century artificial waterfall crowned with a viewing platform, and kids’ playgrounds. To get here, ride the Château Lift from beneath Tour Bellanda, or hike up the staircases on montée Lesage or the eastern end of rue Rossetti in Vieux Nice. From the port, follow montée Montfort.
reviewed
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Jardin du Monastère
Surrounding the Monastère Notre Dame de Cimiez is Jardin du Monastère, filled with cypress trees and an abundance of sweet-smelling roses, and offering a sweeping panorama of the Baie des Anges.
reviewed
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Les Trois Diables
Music is a mix of trip-hop, house and electro at this small club. Thursday is student night (show your ID); Wednesday is karaoke.
reviewed
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Delhi Belhi
An excellent Indian restaurant, ideal if you’ve overdosed on Mediterranean flavours.
reviewed
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Flea Market
A flea market takes over the cours Saleya on Mondays.
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Nissa Socca
This inexpensive joint in Nice's ambient old town is a good bet for authentic niçoise cuisine, from the eponymous socca to a slice of pissaladière (a thick crust covered with puréed onions and garlic, topped with anchovies and olives) or its Italian ancestor, the pizza.
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Coastal Walks
Ramatuelle tourist office organises balades nature (guided nature walks) to Cap Camarat, Cap Taillat and elsewhere on the peninsula.
Additionally, a scenic coastal path wends its way past rocky outcrops and hidden bays 35km south from St-Tropez, around the Presqu'île de St-Tropez to the beach at Cavalaire-sur-Mer and beyond to Le Lavandou (60km). In St-Tropez the coastal path, flagged with a yellow marker, starts at La Ponche, immediately east of Tour du Portalet at the northern end of quai Frédéric Mistral. From here, trails lead to Baie des Cannebiers (2.7km), La Moutte (7.4km), Plage des Salins (8.5km) and Plage de Tahiti (12km). Alternatively, drive to the end of rte…
reviewed
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Musée des Beaux-Arts
In a resplendent 1878 belle époque villa, the Musée des Beaux-Arts displays works by Fragonard, Monet, Sisley and Rodin, as well as an excellent collection of Dufy works.
Fauvist appreciators will relish a roomful of Raoul Dufy's works. Also impressive are sculptures by Rodin, and some late impressionist pieces by Bonnard, Monet and Sisley. Local lads Jules Chéret (1836-1932), the 'Father of the Poster', and Alexis Mossa (1844-1926), who painted truly hideous symbolist works, also feature. The latter is more famous for adding wildly decorated floats to the Nice Carnival than for his watercolours. From the bus station, take bus 38 to the Musée Chéret stop outside.
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Z Plage
Lunch at the beach restaurant-bar of Hôtel Martinez is an unforgettable experience. Languish on white-cushioned teak seating beneath white colonial-style umbrellas and sip unusual freshly squeezed juices (fancy a pineapple, litchi and raspberry juice? or how about strawberry, lemon, basil and pineapple, Madame?) and fusion frappées (smoothies). The Zen orange and peach purée with Chaï spices is Zen indeed.
Swedish massages and reflexology sessions (cost involved) can be indulged in before or after lunch. In July and August, tapas is served in the company of cocktails and electro lounge jazz with DJ Max Léonidas & Sax from 18:00.
reviewed
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Le Groupe Épiscopal
Fréjus’ star sight is the Groupe Épiscopal, built on the foundations of a Roman temple. At the heart of the complex is an 11th- and 12th-century cathedral, one of the first Gothic buildings in the region, and a cloister featuring rare 14th- and 15th-century painted wooden ceiling panels depicting angels, devils, hunters, acrobats and monsters in vivid comic-book fashion.
The meaning and origin of these sci-fi like creatures is unknown. Only 500 of the original 1200 frames survive. If you can, bring binoculars for a better view or rent a pair at the ticket desk for €1.
Before you enter the cathedral, make sure you take a peek at the octagonal 5th-century baptistery…
reviewed
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Plage du Gray d'Albion
Cannes is blessed with sandy beaches, although much of the stretch along blvd de la Croisette is for guests of top-notch hotels or those prepared to pay for the luxury of having a strip of carpet leading to the water's edge: rates range from around €15/around €19 per half-/full day for a mattress and yellow-and-white parasol on Plage du Gray d'Albion - it has a water-skiing school - to around €30/around €38/around €44 for a back-row/front-row seat/spot on the pier of exclusive Carlton Beach.
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Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain
European and American avant-garde works from the 1950s to the present are the focus of this museum. Highlights include many works by Nice's New Realists, Christo, César, Arman, Yves Klein and Niki de Saint-Phalle. The building's rooftop also works as an exhibition space (with panoramas of Nice to boot).
Smartphone users will be able to access audio commentary thanks to flashcodes.
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Musée Masséna
The beautiful Musée Masséna, housed in a marvellous Italianate neoclassical villa (1898), retraces Nice and the Riviera's history from the late 18th century to WWII. It’s a fascinating journey, with a roll call of monarchs, a succession of nationalities (British, Russians, Americans), the advent of tourism, the prominence of the carnival and much more.
History is told through an excellent mix of furniture, objects, art deco posters, early photographs, paintings and the lovely setting (note however that captions are in French only). The city of Nice still uses the ground-floor rooms for official occasions so it can sometimes close at short notice.
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Plage Publique des Ponchettes
If you don't like sand between your toes, Nice's beaches - covered with smooth, round pebbles - are for you. Free public sections of beach with lifeguards, first-aid posts and cold showers alternate with 15 private beaches equipped with restaurants, comfy sun-lounges (obligatory; at a fee) parasols (optional, at a fee), warm showers and changing rooms.
Plage Publique des Ponchettes, opposite Vieux Nice, is the busiest beach with oiled bodies either baking in the sun or punching a ball on the beach-volleyball court.
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Anatole Jakovsky International Naive Art Museum
Over 1000 works of naive art are gathered at the Anatole Jakovsky International Naive Art Museum, inside 19th-century Château Ste-Hélène, 2km west of the centre. Romanian art critic Anatole Jakovsky (1909-83), who moved to southern France in 1932, kick-started the museum by donating his vast collection. Pieces date from the 18th century to the present day. Take bus 8, 10, 11 or 12 from the bus station to the Fabron stop, from where it's a 500m walk, or take bus 34 to the Musée Art Naïf stop.
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Monaco and Eze Small Group Day Trip from Nice
8 hours (Departs Nice, France)
by Viator
Spend a day on the beautiful French Riviera with a small-group day trip from Nice to Monaco and Eze. See the changing of the guard at the palace in Monte Carlo,…Not LP reviewed
from USD$107.87 -
Le Club 55
What started out as a simple canteen for the crew of And God Created Woman in the 1950s is now the hippest joint on the beach. Dine at tightly packed tables beneath sails strung from trees, drink from plump white sofas on the sand, and pay to be a beach bum on a white cushioned mattress beneath umbrella or hip paillote (a smart straw shack) on the designer beach. Rumbling tummies with no reservation can opt for a salad or sandwich at the twig-topped beach bar nearer the water.
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French Riviera Small Group Day Trip from Nice
9 hours (Departs Nice, France)
by Viator
From Monte Carlo to Cannes you'll see all the fabulous towns of the French Riviera on this small-group day trip from Nice. You’ll delight in the scenic drive…Not LP reviewed
from USD$129.96 -
Provence Countryside Small Group Day Trip
8 hours (Departs Nice, France)
by Viator
See the picturesque villages and lovely countryside of Provence on a small-group day trip from Nice. With your transport taken care of, you can sit back and…Not LP reviewed
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Tomb of Émile Olivier
At the northern end of Plage des Salins, on a rock jutting out to sea, is the Tomb of Émile Olivier (1825-1913), who served as first minister to Napoleon III until his exile in 1870. Olivier's 17-volume L'Empire Libéral is preserved in the library of Château La Moutte, his former home on Cap des Salins.
Olivier's sea-facing tomb looks out towards La Tête de Chien (Dog's Head), named after the legendary dog who declined to eat St Torpes' remains.
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Fête du Citrons
Menton's fabulous two-week Fête du Citrons in February sees sculptures and decorative floats made from 115 metric tonnes of lemons (plus another five tonnes used to replace damaged fruit during the festival) weave processions along the seafront. Afterwards, the monumental lemon creations are dismantled and the fruit sold off at bargain prices in front of Palais de l'Europe. Each year the festival follows a different theme (Asterix, Alice in Wonderland, world carnivals).
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Marché du Film
The vast majority of films are 'out of competition'. Behind the scenes the Marché du Film (Film Market; www.marchedufilm.com) sees around €150 million worth of business negotiated in distribution deals. And it's this hard-core commerce combined with all the televised Tinseltown glitz that gives the film festival its special magic. For a concentrated dose, don your glad rags, stand up tall and strut into the bar of one of the posh hotels as if you own the place.
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La Tête de Chien
La Tête de Chien was named after the legendary dog who declined to eat St Torpes' remains. A grisly legend provided St-Tropez with its name in AD 68. After beheading a Roman officer named Torpes for becoming a Christian, the emperor Nero packed the decapitated body into a small boat, along with a dog and a rooster who were to devour his remains. Miraculously, the body came ashore in St-Tropez unnibbled, and the village adopted the headless Torpes as its saint.
reviewed
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Église du Gesù
Jutting above the rooflines are the spires of some historic churches including the baroque Cathédrale Ste-Réparate and its stunning glazed terracotta dome, built around 1650; the blue-grey and yellow Église du Gesù, close to rue Rossetti, whose baroque ornamentation also dates from the mid-17th century; and the mid-18th- century Chapelle de la Miséricorde, next to place Pierre Gautier.
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