4 Best Sights in The French Riviera, France

In 1750, the Duke of Savoy ordered a port to be dug to shelter the approach of the city's maritime traffic. It's still a safe harbor for freighters, fishing boats, and yachts, and its redevelopment has made it easier to take in the area's Genoese architecture or peruse the antiques at the Puces de Nice emporium and other shops along Rue Robilant, near the large Port Lympia parking lot.

From June to mid-October (daily 10–7), the free shuttle Lou Passagin ferries you across the port from the Quai Lunel to Quai d’Entrecasteaux. In June, keep an eye out for the Fête du Port—a gastronomical explosion (and one of the rare occasions when you'll witness the French walk and eat simultaneously) outmatched only by fire-eaters and fireworks. From the port, you can take Bus 33 to visit the 16th-century Fort du Mont-Alban, which has exceptional views of Bordighera and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat all the way over to Baie des Anges (those curvy white buildings) and Antibes.

Whether you approach the waterfront from the train station or park along the Avenue de Verdun, you'll first encounter an awesome expanse of luxury yachts in Port Vauban. It has an underground parking lot and an attractive esplanade from which you can admire one of Europe's oldest and largest ports home to 1,642 berths—including 18 for superyachts of up to 525 feet. It's no wonder the antiques fair and sailing show chose this spot for their events every spring. With the tableau of snowy Alps looming in the background and the formidable medieval block towers of the Fort Carré (Square Fort) guarding entry to the port, it's difficult to find a more dramatic spot to anchor.

The superbly symmetrical island fortress was completed in 1565 and restored in 1967, but can only be admired from afar. Across the Quai Rambaud, which juts into the harbor, a tiny crescent of sand called La Gravette beach offers swimmers one of the last soft spots on the coast before the famous Riviera pebble beaches begin on strands farther east.

To get a feel for the territory, start your exploration at the far east end of the Vieille Ville and walk out to the end of the Quai Napoléon III, which juts far out into the water. Above the masts of pleasure boats, all of Menton spreads over the hills, and the mountains of Italy loom behind. This is the place to be at sunrise.

At the foot of Le Suquet, this narrow, well-protected port harbors luxury yachts and slick little bateaux de plaisance (pleasure boats) that creak and bob beside weathered-blue fishing barques. From the east corner, off La Pantiéro at Quai Laubeuf (where a renovated sea wall has a panoramic promenade and heliport), you can catch a 20-minute ferry to the Îles de Lérins. The port and Quai St-Pierre, which runs alongside and has a plethora of restaurants, have emerged from their tattered and tired midlife crisis to become smartly dressed, more energized versions of their former selves.