110 Best Sights in Nice and the Eastern Cote d'Azur, The French Riviera

Across from Cours Saleya, the Riviera's largest private beach is one of Nice's nicest; you can gain access by renting a pricey lounger for the day via phone. The beach itself is stony, so wear water shoes. If there are jellyfish sightings, you'll see a written warning of "méduse" on a beach board; ditto for strong winds. Steps from Beau Rivage on the Prom is Nice's own Statue of Liberty (look carefully, as she's only 4½-feet tall). Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming.

This sandy public beach west of Juan-les-Pins is popular thanks to its size and is thus known as La Grande Plage. You can rent a beach chair from the nearby private beaches that dominate the strip. Amenities: showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

Thanks to its perfect oval bay, the finest, softest sand on the Riviera, magnificent views that stretch out to Antibes, and relatively calm waters, this northeast-facing beach is a real jewel—and the first in the country to impose a "No Selfie" zone. Getting the Gucci-clad spillover from the Hotel du Cap-Eden Roc, the high-end private beach clubs here open onto the sand. Quieter folk stick to the public section at the other end, where you can rent loungers online through the tourist office website for only €10 a day. There are also two snack bars. Amenities: food and drink; parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

Almost at the end of the promenade and in front of Old Town, this basic stony stretch is a popular spot, with a melange of tourists and locals of all ages all day. In summer it has sandy volleyball courts. Keep an eye out for jellyfish. Amenities: lifeguards (seasonal); toilets. Best for: snorkeling; sunrise; sunset; swimming.

Locals come early—with umbrellas, chairs, and coolers in tow—to these two sizable public beaches around the halfway point of the promenade. As both are stone beaches with occasional jellyfish, water shoes are best for getting in and out of the sea. Lenval is a no-smoking beach with pay-to-use underground hot showers, toilets, and lockers, as well as portable toilets in the summer; it has no lifeguards or first aid station. These are, however, provided at neighboring Magnan, which is wider and lower than street level. This area is less touristy, so expect to see topless torsos. Amenities: lifeguards (Magnan, seasonal); showers; toilets. Best for: sunrise; swimming. When the winds pick up, this area can be dangerous, so watch for the warning flags, and avoid swimming for 24 hours after a storm.

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.

Running behind Old Town, this 30-acre park is known as the Coulée Verte (Green Belt). It serves as a playground for kids, a refuge for adults (who take advantage of the free Wi-Fi), and a venue for many of the city's annual and one-off events, like April Fool's Day (in French, Poisson d'Avril, or Fish Day). No matter when you visit, there's plenty to photograph here.

Stroll the length of Menton's famous beachfront along the Promenade du Soleil: broad, white, and studded with palm trees, from Plage du Fossan in front of the covered market Marché des Halles westward to Plage de la Piscine, next to the indoor municipal swimming pool Les Bains du Cap (€7.50 entry). A little farther along the seaside walkway, Le Paradis de la Glace ice cream parlor is a reward any time of year.

Today Beaulieu is usually spoken of in the past tense and has taken on a rather stuffy character. Its small beach, however, attracts families with children, and on the Promenade Maurice-Rouvier, a paved pedestrian path that begins not far from the Villa Kerylos, you can stroll the waterfront, past grand villas and their tropical gardens, all the way to St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The 30-minute walk winds along the Baie des Fourmis (Bay of Ants)—whose name alludes to the black rocks that appear to be "crawling" up from the sea—and has great views of the sparkling Mediterranean and surrounding mountains.

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.

Two blocks behind La Croisette lies this attractive high-end shopping street. At its western end is Rue Meynadier, packed with trendy clothing boutiques and fine-food shops. Not far away is the covered Marché Forville, the scene of the animated morning food market. Rue Houche, behind Rue d'Antibes and down from Galleries Lafayette, has lots of boutiques and cafés.

It's hard to imagine 16th-century horse-drawn carriages being pulled down this main street of Cannes that's now home to inexpensive and trendy clothes boutiques, rare food stores, cheese and wine shops, and some of the best butchers in town. At one end of Rue Meynadier is Rue d'Antibes, Cannes's primary high-end shopping street.

Running parallel to the waterfront, the extraordinary 14th-century Rue Obscure (Dark Street) is entirely covered by vaulted arcades; it sheltered the people of Villefranche when the Germans fired their parting shots—an artillery bombardment—near the end of World War II. If playing tourist is building up your appetite, Focacceria Mei on Rue du Poilu (the next street up) has the best takeaway in town. 

Serving as the main commercial artery of the Vieille Ville, Rue St-Michel is lined with shops, cafés, and orange trees.

With a temperate microclimate created by its southeastern and sunny exposure, Menton attracted a great share of wealthy horticultural hobbyists, including Major Lawrence Johnston, a gentleman gardener best known for his Cotswolds wonderland, Hidcote Manor. He wound up buying a choice estate in Gorbio—one of the loveliest of all perched seaside villages, 10 km (6 miles) west of Menton—and spent the 1920s and '30s making the Serre de la Madone a masterpiece.

Johnston brought back exotica from his many trips to South Africa, Mexico, and China, and planted them in a series of terraces, accented by little pools, vistas, and stone steps. Although most of his creeping plumbago, pink belladonna, and night-flowering cacti are now gone, his garden has been reopened by the municipality. If you don't have a car, you can reach it from Menton via Zest Bus 7 (€2.10).

This garden is particularly delightful in the fall, when the hibiscus and brugmansias are in bloom. Planted by Maybud Campbell in the 1910s and cherished by connoisseurs, it bursts with rare ornamentals and subtropical plants and is adorned with water-lily pools and fountains. The tourist office can also give you directions to other gorgeous gardens around Menton, including the Fontana Rosa, the Villa Maria Serena, and the Villa Les Colombières.

Go down the steps to Rue Mirabeau and lose yourself in the dense labyrinth of the Vieille Ville, where steep, narrow streets, austere facades, discreet gardens, and random flights of stairs are thrown into shadow by shuttered houses five and six stories tall.

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.

This museum headlines the work of Grasse's own Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806), who was one of the great French "chocolate-box" artists—so called because they were known for their maudlin artwork of a type that was found on boxes of chocolate at the time. The lovely villa contains a collection of Fragonard's drawings, engravings, and paintings; also on display are works by his son, Alexandre-Evariste, and his grandson, Théophile.