A practice-oriented post today…
… featuring our travel tips for your first French Riviera visit
Never forget that most current residents were not born here either so have also been first time visitors at some stage and were, in all probability, as confused as you must be when you take the coastline train, faced with an array of place names most of which mean little or nothing to you.
Where to stop first on your train journey along the coast – and where to call at all, for a brief stopover, a town walk or perhaps a longer hike?
This is what we are trying to help you work out by condensing into some 1000 words travel tips for your first French Riviera visit, everything that it took us six years to find out about the 21 coastal route’s stations.
The stations within each group are listed from west to east. I have also added a number to each station to indicate their position on the route, again from west to east, to give you an idea of where along the line you could find them.
No star destinations: You may like it there but, more probably, would only feel you are wasting your time.
Cannes La Bocca
Also known as Cannes Marchandises (as opposed to the Cannes Voyageurs of the central station). Strictly for people who are interested in freight trains and the handling of rail cargo.
Cros de Cagnes
The smallest station on the line for the smallest town along the coast. Cros-de-Cagnes is little more than a hamlet, consisting of a single row of beachfront homes, a marina and a long, sandy beach.
St Laurent du Var
The home of the region’s largest shopping mall, the (slightly depressing) Cap 3000 near the seashore. The nondescript and rather drab village itself is located approx. 2 km inland.
Nice St Augustin
Call here for Nice Airport and not much else.
Carnoles
Menton’s new town, featuring cookie-cutter condo buildings and a busy but uncharming high street. Where taxi drivers and small shop owners from Marseille go to retire.
One star: You could spin this into a day trip, but there are better options.
Golfe Juan Vallauris
Golfe Juan is a small fishing village, not much bigger than Cros-de-Cagnes, but with an additional historical interest thrown in – this is where Napoleon landed on his return from exile in Elba.
There is not much to see, but you can walk from here to the Picasso town of Vallauris inland or follow Napoleon’s footsteps on the road to Cannes along the coast.
Juan les Pins
In the 1960s one of the Riviera’s fanciest resorts and still a nightlife hotspot, although it has lost some of its former shine.
Nowadays, you are less likely to meet Bond girls there than overexcited visitors from the provinces and people from Antibes who travel across the peninsula for a swim because the coast of their home town is too stony.
Quite frankly: if you don’t want to join them for a dip, you are better off somewhere else.
Biot
The stretch between Antibes and Nice is the ugliest section of the celebrated Cote d‘Azur, featuring bleak and unpopulated beaches that are hemmed in by scruffy bushlands. Biot village in the back country is more interesting, but relatively far (approx. 3 km) from the station.
Villeneuve-Loubet Plage: While it is possible to be in two minds about the Marina Baie des Anges development, the only bit of French architecture that you can see from space (I exaggerate, but only slightly), the same cannot be said about the relentlessly ugly jumble of DIY shops, discount shoe stores and tyre warehouses that make up the rest of the coastal settlement.
The village of Villeneuve-Loubet lies further inland, but if you want to pick one local village to visit, Biot is better.
Nice Riquier
Nice Riquier is not a suburb of Nice but the residential area closest to the Port and the Old Town. A good choice if, on your way to the sites of Nice, you want to discover a part of the town you would not ordinarily see, but a resolutely eccentric choice as an alternative destination.
Two stars: Towns worth visiting and hikes worth taking.
Antibes
Antibes has a relatively small town centre (which is also a relatively long walk away from the station) but the coast’s fanciest yacht harbour. Both are certainly worth a visit. And if you have the time to stay for an entire day: do not miss the Sentier Tirepoile, one of the Riviera’s best short walks.
Villefranche sur mer
All visitors are swooning when they first see Villefranche from the train station, a Mediterranean dream town nestling in a picture-postcard-pretty bay.
What these visitors do not know is that have already enjoyed the best the town has to offer: which is the view from afar. Not that the rest is all bad – although it can be, specifically after the arrival of a cruise ship that spills 5000 people into the town’s narrow streets – only that it cannot fulfil the promise.
There are, at any rate, some attractive escape routes – and do not forget to bring your swimming clothes: the public beach around the bay is the Riviera’s most famous and popular.
Beaulieu sur mer
Genteel and elegant, if perhaps a little sedate for some people’s taste. It may be a trifle challenging to spend a whole day there – the Villa Kerylos notwithstanding – but you can walk from here to either St Jean Cap Ferrat or to Eze. These are easily two of the most entertaining walks in the area.
Eze
With Eze-sur-Mer on the coast consisting of little more than some fancy holiday homes (one of the seafront villas belongs to Bono), the main entertainment available is the walk away from it. The most obvious destination is Eze Village via the Nietzsche trail. This is a challenging hike, but one you will be hard pressed to forget.
Cap d’Ail
The station is located half way up a hill, and the choice is yours. Do you want to climb down for the very fancy Mala Beach, and the seaside walk from there to Monaco (one of the easiest and most attractive walks in the area).
Or do you feel like climbing up for the not specifically charming resort of Cap d’Ail and, perhaps, further up to the very summit of the Tête de Chien (a full 500 metres up in the clouds above Monaco)? The choice is yours.
Cap Martin Roquebrune
The station may be pretty much located in the middle of nowhere, but it, too, serves as a starting point for two very different and equally fascinating walks: walk up to the medieval Roquebrune Village …
… or down for an exploration of the Cap Martin peninsula.
Three stars – Towns you will not want to miss
Cannes
Cannes is not pretty – its small old town is no match for Nice or Menton – but there are plenty of places of interest, mainly connected with the film festival. And in the afternoon, you can take the ferry to the Ile des Lerins to experience a completely different side of the French Riviera.
Cagnes sur-Mer
A non-descript seaside town but Haut-de-Cagnes, a short walk away, is the surprise package of the coast: perhaps the most picturesque in a part of the world that provides plenty of competition.
And in the afternoon, you can – if there is a programme – go to the races at the Hippodrome de la Cote d’Azur near the train station . If you are lucky, you may even get the opportunity of witnessing a special event such as the Grand Prix of Franco-Russian Friendship. Believe me: you will never see anything like it.
Nice Ville
The Riviera’s largest town will leave you spoilt for choice in terms of entertainment.
You could spend a week here without getting bored, but for a single day, we recommend a walk down to the Promenade des Anglais, continuing via the Paillon to the Old Town.
In the afternoon, you could visit the Roman ruins in Cimiez and the near-by park with the famous Matisse Museum.
Monaco
The Riviera’s most popular tourist destination, judging from the numbers who disembark at the principality’s futuristic train station. I often wonder how many of them will leave disappointed, since much of Monaco is actually rather dull: not all shopping streets are packed with luxury outlets, and there are few obvious sites, apart from the casino and the Cathedral in the back of the palace.
We recommend taking a lap of honour down the Formula One race track – and afterwards a visit to the Riviera’s most spectacular garden.
Menton
The easternmost and most Italianate town in France, famous for its mild weather and its scenic gardens. Not as well known internationally as Monaco and Nice, but more beautiful than either.
And if you come during the summer or early autumn: bring your swimming clothes so you can fully enjoy the coast’s newest, prettiest and most modern beach (the Sablettes).
