A traveler's guide to French Riviera
Use the train. Sleep in Nice, Antibes, or Cannes, and let the coast be a series of swims rather than a single hotel beach.
The French Riviera is a coast you ride as much as a beach you lie on. Nice's promenade, the Cap d'Antibes, Cannes, and a train toward Monaco are the week. A lot of the shore is pebble. The swimming is still the daily habit, and the light is why the painters stayed.
When to go
May, June, and September are warm and civilized. July and August are hot, expensive, and the traffic is the second climate. The sea is swimmable from late spring into autumn.
The beach
Nice's public beaches are mostly pebble, with a famous promenade behind them. Private clubs rent mattresses on wooden decks. Antibes and Juan-les-Pins have sandier, easier swimming. The calanques farther west are a different, wilder day.
In the water
Swimming is from a ladder or a gentle entry, and it is a morning thing before the breeze. A boat from Nice or Cannes toward the little ports is the scenic version. Snorkeling is better around the capes than off the city pebble.
If you only remember this
- The regional train is the luxury. A car in August is a parking problem.
- Public beaches are free. The chair is what costs.
- Pebble shoes change the day.
- Monaco is an afternoon, not a base, unless you meant the casino.