The light is the first thing you notice: a pale, golden, Provençal light that turns the sea the colour of a swimming pool in a holiday brochure and makes every building, every tree, and every face look as though it has been photographed by a director of cinematography. The light, the luminosity of the Côte d’Azur, the 115 kilometres of Mediterranean coastline between Saint-Tropez and Menton, is the reason the artists came: Matisse (who lived in Nice from 1917 to 1954, painting the light through the window of the Hôtel Régina, the palm trees, and the blue of the Baie des Anges), Picasso (who lived in Antibes, Vallauris, and Mougins, the ceramics, the minotaurs, and the light that never left his palette), and Chagall (the Russian Jew who found in the Midi the floating, weightless, dream-colours of his paintings, the stained-glass windows of the cathedral in Nice are his last and most beautiful work). The artists have gone, and the luxury, the superyachts of Saint-Tropez, the Monaco casino, the €500-a-night hotel rooms, has arrived, but the light is still free, and the most beautiful towns and beaches of the French Riviera are still beautiful for the same reason they have always been beautiful: the light, the sea, and the mountains that tumble into the Mediterranean. Here are the most beautiful towns and beaches.

French Riviera, Towns & Beaches

• Èze, the eagle’s nest: The most beautiful village on the Côte d’Azur: a medieval stone village perched on a rocky peak 427 metres above the sea, the streets so narrow that two people cannot pass without one stepping into a doorway, the bougainvillea spilling over the walls, and the view from the Jardin Exotique at the top (the cactus garden, the panoramic view of the coastline from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to the Îles d’Or, the Esterel mountains, the sea, and the coast of Italy visible on a clear day. ~€7 for the garden, and the most beautiful viewpoint on the Riviera). Èze is a village-sized boutique, the art galleries, the perfumeries (Fragonard and Galimard, the “free” tour that ends at the shop, the perfume is genuinely good, and the hard sell is gentle), and the two Michelin-starred restaurants (the Château de la Chèvre d’Or, the €150 tasting menu, the view, and the most romantic meal on the Riviera). Getting there: the bus from Nice (the 112, 30 minutes, ~€1.50, the cheapest and most scenic arrival on the Riviera) or the walk, the Nietzsche Path (the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche walked this path daily during his stay in Èze in the 1880s, composing parts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The path climbs from the sea to the village, 1 hour up, steep, hot, and the reward is the village and the view). More France →
• Antibes and the Cap d’Antibes, the secret beach: Antibes has the Picasso Museum (the Château Grimaldi, the castle on the ramparts where Picasso worked in 1946, the paintings, the ceramics, and the view of the sea from the window where Picasso painted. ~€8, and the most beautiful small museum on the Riviera), the Marché Provençal (the covered market, the socca, the chickpea pancake, the essential street food of the Riviera, ~€3, and the best food market on the coast. Open every morning except Monday), and the Plage de la Garoupe (the best beach on the Cap d’Antibes, the sand, the turquoise water, and the view of the Alps on a clear day. The beach is divided between the private clubs, the Plage Keller, the sun loungers, the €30-a-day rental, and the small public section at the eastern end. Arrive early, claim your patch of sand, and ignore the wealth. The water is the same for everyone). The walk around the Cap d’Antibes (the Sentier de Tire-Poil, the coastal path around the peninsula, the villas, the gardens, and the view of the sea on three sides. 2 hours, free, and the most beautiful walk on the Riviera)
• Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the art village: The most famous of the perched villages of the Riviera: the ramparts, the cobbled streets, and the Fondation Maeght (the modern art museum in the pine forest above the village, the Miró labyrinth, the Giacometti courtyard, the Chagall mosaics, and the most beautiful collection of 20th-century art in the south of France. ~€16, and the café at the foundation, the terrace, the view of the village, and the sense of having found the Riviera that the tours have not yet discovered, is the essential lunch stop). Saint-Paul is crowded (the tourists, the galleries, the boutiques), and the reward for the crowd is the quality: the art is better, the restaurants are better, and the view, the valley of the Loup, the hills of the Alpes-Maritimes, and the sea in the distance, is the best of any of the perched villages. Essential lunch: the Colombe d’Or (the restaurant-hotel where Picasso, Matisse, and Chagall paid for their meals with paintings, the works still hang on the walls. The prix fixe lunch is ~€55, and the sense of eating in the most beautiful, most storied restaurant on the Riviera is worth three times the price. Book weeks in advance)