The 12 must-sees of the French Riviera, from Cannes to Menton

The capital of the French Riviera, Nice stretches along the Baie des Anges, lined by the Promenade des Anglais and its pebble beaches. Behind it, Vieux Nice packs narrow lanes, ochre façades and the Cours Saleya, with its flower market and stalls of Provençal produce every morning.

Castle Hill, with no castle left but a waterfall and viewpoints, gives the best view over the bay and the port. On the heights of Cimiez stand the Matisse and Marc Chagall museums; the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St Nicholas recalls the Belle Époque Russian colony. This is the place to try socca, pissaladière and pan bagnat.

The world's second-smallest state, the Principality of Monaco is explored in two districts. On the Rock, Monaco-Ville gathers the Prince's Palace, the cathedral where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier III are buried, and the Oceanographic Museum, founded by Prince Albert I and clinging to the cliff above the sea.

Below, Port Hercule berths the yachts and part of the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit. Monte-Carlo gathers the casino designed by Charles Garnier, the Hôtel de Paris and the gardens of the Place du Casino. The circuit's streets can be walked for most of the year.

Cannes lives to the rhythm of La Croisette, a palm-lined seafront promenade of grand hotels and private or public beaches. At its western end, the Palais des Festivals hosts the Cannes Film Festival every May; its steps and the walk of stars' handprints can be seen freely the rest of the year.

Above the Old Port, Le Suquet is the hilltop old town, with sloping lanes and views over the bay. The nearby Forville market is the town's covered market. Offshore, the Lérins Islands are a contrast: the Fort Royal on Sainte-Marguerite, prison of the Man in the Iron Mask, and the abbey on Saint-Honorat, whose monks tend vineyards.

At the western end of the French Riviera, in the Var, Saint-Tropez keeps an old fishing village around its port, overlooked by the 17th-century citadel that houses the maritime history museum. The Annonciade museum, in a 16th-century chapel, shows Pointillists and Fauves, from Signac to Matisse.

The plane-shaded Place des Lices hosts the market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. The big beaches lie outside the centre, at Pampelonne, in the municipality of Ramatuelle. For sights, beaches and the coastal path in detail, see our dedicated Saint-Tropez guide.

Between Nice and Cannes, Antibes pairs a walled old town with a wooded cape. In Vieil Antibes, the covered Provençal market on the Cours Masséna opens in the morning; on the ramparts, the Château Grimaldi houses the Picasso Museum, where the painter worked in 1946. Port Vauban, guarded by the Fort Carré, is one of the Mediterranean's major marinas.

To the south, Cap d'Antibes is explored along the Tirepoil coastal path, between white rocks and villas, and up to the Garoupe lighthouse. Juan-les-Pins, in the same municipality, has sandy beaches and, every summer, the Jazz à Juan festival.

The last French town before Italy, Menton stacks its colourful old town above the sea, up to the square in front of the Basilica of Saint-Michel. Its mild climate made its gardens famous: the Val Rahmeh exotic botanical garden and the Serre de la Madone.

In February, the Lemon Festival parades citrus floats through the Biovès gardens and along the seafront. The rest of the year, people come for the covered market, the pebble beaches and the Jean Cocteau museum, partly housed in the harbour Bastion.

Clinging to a rocky peak above the Mediterranean between Nice and Monaco, Èze is a medieval village of cobbled lanes, vaulted passages and stone houses. At the top, the Jardin Exotique fills the castle ruins: cacti, succulents and a 360° view along the coast.

The Nietzsche Path runs from the village down to Èze-sur-Mer by the sea, through the scrubland: the philosopher is said to have worked out part of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" here. At the foot of the village, the Fragonard perfume house opens its factory to visitors.

A few minutes from Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer wraps around one of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, where yachts and cruise ships anchor. The old town drops in stairways to the Port de la Santé, and the fully vaulted Rue Obscure runs through it out of the light.

On the harbour, the Chapelle Saint-Pierre was decorated by Jean Cocteau in 1957. The 16th-century Citadelle Saint-Elme houses the town hall and museums. Marinières beach, facing the bay, stretches for about 700 m of coarse sand, a rarity between Nice and Monaco where pebbles dominate.

On a hill above Cagnes-sur-Mer, some twenty kilometres west of Nice, Saint-Paul-de-Vence is a fortified village with 16th-century ramparts and cobbled lanes filled with art galleries. Artists and writers followed one another here in the 20th century; Marc Chagall is buried in the cemetery at the southern end of the village.

Just outside, the Fondation Maeght, opened in 1964, shows Miró, Giacometti, Braque and Chagall in a building by Josep Lluís Sert surrounded by sculpture gardens. A walk round the ramparts gives views over the hills to the sea.

In the hills above Cannes, Grasse is the town of perfume: its perfume-related know-how (growing the plants, processing the raw materials, composition) has been on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list since 2018. Jasmine, centifolia rose and tuberose are still grown here.

The old town houses the International Perfume Museum, and the historic houses open their factories: Fragonard, in its town-centre factory, and Galimard, founded in 1747, offer free guided tours. Several houses also run workshops where you compose your own perfume.

West of the French Riviera, between the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and the Var, the Verdon Gorge is a limestone canyon whose walls drop up to 700 metres above an emerald-green river. The Route des Crêtes, on the right bank from La Palud-sur-Verdon, strings together the viewpoints.

Where the gorge ends, Lake Sainte-Croix is explored by kayak, paddleboard or pedalo, and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a village of faience makers, clings to the cliff below its suspended star. Allow a full day from Nice: the road runs via Grasse and the Route Napoléon.

Created in 1979, the Mercantour National Park covers the high mountains of the Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, less than two hours from the sea. Alpine lakes, larches, chamois and ibex are reached on waymarked trails from the Vésubie, Tinée and Roya valleys.

Below Mont Bégo, the Vallée des Merveilles preserves tens of thousands of Bronze Age rock engravings carved into the rock slabs. It is reached only on foot, by a long climb from Casterino or the Lac des Mesches, and some areas can only be visited with an approved guide.