A French Riviera Primer for a First Timer
This Région Sud road trip is all very French.
Cure your blahs and blues with a road trip through the South of France. Doesn’t a superb glass of wine and a Mediterranean breeze sound curative at this point in the week? In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, you can fill your days with …
a visit to an elegant medieval compound with a chic bath circuit
gorgeous little museums filled with high caliber artwork
a perfect Provençal cooking class fantasy come to life
plenty of walking, drinking, eating, and loafing about
Jeralyn here. Seaside towns, medieval villages, quiet hiking trails, incredible architecture, dynamic viniculture, and tremendous light. No wonder artists like Matisse and Cézanne and Van Gogh and Chagall and Picasso were obsessed with this deep pocket of beauty and heritage in southeastern France. The area known as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur shares a border with Italy to the east, the Rhône River to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The crowds descend in the summer — it’s one of the most visited destinations in France — but the days are sun-kissed in the shoulder seasons and the rosé is just as crisp, as I found when I was last there.
There are countless ways to travel this legendary Riviera, but a first-timer with a week in the region would do well with a few days on the glittering coast (Nice, then east to Éze and west to St. Paul de Vence and Antibes) before packing up and heading to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Aix in the countryside. (We’re skipping Cannes and St. Tropez on the coast for this itinerary, though by all means choose your own adventure.) I suggest going this spring, autumn (you can still swim), or early winter to avoid peak crowds — not to mention tangled traffic, high prices, and hard-to-come-by dinner reservations — and to catch on to the rhythms of daily life.
You can reach many of these towns by train, but a car is ideal.
NICE
The Scene: The lively, year-round seaport city on the Mediterranean has an international airport, lots of restaurants, cute shops, four- and five-star hotels, and cultural institutions, and serves as a good home base for day trips along the coast. Summer may be prime time these days, but that may be changing. Christian Estrosi, the mayor since 2008 and a professional motorcyclist (really) before turning to politics, has brought a competitive spirit to his city. He no longer wants Nice (read: its airport) to be the launchpad for day trips; he wants the city to be a destination unto itself and has overseen lovely civic projects, like the creation of Promenade du Paillon park, and greenlit exciting hotel developments. This is one of those everything-old-is-new-again situations, if you consider that European aristocracy historically escaped to Nice for their winter breaks.
The Agenda: Spend a whole day or two exploring the picturesque streets and adorable outdoor markets of Old Nice. Pop into bars and cafes for aperitifs and small bites (like socca, a chickpea flour pancake). Stroll through gardens and along the promenade, peek into galleries and boutiques, and see what’s on later at the opera house or the experimental film cinema. Make reservations at French-Italian family-run Acchiardo restaurant (38 rue Droite; +33-4-93-85 -51-16), where the brothers rule the front of the house and the sister runs the kitchen, or La Petite Maison (11 rue Saint-Francois de Paule; +33-4-93-92-59-59) for classic French cuisine and vibes. Get laid-back drinks at Berco (hello, glou-glou!), stylish drinks at Hotel du Covent’s Le Bar, loud drinks at La Cave du Cours, and drinks with an all-vinyl soundtrack at Fanfan & Loulou.
Pick up melt-in-your-mouth macarons at the extremely frilly Angéa Tea Room and the finest locavore road trip snacks from Jean de La Tomate. Take home all the very special items exclusively made in France and merchandised so that you can’t resist touching them at Trésors Publics. La Boulisterie is filled with accessories, gear, and clothes dedicated to pétanque, and Les Delices de Candice is a shop where you can watch the jeweler craft sweet pieces in homage to his beloved wife, Candice.
Read on for more highlights in Nice, Èze, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, and Aix-in-Provence…