Stroll along the Croisette, the most elegant seaside promenade in Europe, where the luxury hotels lay out their parasols and lounge chairs along the sand. Visit modern Cannes to the east for that famous shopping (there’s a great shopping festival each year over Easter). He was followed by toffs, aristos and royals and Cannes was made. It was transformed by a Brit, Lord Brougham, who stayed here by chance, and loved it so much he came back for 34 winters. The so-called 'Pearl of the Riviera', twinned with Beverly Hills, is a major convention city with international shopping on a grand scale and accommodation to match.īut like much of the south of France towns, Cannes started as a modest fishing village. Glitzy and glamorous, Cannes is known for the famous annual Film Festival. It has one of the great jazz festivals of France in July overlooking the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean, shops, bars and restaurants and sandy beaches. Go a little further and you come to Juan-les-Pins.

The tiny fisherman’s church is full of models of ships and memorial plaques, both in thanksgiving by sailors who survived storms at sea, and, more poignantly, for those lost at sea. Make sure you stop at the small Garoupe lighthouse and church at the top of the Cap, surrounded by pine trees. It’s a beautiful drive with superb sea views. Walk along the ramparts looking at the view towards the pine-clad hillsides opposite shop in the daily covered market where the freshest vegetables, flowers and fruit are laid out visit the Château where Picasso once lived and where you can see a superb collection of his ceramics, or chill out in the small bars and bistros in the narrow winding streets that make up the Old Town.Īntibes has one of the most glamorous yacht marinas in Europe where multi-million dollar boats bob up and down in the harbour, or sit anchored just offshore, like the extraordinary yacht belonging to Roman Abramovich which would be at home on a James Bond film set.ĭrive around the Cap d’Antibes for a glimpse of the villas owned, or rented, by the rich.

A short train ride from Nice, Antibes is a picture-perfect French town.

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