Visit France > Provence > French Riviera > Grasse

The road leaves behind Cannes' city lights, the sea-front and its turmoil, and goes into the fragrant plains of Grasse's beautiful countryside; passing through Mougins, one can discover the quiet charm of a village whose lanes wind up to the top of a wooded hillock. "Grasse and the villages standing at its feet offer a different show according to the season… You will walk among violets, daffodils, roses, jasmines, carnations…"

Grasse, the ancient capital of Eastern Provence, which enchanted the writer Pierre Loti, has become the world's perfume capital. It is the city of flowers, grown on terraces at the feet of the Old Town built on the side of the Grand Puy Mountain. Between sea and mountain, from the karstic plateaux of the Upper Country to the undulating hills, Grasse distils the fragrances of the land. On the northeastern side of the town starts the road leading to the perched villages of the Loup Valley, such as Bar-sur-Loup, on the terraced hillside above a fertile valley. The Loup River offers one of the most beautiful tours of the French Riviera's backcountry as it winds through the spectacular landscape of a deep valley, among picturesque canyons, potholes, cascades, and impressive waterfalls. 

Standing as a stone sentry, the Saracen village of Gourdon is perched like an eagle's nest some 500 meters above an impetuous mountain-stream. The road winds between the Cheiron Mountain and the rocky crests of the Audibergue Mountain, arriving at Gréolières and Thorenc.

The historic site of Entrevaux, at the furthermost limits of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, is worth the detour. Dominated by its Vauban citadel, the city nestles in a bend of the Var River, which starts heading down towards the Mediterranean, cutting though gorges and defiles. On the river's right bank, the cliff road links together some beautiful typical Provençal villages, posted as sentries looking over the valley: Gattières, Carros and its medieval castle, Saint-Jeannet found at the feet of its gigantic "baou", La Gaude isolated on its peak.

Not far from the coast, Vence and its surroundings is an area much favoured by painters, artists, men and women of letters. Vence, the ancient Episcopal City, was built on a promontory between two ravines; Saint-Paul, still contained within its ramparts, spreads on a rocky spurt with its nicely profiled silhouette. Tourrettes-sur-Loup, set upon a cliff with its feudal houses standing side by side, is the land of violets growing in the shade of olive-trees.

Going through Cagnes-sur-Mer, crowned with the Castle of the Lords of Monaco, one will finally reach the coast.

A little further on, two worlds, two opposing eras, contemplate each other: the thousand-year-old dungeon of Villeneuve-Loubet faces the modern pyramids of Marina Baie des Anges.